David Spates "Therefore I Am" Published Aug. 17, 2004

Lenny, Squiggy and the circle of life

The people in charge of casting could have selected anyone. They chose Lenny. Who else could better play Cousin Louie, a penguin visiting from up North? Lenny is the only choice that makes any sense.

OK, let me explain. The preceding paragraph could use more than just a little clarification. As my faithful, devoted readers know (all four of them, two if you don't count my parents), I'm a stay-at-home dad. I quit my "real" job so that at least one parent would be home with our two young children. I suppose it's an old-fashioned notion, but if parenting our kids for an extra 40 to 50 hours a week is old-fashioned, so be it.

As a stay-at-home dad (Mr. Mom, to use the inevitable cliché), I've learned that TV can be valuable asset. I'm not so nobler-than-thou to claim my kids never watch TV. They watch TV plenty. They don't watch too much TV, though. What's too much, you ask? It's a fine line, and it varies from day to day. Depending on their moods and the circumstances of the day, sometimes an hour is too much. Other days, they may watch more. I feel I have a pretty fair sense of when enough is enough.

That being said, "Oswald" is one of my kids' favorites. It features an octopus in the title role, an urban octopus who lives in a sprawling metropolis called Big City. One of Oswald's best friends is a penguin named Henry, and the guy behind Henry's voice is none other than David L. Lander, whose best-known character, as anyone born after 1975 readily knows, is Squiggy Squiggman from the old "Laverne & Shirley" show. Squiggy was the short one and with his pal, Lenny, they were friends with Shirley and Laverne. At the time, Lenny and Squiggy were as much a fixture in popular TV as The Fonz, J.R. and Hawkeye.

I've been sitting through episodes of "Oswald" for months and had recognized Lander's distinctive voice from the get-go. I had always enjoyed his stints on "Oswald" because he made me recall funny "Laverne & Shirley" episodes from my youth. I distinctly remember my parents allowing my sister and me to watch "Happy Days" at night, but then we were off to bed. If we worked our magic just right, every so often we got to watch "Laverne & Shirley," which came on right after, as a "special treat." So seeing the shtick Lenny and Squiggy did holds fond memories for me, even though it's nearly three decades later and I'm watching TV with my own kids and Squiggy now takes the form of a pudgy, spoon-collecting penguin.

Life in Big City got even a little more nostalgic recently when Henry's cousin, Louie, came to visit. Michael McKean, a.k.a. Lenny, is who the "Oswald" producers pegged to play Louie. They obviously had we Generation X'ers in mind with that casting. Even though it's been more than 20 years since I've seen even a rerun of "Laverne & Shirley," hearing Lenny and Squiggy together again made me feel as though I were 8.

Enjoying the familiar penguin banter made me think about how much has changed since the wife and I have had children. Never was it more apparent than when I visited some college friends in Washington, DC, recently. Their stories involved wanderlust-filled journeys through North America stopping every so often to put expertise at work just long enough to make a few bucks before hitting the open road once more. One friend works in public relations and regularly deals with the world's top news gatherers like AP, Reuters, BBC, you name it. There were also tales of two pals' work-related projects so secret they warrant classification by the federal government. Pretty cool stuff, right?

Amused at how different my life had become in the last three years, I blurted out, "Yeah, well, I play a lot of Hi Ho Cherry-O with my kids!" We all enjoyed a good laugh, but it's the truth. My stories may not be as sizzling and eyebrow-raising as they once were, but nothing can compare to raising respectful, well-adjusted, observant children.

Other things have changed as well, some of them quite unpredictable. Before I had kids, I hated getting dirty. I hated touching bugs. I didn't like to clean up gooey, nasty, disgusting messes. Blech! To put it succinctly, I was a squeamish little pansy boy. Two kids and a couple thousand diapers later, I'm cured of that, thank you very much. My hands have been to places I'd rather not discuss verbally, so picking up an ant-covered lollipop that's been in the driveway for three days or fishing a chicken bone out of the garbage disposal just isn't that big of a deal anymore.

It's all part of the joys of parenthood, I suppose, but when you add a visit from Lenny and Squiggy into the mix, I realize that life just doesn't get any better.

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David Spates is a Knoxville resident and Crossville Chronicle contributor whose column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at davespates@chartertn.net.