The Power of Advertising

Most of the TV that the boys watch is either recorded, on demand, or on DVD, so they don't see a ton of commercials. But there is one on Sprout for the Dream Light ("by the makers of Pillow Pets!") that Mattie likes (it has a sort of catchy/soothing theme song), and it's for these stuffed animals that light up and project lights onto the ceiling. Somehow the boys found their turtle nightlight, which they've had forever (it was a baby gift from Aunt Jess and Uncle Chris, if I recall correctly) but hadn't used recently (it's really cool, but the batteries wore out a while back and we just never got around to changing them).

It's close enough to the advertised product that Mattie was just absolutely thrilled that he had a Dream Light!  He couldn't stop talking about it and just wanted to play and play with his Dream Light.  ("The commercial says now I won't be scared of the dark!"  "Dude, you already aren't scared of the dark.") As media influence goes, this isn't too bad, but I was surprised at the extent of his commercial-based enthusiasm.  :)

James was enthusiastic about it, too, but not because of the ad.   He loved playing the game where someone would project the stars and moon onto the wall, and the boys would try to jump and touch the moon.  :)

In other news, Mattie was also very proud of himself for doing (I think) his first 12 piece puzzle all by himself.  Normally, Mattie loses interest in puzzles somewhere between the first and second piece.  We were all sitting down with the puzzles, and Mattie held up a piece and said, "Can you help me?  I'm not smart like James."   He didn't sound unhappy or upset, but that was definitely not something I want to hear! So I told him that no, he and James were both smart. I think he then asked what smart meant, so, you know, don't read too much into the statement. :)  (And no, as far as I know no one has ever told him he's not as smart as his brother -- though it is in fact true that James is way better at puzzles and matching games than Mattie.  But that's probably mostly because he enjoys them more, and Mattie doesn't have the patience for them.)

Then Mike talked Mattie through some puzzle strategies (looking for colors that match, etc.).  And he did it!  Yay, Mattie!

The boys enjoyed their trip to the dinosaur museum today, and they didn't even insist on seeing the dinosaurs this time. :)

(And young James managed to put his mouth on both a garbage can AND the side of the sheep pen before we could stop him -- so, his smarts clearly do not extend to all areas yet!  Gah!  All that time in the hospital, and the child learned nothing about infection control!)