Is There Such a Thing as Too Much TV?

Normally I would have been quick to respond with an emphatic "No!" to this question, but no I begin to wonder if I've been too hasty.

What brought this whole subject up was the baby (of course). The other morning she woke up at 4 am and wouldn't go back to bed. I brought her down to my bed hoping that she'd snuggle up with me and my husband and fall asleep. No such luck. Instead she sat upright in between us chanting -- LOUDLY -- "E.V., E.V., E.V." Which is her toddler talk for TV. When I'd say to her "its night time you are supposed to be sleeping she'd do this cute little shrug at me and say, "Watch E.V.?" Yeah, I'm so proud that she's talking now, but I think that my addiction has created a monster.

She doesn't even watch all that much television. Just in the mornings while Steve is getting her ready for school, she gets a little Sesame Street, and then at night (we get a little "Ninja Warrior" action going on) when I am getting her dinner ready or trying to find a time to go to the little girls room. Stuff like that. She only watches maybe a half hour at daycare when they are vaccuuming at the end of the day. But now she's started scouring through the DVD's in order to find the one - and only one - that she wants to watch: 'Elmo in Grouchland." Then she alternates between her "E.V." chant and her "Melmo" chant until we finally give in and put it on.

I keep jokingly calling her Mike TV, when she stares transfixed when we walk past the televisions in Target, but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised after all. My mother did tell me when I was young and misbehaving that some day I would wind up with a daughter just like me. I guess mom really does know what she's talking about with this one. Sigh.