Tom Hanks, I Love You, Now Leave

Anyone who has kids has been through the “phases”.  You know the Thomas phase, the Dora phase, The Curious George phase, The Power Rangers phase and the list goes on and on.  Every time you come out of one phase you welcome the next one. Oh thank god he’s over Thomas if I had to listen to one more minute of school kids singing about a train I was going to jump in front of one.  Then you get into the next phase and you quickly find yourself hating that one just as much if not more.  There were times my husband and I would talk about ways we would off Dora. Oh I would just push her from that cliff or oh I hope that damn monkey turns on her one day.  Don’t even get me started on the fact that she’s wearing a belly shirt.

The world of television and movies is so different from when I was a kid. When I was growing up my parents watched the news before dinner. There weren’t any kid shows offered. There was no such thing as a DVR where I could record, pause, fast forward and (cringe) rewind my favorite line from my favorite show a million times. No sir. If I had to pee I missed 3 minutes of the show, if we were going somewhere I missed the end of the show plain and simple. 

My kids live in a world of watching their favorite show ad nauseam.  My youngest is slightly (fatal attraction) obsessed with the Toy Story Trilogy. To be honest it didn’t bother me at first, not one bit. My oldest liked the movies but had really only seen them a handful of times. We have all three. My youngest has both Buzz and Woody who he can often be found dragging around the house. He also has every other character in the movie.  He wants to watch it on a rainy day, a snowy day, a sunny day, a sick day…ok so pretty much every damn day.  His favorite character is Woody, which I get, Tom Hanks makes that character loveable in every way and I happen to be a big Tom Hanks fan. However this was getting to be a bit much.  I started to hear his voice in my sleep.  I would see other people’s mouths moving but I would hear Tom Hanks speaking.

Finally we seemed to catch a break for a little while.  Then as luck would have it one of my all-time favorite movies was on…during a snow storm nonetheless!  BIG. That’s right the 1988 movie BIG, with, well yes with Woody  Tom Hanks.  I had the brilliant idea to record it on the DVR as we sat down and watched it as a family. My husband and I were both excited to watch a movie that we liked, with the kids.  That was 1 month ago. We have since watched (or had on in the background) BIG 487 times.  My toddler wakes up in the morning walks into the family room and says Mommy Big? It was the cutest thing the first 97 (ok 3) times but it has gotten beyond old.  I could win a trivia contest on this movie hands down (let me know if you hear of one I’m so in!) I know that his first paycheck is for exactly $187.30. My preschooler isn’t any better.  Guys what do you want to watch while I make dinner? Him: I think BIG mom.  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!

Here’s the thing Tom Hanks. I like you I really do but if we move on from this to Forest Gump or Cast Away I am going to run until I find a ship that will take me to an island where I can talk to volleyball for a very long time.