Wall-E

This one is for Nathan.

I thought I had taken a video this morning, but it turns out I only took a picture. So let me try to explain the messed up relationship the boys have with Wall-E. For starters, they hate him. We cannot run Wall-E while the boys are awake. It used to be we couldn't run Wall-E in the same room, and I understand that. If you're tiny and immobile and a loud robot is coming towards you, you might should be frightened. Especially because you have no recourse. But now we can't even run him in the other end of the house. They come racing into the room when they hear him, just so they can scream.

In recent days, however, the obsession has deepened. The two of them will sit next to a sleeping Wall-E (see above) and touch him. He doesn't do much unless you turn him on and I suppose they're trying to turn him on (mostly unsuccessfully). But to watch them you have to wonder what the obsession is. He doesn't make noise, you can't bang him on the ground, you can't roll him (much, Calvin has recently figured that one out). They just watch him and stick their hands out from time to time to touch him (notice Liam's body language? This is mostly Calvin's game). 

Every now and then they manage to turn him on and then they both scream at the top of their lungs. Because turning Wall-E on means he's going to make noise and back up. They don't move out of the way, they just throw their hands in the air and start wailing. Wall-E isn't deterred by a stationary body (or screaming, it appears), he just does a 50-point turn trying to find a pathway into the room. Home base, Calvin's knee, home base, Liam's foot, home base, Calvin's hand, home base, Liam's leg, and so it goes.

You would think such a hatred of Wall-E would have led to an aversion? You'd be wrong. They're obsessed. Notice the blue painters tape over the ON/OFF button? That didn't work. Calvin has figured out how to turn Wall-E on without pushing the button (I'm not yet sure how he does this). 

You might also think that responsible parents would have put Wall-E away when they were babyproofing. But then you'd be assuming we are responsible parents who babyproofed. And you'd be assuming that Wall-E isn't an important member of the family who has an important job to do every day, several times a day. He is currently living in the laundry room because I lost my patience with Calvin's game this morning (this was after the blue tape fail). But he can't live there permanently. At some point we have to reach a truce.

Wall-E used to sit beneath a heating vent and Calvin would scoot over there at every opportunity and subject himself to double torture: wind in his face and Wall-E. The strangeness of my children is becoming more and more obvious as they develop freedom of movement around the house. I wish I had more pictures.