Sunday, November 18, 2007

Will as Wendy

Lately Will, who’s never seen an episode of Bob the Builder, has nevertheless had Bob the Builder on his mind. His classmate and buddy Creight, who was a builder for Halloween, has apparently lured Will in for some Bob the Builder fantasy play of late. Over the past week, Will has announced to me several times: “Mom, Creight is Bob the Builder. And I’m Wendy.”

The first time he told me this, I couldn’t help but ask, “Oh. Is Wendy a girl?” (I’ve never seen Bob the Builder either.)

“No. Wendy’s a boy,” Will said.

I kind of like the idea of Will playing out a TV-inspired fantasy with only his own images in his mind. So, next time you see Will, don’t tell him that Wendy looks like this:

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So glad that tv has been been brought up again, as it reminded me to tell you about Super Why. I read an article recently that said if there is one show you let your kids watch, this is it. Creight only gets to watch one show a day... and many days that doesn't even happen. He watched his first episode a couple of weeks ago and has been hooked ever since. He finally has an interest in letters and reading. I do not believe at all that tv is a substitution for parental involvement as far as teaching goes, but something in this show has made the prospect of learning to read much more exciting. When I "previewed" the show, I thought there would be no way Creight would watch an entire episode because it seemed a little too advanced. Although he doesn't get all of it, he sits glued to the tv for the entire time. It comes on at 8 am (and again at 2:30... I think) on PBS. All I can say is, thank goodness... no more Dora!!!

Annie Addington said...

Thanks for the recommendation. I still haven't made time to check out Peep and the Big Wide World (recommended in the comments way back when on the September 16 post). We’re still stuck with 20 minutes of Pooh, Muzzy, or Sesame Street videos on the days Will watches TV and even with that fairly minor dose Will’s often got Pooh, Tigger, Muzzy and Baby Bear on the brain during various points throughout the doy. So on the one hand I'd like to branch out and on the other I’m sort of reluctant to introduce new characters – but maybe the cast of Peep or Super Why are less likely to become fixtures in play and imagination like old Winnie and Big Muzzy. And I at least like the fact that Super Why is just a half hour. I found these reviews of both shows in the New York Times for anyone who’s interested: Super Why: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/arts/television/10supe.html and Peep: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEED9103BF936A15757C0A9629C8B63