What is the deal with kids and their love for talking on the phone? And even more, what is the deal with kids and their sudden need for Mom's undivided attention when someone calls and the call isn't for them? And one step further, why do kids seem to think that the second Mom answers the phone, it is time to attack their sister/stick their hand in the toilet/scale the kitchen counters trying to reach the cookie box/remove the pictures from the wall/rip the covers off all the children's books/sneak Mommy's colored pencils and chew all the lead out?
Or is that just my kids? Somehow, I don't think so.
My friend Holly is determined to believe that I sugar-coat my blog posts about my life with kids. The reason: While I definitely have lots of posts about temper tantrums, black eyes and terrible manners, more often than not, I feature my girls in all their adorableness... yet whenever Holly calls, she gets nothing but a blast of screaming kids with bad behavior as I run all over the house trying to find one place where she wont have to listen to screaming, crying children in the background.
Truthfully, I feel sorry for anyone who calls us at the Hopkins household. Will and I aren't particularly nice to our friends and family. As soon as someone asks to talk to the girls, they are subjected to listening to Gracie and Annelie babble on about anything from Barbie to Barney (and only about 35% of it even makes sense) for about a half hour each, despite the fact that Will and I can hear whoever it is saying, "Give Mommy the phone, please. Please, please, please give Mommy the phone," -- to which Gracie completely ignores as she replies, "Yeah, uh huh, okay, that's right," while balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder, as she pretends to be me; and to which Annelie only just shouts 'No!' and then keeps right on babbling.
As I said, Will and I aren't particularly nice, but we both find it funny, so we let the girls carry on. We find it especially funny when Gracie decides to show the person on the phone her pictures, or workbooks, by holding the phone over them saying, "See? Do you like my picture?" That can last a good ten minutes. Its a good thing we have a cheap long distance plan, as it is usually Will's family in England, or my mom in Austin, who are stuck on the other end of the phone.
Last month, when Gracie was visiting my mom for a few days after Christmas, I let Annelie call Gracie every day. The girls have never been happier. For 20 minutes at a time, they sat there giggling across the phone to each other. Annelie finally had someone on the phone who laughed when she shouted, "BLAH!" and Gracie finally had someone on the phone who laughed when she shouted, "UNDERPANTS!" It was great.
Anyway, the moral of this post is this: My kids are monsters when the phone rings. And as for you, Holly, please don't tell me I've sugar-coated this post. Because if you do, I might just hand the phone off to Gracie and Annelie next time you call!
For those of you who love the phone as much as my kids do, here are some Etsy favorites of mine to share:
It is no secret that I have a bit of hero-worship for Kelly of Macaroni and Glue... her shop is just fantastic and her retro-modern papergoods are even lovlier in person. I adore this Call Me set of 8 blank note cards. You can find her shop at www.macaroniandglue.etsy.com
And her blog never fails to make me smile, especially the letters she writes to her adorable and imaginative daughter on 'Dear Kid Saturday.' Check it out: www.macaroniandglue.blogspot.com
I love everything found in the shop filled with illustrations, prints and cards by Lynsey Hunter (especially her illustrations of London and Bath!) This Telephone print, made of watercolor, ink and collage, is just adorable! You can find her shop at www.lynseyhunter.etsy.com
This iphone 3G case, made by Hine, at www.hine.etsy.com, is just about the cutest phone case ever. I don't even have an iphone, but this case makes me want to get one... just so I can wrap it up in the mustardy plushness of this phone carrier! I love it.
Enjoy!
15 comments:
OMG! Why do kids do that?!! It never fails everytime I am on the phone, my son screams MOM!!! The best is when you ask the person on the other end of the phone, "what did you say?" and the kids making all the noise, repeats what they said so you can't hear the person on the other end again. Drives me isane! I do love letting my kids call my parents and letting them babble though. My mom is getting me back, she watches my neices and they have to talk to me when I call. =P
Isn't that funny?!
Mine do it too.
I just had this same discussion with my MIL last week. I am sure she thinks my children are animals because of their behavior every time she calls.
Love the little phone pouch!
oh boy, if this is what I have in store....my 10 month old already screams whenever I talk on my phone because he wants to hold it and push all the buttons.
it's not just your adorable little ladies. As soon as the phone rings my little one immediately needs my undivided attention because Kipper the dog has done some earth shattering act of cartoondom.
However my daughter is at the stage where she will have nothing to do with the telephone and shouts no when we try to get her to talk to her grandparents, the only exception is when she asks to talk so that she can hit the end button to end the call...
You just completely described MY kids!! Except that my father-in-law actually ENCOURAGES them to call him. And now if Lane sees a phone, he starts yelling, "Papa!" And if somebody other than Papa happens to call, he gets mad if I hand him the phone and he can't talk to Papa.
My sister-in-law lives in Spain. We use our laptop with the built in webcam and use skype to call her for free. Bonus is that she has a webcam too, and our kids can see each other and talk to each other. It frees up mom or dad on both sides of the ocean for a good half hour at NO COST!
lol mine do it too! everytime my mum calls, she begins the conversations with something akin to "what in the world is going on there?!" (because of the screaming in the background) and one particular sister-in-law always asks "where are you?!" (when she calls on the mobile because of the screaming in the background). Then they fight over the phone because they both want to speak!
And I'm usually hovering over them screaming translations so the person on the other end can understand what theya re saying hahaha
The worst has been when the real estate agent or accountant has called (professional people who dont have time to talk to my boys) and Daniel (usually) is in the background screaming that he wants to speak! And once I've hung up they throw a bigger tantrum because I didn't let them!
Is it any wonder I email rather than call people!?!?!
That's ok, my blog is mostly full of sugary goodness about my kids too.
And I couldn't have said it better myself...you described the phone situation to a tee. (is that the right expression?) anyways, you know what I mean!
Hahaha! So funny! My mom has told me that I spilled an entire box of cheerios when I was young... and she was on the phone! ;)
No sugar coating here. :o) Kids do the most "damage" when Mom is distracted on the phone. It's prime opportunity for tantrums and trouble. Besides, I always have to snicker when your kids are misbehaving and you tell them to knock it off or you'll sell them on the black market. :o)
shhhh... Holly, you aren't supposed to tell people I threaten to sell my kids on the black market.
lol!! No its not just yours!
I LOVE your phone finds!!
That is funny! I had no idea, kids have this obsession with phones! My fur babies want my attention the most when I am on the phone!
ooh love that iphone case - very cute!
Hi, Marisa! You've been nominated for an award.....you can pick it up at my blog!
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