Kids TV Show Review: Sesame Street

Here in the US, we rely on a trusted caregiver for our children - the Television. And Jodi and I are no different. For the past 2 weeks, TV has raised Matthew while, by all accounts I have been a bumbling idiot.

In all seriousness, Jodi of course is doing a fine job, but so far, TV has been a nice distraction for our little guy and we expect some of the repetition on the shows (and there is a lot) will help us keep teaching him english.

So I have been exposed to plenty of children's programming over the past few weeks, some good and some bad .... so I figured I'd throw out some reviews. Here is what I think of that time-honored classic - Sesame Street.

Sesame Street has been on TV for almost 40 years (in fact, it will have it's 40th anniversary this November). Sesame continues to take place in a fictional neighborhood that is meant to represent a "typical" urban environment - that is, a variety of different ethnicities living in harmony (yeah right).

Interestingly, the formula on Sesame Street seems unchanged since when I was watching (up through the mid-90's, my college years). There is a good combination of regular people, muppets and little skits, generally revolving around a certain letter or number or even a concept; for instance, today's theme: shoes. What I do appreciate is that it can take some basic ideas and provide decent introductions and repetition which I guess is what a kid needs. Sesame also includes a good smattering of real footage of people, particularly kids. And I was pleased to see a decent amount of arts represented in some skits including modern ballet dancing and musical appreciation.

Other thoughts:

1. It appears the main human characters are all still there and played by the same guys as when I was little. Notable that they've been able to keep these guys like Bob and Luis under contract all these years. I am picturing seeing them dining in some fancy boutique restaurant in NYC wearing Prada sneakers.
2. Also, these guys absolutely do not age - they all look like they did in the 70's. Sesame Street must have a seriously talented plastic surgeon - I am waiting for him to make an appearance.
3. Similarly, you have a lot of the usual muppet characters like Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch, although prominently featured is this new guy Elmo who appears to be a smaller, baby-talking version of Grover and he is exceedingly annoying. He seems to have totally taken over the show. Of course, he is Matthew's favorite guy.
4. Celebrities still make appearances from time to time including A-listers like David Beckham and a smattering of jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock and Diana Krall.
5. You can view Sesame Street on Demand and review older content. I just saw my favorite skit of all time the other day: the one when Bert is trying give his nephew a bath and Ernie shows up and puts in too many bath toys.

So overall, Sesame Street offers a pretty unique combination of learning and entertainment informed by cultural and art appreciation as well.
My Score: 4.5 Stars
Matthew's Score: 4 Stars

Edaville RR, The Untold Story

So last week, Auntie Rachel and Uncle Brad sent us this really cool book of 75 things to do in Boston with kids. Therefore ,when this past weekend rolled around, Jodi was pretty fired up about doing something cool with little Matthew.

I, of course agree, as my plan is to show Matt such a kick-ass time, he'll never want to leave. So from this great little book, we chose Edaville Railroad, a train-themed amusement park, to go along with the fact Matthew has conveniently been playing with trains for the past week.

You heard about the cape traffic and the awesome trip to McDonalds and have since seen the feature length video. Some more fun facts about Edaville RR:

1. It is located about an hour south of Boston and its near a lot of the cranberry bogs where cranberry juice is made; what's more, Edaville RR also houses an informative cranberry museum.

2. If you can't get enough cranberries, you can also by cranberry-related odds/ends in the three gift shops.

3. The main attraction is the Edaville RR train ride which takes you on a scenic ride through.... you guessed it .... cranberry bogs.

4. Jodi tried to order Cranberry sherbert ice cream but they were sold out.

5. The place is actually a pretty compact, clean little park with a good amount of rides for small children; we plan on returning in either the fall or the winter.

6. Edaville RR doesn't have the budget for licensed characters such as Disney World or even the second tier characters you see at places like Six Flags. It does have one guy walking around that I thought looked like a great big pizza slice - Jodi thinks he is a frog. Matthew actually walked right up to him and shook his hand.

7. Before leaving for Edaville, Matthew was treated to an impromtu visit from his Uncle Brad who stayed long enough to play "Where's the Baby?"

Neopolitan Ice Cream

So I just got finished eating a small bowl of Neopolitan ice cream. This reminds me of the Simpsons where Homer tells Marge "Marge we need more ice cream" after he rummages through box after box of Neopolitan Ice cream in his freezer, each with just the chocolate eaten out of it.

Jodi got a thing of Edy's Neopolitan ice cream which is really good, but of course, like most ice cream these days, it comes in a cylinder-shaped tub. Therefore it's virtually impossible to eat any one discrete flavor. I always thought the point of Neopolitan was to be able to eat different flavors at different times. But I could be wrong.

Just wondering what other people think about this? In this day and age of frozen custard and frozen yogurt, do people even eat Neopolitan ice cream any more (besides us Italians)? Meanwhile, if you are a religious reader of this blog, you might be wondering "how many times per week does Chris eat ice cream". The answer is 5.

Matthew: The Sox Cap Fits

There are a decent amount of pics I need to post such as these ones from earlier in the week when Matthew donned his Sox hat and proceeded to do stuff around the kitchen, and I don't mean make me a sandwich.

Sunday Stuff

Edaville Footage

Note Matthew on the Merry Go Round....

First time around: sitting on a horsey

Second time around: leaning into Jodi

Third time around: sitting in the sit-down sled

Matthew Eats "Happy Meal"

So we headed down to Edaville Railroad today to show Matthew some trains and ride some rides (more on that later). And as we drove down there this morning we hit the typical Cape traffic so I did what any god-loving family man would do, I banged off the next exit and hit a McDonalds, continuing a long-standing Murphy-family tradition of feeding wholesome foods to their kids.

So we figured we'd score Matthew a Happy Meal.. Much to my chagrin, what passes as a "Happy Meal" these days now comes in a paper bag instead of a little cardboard carrying case - apparently kids should be "Happy" about saving the environment as they eat their meal out of an ordinary paper bag. Not only that, but these things can be ordered with apple slices instead of fries, which, of course, Jodi (to my abject horror). I wont even get into how Jodi took the breading off the chicken mcnuggets. This kid ate healhier in McD's than he normally does at home - which is just wrong on so many levels.

I am happy to report I consumed a regular old Big Mac.