The British Invasion

My kids love 'em some TV. Yeah, I said it. I mean, it's not like they're brainless imbeciles glued slack-jawed to the boob tube all day, but they do watch some shows. Usually their channel of choice is Nick Jr. - it's actually my channel of choice, too, because they actually learn something from most of the stuff they watch instead of just staring at some mindless cartoon.

But thanks to Colin's newfound ability to spell, and hence to look things up on the computer, he's discovered some new shows online. And one of the shows he's discovered is Charlie and Lola.

It's on the Disney channel here in the States, but it's a British show, so Charlie and Lola have these adorable English accents (I'm a sucker for accents). Charlie is Lola's very patient and tolerant older brother, always willing to help his little sister. And Colin loves pretending to be Charlie.

Do you understand what that means? Do you grasp the magnitude of this? Charlie is patient and tolerant and helpful. And obedient! Which means that when Colin is pretending to be Charlie, he is also all of these things (with a bonus adorable English accent - which he's actually really good at imitating!). Where normal Colin will drag his feet when I ask him to do something, "Charlie" will cheerfully - and immediately! - complete the task. So I'm taking advantage. Now, if I need something really urgently, I'll just cut to the chase and ask Charlie.

The only catch? When he's Charlie, I'm no longer his American "Mommy," but his British "Mummy" - which requires an accent on my part, too. It's fun, though. And as long as he's being sweet and cooperative, I have no problem speaking with an English accent for a substantial portion of the day.

It's just a phase, I'm sure, and the magic of Charlie will fade before I can say "tea and crumpets." But until my cheeky little chap decides to return, I'm going to enjoy our own brand of British invasion.