My TV babysitter...failing

Yesterday I was finally well enough by the end of the day to at least venture out of the house. We went to my husband's partner's new home, where we had pizza and the kids played. Max was doing his usual, where he bounced around from person to person, wanting to be completely preoccupied by anyone, wanting to be picked up, etc. Mind you, he's very cute doing this, laughing and giggling, and the way he bounces around will crack you up.

After a couple hours of this, one of the doctor's turned to me and said, "Does he ever just sit? Like watch a TV show....Teletubbies or anything?"

"No," I responded without any hesitation. (This is not the first time I have been asked this question). "And believe me, I have tried!"

Yes, I must admit, while other parents are trying to drag their kids away from the TV, I am DESPERATELY trying to get my 1 year old addicted to a TV show. No, not addicted to the TV all the time, just one show...Teletubbies, Barney, Sesame Street, anything really. Just a show that I can pop-in when I need to say...clean up the kitchen (or else, he tries to take all the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher for me), or when I need to cook dinner (he wants to be held and then "help" me with whatever I'm doing over the hot stove), or when I need to fold some clothes (Max likes to unfold and throw around everything I've folded). I try to give him something to do (like play with the duster in the picture above...can you tell how happy he looks!), but it doesn't preoccupy him for more than 2 minutes.

Maybe if the sound of Elmo's voice, or Barney's singing, or the Teletubbies' giggles would lure him away from me for just a half hour, things might not be so "half-done" around the house. But like anything else, I turn the show on, he'll sit WITH me to watch it for five minutes and then he's off and ready to do something else, tugging at me and crying to play with him. If I don't sit with him, he barely gives the show a second glance, before he realizes no one is sitting with him, and he's off to find someone, crying as if he's been abandoned (and it really doesn't have to be me...just anyone to play with).

Maybe I just haven't found the right show yet. Any ideas?

BTW--My husband's attempt to take the kids out to dinner the other night turned out as I had expected. He came home, plopped the kids down on the bed as I was resting and told me I could have 10 nannies if that's what I needed! Cameron was good (4 is a good age), but Max not only doesn't sit to watch TV, he doesn't sit to eat either. He ended up out of the highchair, on Melvin's lap, where he proceeded to mush all the food on his plate. Poor guy, people thought, as he said several people came over and tried to help him (funny, no one tries to help me when I'm out alone with the kids!). I certainly appreciated the rest. But now I must give him a "breather" before I let him know that I'd like to go and visit a friend for the weekend WITHOUT the kids.