Mom is so much better on TV

I just got home from the BlogHer conference and of course my children didn't care about all the fabulous things I learned, women I met, parties I attended, or even the SWAG.   They just wanted to know where the surprise was.   Translation:  What did mommy bring home for THEM during her time away?  I was happy to report back to the little dictators of our home, that I had brought them many things, but I had a special surprise.   This surprise required the TV to be turned on.   

WHAT? they asked.  TV is being allowed without a lot of begging and pleading?   Mom is actually turning it on of her own free will?    That alone would have been enough of a surprise for them.   However, you should have seen their faces when I appeared on our TV screen standing on Sesame Street with my favorite pal, Grover.

The house fell silent with an awed hush.   I had achieved the desired affect.

A few days earlier at the conference, a well-informed Blog Sister from Tippytoes and Tantrums whispered to me... "Go to the Sesame Street Lounge, you can make a video for your kids."    Really?    Well, the next minute you could have witnessed a 9 month pregnant woman running down the hall to get in with the Sesame Street cast.  Sure enough, it was true.  Grover was there in person...  all 2 feet of electric blue matted fur of him.   The Sesame Street Sponsors asked if I wanted to make a personalized video with him on Sesame Street.  I thought... duh, yeah! 

Zoom forward to today when I whipped out my Sesame Street debut for the boys.   Both of them sat mouths opened staring at the TV.   They looked at me, looked back at the TV, looked at me again, and started to grin the hugest grins I had ever seen.    When Grover & I would talk to them via the video, they would answer as if we were standing in front of them.   They were amazed that I could be two places at the same time.  Obviously it was confusing them a bit, but they were LOVING it. 

We watched the video 5 times.   At the end, my eldest said, "I want THAT mommy (pointing to the TV) to come here, and you to go there."    And many times he started talking to THAT mommy during the video, because she was obviously in touch with the things that mattered most in his world.   

I guess one of the versions of me is now the coolest mommy on the block.  Too bad it's the one on the screen.  The one in real life is back to cooking dinner and picking up toys.   Boring old real-life mommy, why couldn't she have brought Grover home in person?

Original post to Silicon Valley Mom's Blog.  When she isn't torturing her kids with confusing TV videos, Michelle also blogs a Mom Without A Map.