Baby Einstein

cups, originally uploaded by Reid Pierce.

So, yes, you have all heard by now that Baby Einstein videos actually make kids dumb. Personally, I couldn't have survived the first six months of motherhood without 'Baby Bach.' 'Baby Mozart' got me through countless showers, packing up the house and moving, and I credit 'Baby's First Moves' for teaching Sawyer to clap, dance and touch his nose. I only regret that it wasn't my idea - let's play with a bunch of baby toys, put it to music and make a video! These people had clearly been to their fair share of Phish shows, if you know what I mean. And now they're millionaires. But, you've really got to hand it to the brilliant woman who came up with the study. You mean, sitting my son in front of a Baby Einstein video all day isn't actually going to make him MORE intelligent?

So speaking of brilliant, yesterday I had one of those 'my son's a genius' moments that only a mother can have. Sawyer was playing with his stacking cups, carrying them all over the house (basically his favorite pastime - how many toys can I carry at one time). I decided to make the game more constructive. "Sawyer, why don't you put the cups into your car and push them around." (His ride-on car has a flip up seat). I wasn't sure whether Sawyer understood the words 'car' or 'cup,' or the concept of putting one object into another, for that matter, but (as I continued to lay on the couch) he walked across the room, lifted the car's seat, and methodically began carrying the stacking cups across the room one by one and putting them in the car. When he was done, he pushed the car around for a while then, when he reached some invisible destination, he stopped and unloaded the cups one by one onto a blanket where, I assume, they were going to sleep. I was just getting ready to pick up the phone to call my mom and tell her what a genius her grandson is when Sawyer picked up the blanket, scattering the cups everywhere, put it over his head and began walking around the room crashing into things he couldn't see.

I put the phone back down. Maybe I should rethink those videos after all.