"Again"

This is my son's current favorite word.

Is there anything as soul-sucking delightful as singing the same song 852,000 times, or watching the same youtube video over an over until your eyeballs bleed? We've been doing this for a long time. You want "Wheels on the Bus", kid? I can do that!" Again. and Again. and Again. What's that you say, Ethan? You want to watch that youtube video of a baby laughing at the sound of ripping paper again? But we're already responsible for at least half of the 3 million views!

Mind you, I only really indulge the youtube viewing towards the end of the day, when we both feel our nerves are like peeled grapes (this is our current equation: 3 hours of preschool, a child who won't nap and a husband who works until near 7pm--let's just say that by about 5pm, I'm fighting off the urge to run screaming from the house and never return). So lest you judge me as subpar mommy for letting the child watch videos on the computer all day, realize that it is only for a short period of time, after hours of enriching mommy and child bonding-time, and it is an excellent alternative to me eating my own offspring because I cannot play with the cars on the floor for one. more. freaking. minute!!

I'm not sure how exactly it happened--much of the late afternoon is a fog to me--but one day this week, I found myself singing "Puff the Magic Dragon" to Ethan for the first time. I've always been a Peter, Paul and Mary fan (which I realize takes me as far out of the running as possible for the "cool" award), and even as a little girl, the song made me pine for the childhood I'd one day leave behind. So, you know, singing to your only child who has just started pre-school and is growing up in front of your eyes and there's nothing you can do to stop it? Super uplifting.

However, having made the mistake of introducing Ethan to the song, there's really no going back. "Again." Okay. "Again." Okay. This is where you envision those two words written about eleventy billion times across your screen, like a "I will not chew gum in class" on your 3rd grade chalk board.

By the point at which I was considering poking forks in my eyes I'd had enough, it occurred to me that perhaps our friend Youtube might be able to take over my parenting duties and sing the song to Ethan another 450 times before Husband came home.

Did you know there are about 1,280 youtube results for "Puff the Magic Dragon"? Many of them are just footage of the original trio singing the song on stage, but there are also a host of nightmare inducing, creepily animated film shorts, home videos of other peoples' toddlers dancing around coffee tables, butchering the lyrics and tune, and even one or two guitar lessons.

In the creepy category, there is a whole serious called "Land of the Living Lies", apparently hosted by a dragon-colored tuxedo sporting Puff.



Um. Creepy!! Bad 70's animation and earthquakes swallowing children? I'll pass, thanks.

Again.



Super cute, but maybe she should practice a little more before going on StarSearch. It's "Puff" kiddo, not "Huff", but good try!

Again.



This one is the bastard child of Gumby and Mr. Bill. Doubtless took hours to put together, but MY EYES!!!!

Again.

Let's see if she does a better job than the last girl...



Clearly, she practiced more. Also? She's three.

Again.



I can't help but love this just a little bit. Nothing cuter than an aspiring rock star mixing his childhood's innocence with his rock-the-stadium dreams.

Had enough? One more.

Again.



This is the one Ethan wants to watch the most. I'm fine with it because the Irish Rover's song makes up for the "ohmygodmakeitstop" annoying animation.

So this concludes this little peak into my week. Why do I think the next video of Puff the Magic Dragon on youtube is going to feature my kid?