The Power of Television

The day before Jen went into labor I made some elk burgers. After the babies were born I came home to grab a few things and threw the leftover burgers in the freezer.


Today, I thawed them out and made them for lunch! It was the taste of a long-lost time, that time before the majority of my day was spent performing baby-wrangling duties.

Today I spent a good portion of the day playing with and feeding babies. While I was tempted to feed them the elk burgers I opted to stick with milk and formula. On the occasions that I need to feed them simultaneously I often set them up in their Bumbos, or similar baby-seating devices we have lying around, and put something on TV to watch while they eat.

I am always careful to face them to me as I don't want them staring at a television screen. However, this has proved harder lately as their neck muscles have strengthened. Because, here's the thing . . .


. . . they love TV! No matter how you hold them or where you position them they will crane their necks as much as possible in hope to grab even a quick glimpse of the mesmerising images.


I've started holding my hand by their face so they don't watch but it's really hard. I can understand why parents would park their kids in front of a television. I always thought, mistakenly, that it was because the television entertains them while you can do other things. That isn't it at all. At least not for me.

To me it's hard because how can I look at this face and all the wonder in the eyes of my son and deprive him of this? Look at him. He doesn't look at anything with that level of captivation. Not me, not his mother, not his bottle, not his food. Nothing.


Martin slept for about four hours this afternoon. I woke him up after an hour of playing with and feeding Elliott. I fed him and after he took the last drop out of the bottle he immediately went back to sleep for another three hours. This does not bode well for a good sleep this evening.


Warning: the following has a lot less to do with babies.

For dinner I made a new version of the stuffed pumpkin. I made a variation on the pretzel dumplings I made for Oktoberfest to use as a stuffing. I cooked some garlic, onion, and collard greens in olive oil and butter, added some sweet Italian Sausage, then put it over some stale soft pretzel and sourdough bread. I then added scalded milk and an egg, mixed it all together and stuffed it into a pumpkin that had been roasted for about an hour. After about another hour in the oven it was ready.


For beer tonight I picked yet another pumpkin ale from this year's haul: the Pumking from Southern Tier Brewing Co. I've had this only once before on tap so I was delighted when Jen brought a bottle home for me as a special treat. It's considered by many that I've talked to to be one of the best pumpkin beers out there.

The beer smells like the batter for a pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffin. Despite that description it is not super sweet. It's probably better suited to dessert than a main course but still quite enjoyable.

2012 Pumpkin Beer Standings

1. Shipyard Brewing Company Smashed Pumpkin - more pumpkin than spice
   
2. Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale - rich maltiness
   
3. Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumking - fresh pumpkin muffin batter
   
4. Long Trail Brewmasters Series Imperial Pumpkin - dubbel-style malt
   
5. Uinta Brewing Company Punk'n - nicely balanced
   
6. New Holland Brewing Company Ichabod Ale - heavy spice
   
7. Captain Lawrence Brewing Company Pumpkin Ale - slightly sour
   
8. Fire Island Beer Company Pumpkin Barrel Ale - too much cinnamon
   

Before Jen got home Elliott was starting to fuss so I decided a great way to distract him would be to call up the movie Animalympics on the iPad and watch with him on the bed until she got home to feed him. It turns out I was right. The power of video wins again.

So it begins.