The cartoon effect

Cartoons are a staple in this house. There is no way I would ever get any work done, drink coffee without reheating it 12 times, or have 30 seconds to make a grocery list.

I love my children, but they're crazy.

Cartoons sound like the perfect solution, right? Educational and mind-numbing all at the same time. Ah, but there are side effects. Mostly for me.

I noticed it at first when Nathaniel was old enough to be left - semi-comatose - in front of an episode of Handy Manny while I got a shower in the morning. I would sprint up the stairs and be half undressed while jumping into the steaming hot water. I didn't want to waste a second of my 20-minute break. As I leaned back into the water, something popped into my head.

"do dodo do do, Handy Manny. Do dodo do do, Handy Manny..."

And so it began. Whatever cartoon happened to be on that morning, the theme would be stuck in my head on and off for the rest of the day. Some are better than others. Manny doesn't have any words, really, so that's not too bad. Little Einsteins are just all-around annoying.

The more days my kid (now kids) watched a cartoon, the theme song stopped having an effect. I thought I was in the clear! Then they introduced Oso. New cartoon, new theme, new song stuck in my head for days. Sigh.

So now, the song that runs through my head after a morning of cartoons is "Timmy Time."

"Timmy (baa), it's Timmy. He's a little lamb with a lot to learn (baa)..."

I'm sure by the time I'm immune to that one, Disney will come up with something new.