Damn you, Magnus Scheving! (or, why Sportacus is slowly taking over my life)

So here I am trying to be a good mommy to my two year old daughter. I try and do right by her, and by my family. I stay at home full time sacrificing what little sanity I have left after spending 5 years in the Marine Corps for the good of my family. We have a routine, a set bedtime, romps at the park. The kid eats veggies that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I have a pretty damn good life! Sweet, sassy kid, handsome hubby.

And then the TV shows creep in, via this insidious little channel called "Noggin." I know ya'll know what I'm talking about. This thing runs shows aimed at preschoolers, virtually commercial free, 24 hours a day. The network's byline is "It's like preschool on T.V.". Yea, right. Be honest, it's a virtual babysitter and it works!

In order to minimize the damage, we have set shows that we watch and- barring emergencies- that's it. And one of those shows happens to be LazyTown. My daughter is obsessed with LazyTown, and everyone who lives there. LazyTown is the brainchild of one Icelandic athletic hero, Magnus Scheving. His goal in creating the show was to eliminate childhood obesity in Iceland by promoting activity and veggies. And he's done a pretty damn good job! While driving us mommies slowly crazy with puppets. Lots and lots of puppets.


So now I'm stuck watching LazyTown while I attempt to read the news. But thanks to the techno (yes, techno) beat of the LazyTown songs burning into my brain I can't concentrate. So I google Magnus Scheving/Sportacus and come up with:





Yep, that's him. Sportacus himself in all his begoggled, mustachioed, blue elf hatted glory. So he flips and dances his way around LazyTown with all his puppets and his human friend Stephanie (who is eight, wears all pink, and is infallibly cheerful). They all dodge the bad guy, Robbie Rotten, brush their teeth and eat veggies. All while the damn techno gets STUCK in my head and my daughter dances joyfully in her jammies. I need to unstick my brain, so again to the google:




Handsome huh? Unfortunately, it's not good enough to dislodge the techno that is now munching on my few remaining brain cells.
Fast forward to bedtime aka babywrangling. And the other day one of those "aha" moments hit me (except my "aha" moment isn't like the one in Oprah's magazine, sorry!). I tell my daughter "Sportacus brushes his teeth! So we need to brush yours now, just like Sportacus!" And here's the kicker, it freakin WORKS!!! She grabs her little Dora toothbrush (oh, we will fall down the Dora rabbit hole later, I promise you) and brushes away. Hmm. I believe I'm onto something! "Honey, you need to get into bed so you can be strong just like Sportacus!"

"Okay Mommy! In bed like Stephanie!"

Oh. My. God.

And the magic has yet to run out. Cross your fingers for me.