Is this what my child is supposed to be?

Both kids are sleeping, and I've left the TV on PBS Kids. I have 150 channels, plus a long list of recorded programs, and I'm stuck on PBS Kids watching Curious George and now Martha Speaks. What is wrong with me? Why can't I get up and change the channel (when you have a one-year-old, you have to hide the remote lest it be gummed into a state of uselessness)?

Watching Curious George, I wonder if I should feel bad that an animated monkey has more skills that either of my children? He can draw, pack groceries, fix complex machinery, read maps, and hang upside down. My daughter can talk your ear off, but ask her to hold a pencil, and she's a chip of the ol' block (I almost failed kindergarten because my fine motor skills left much to be desired). George is like a very advanced toddler. And that's like most of the "kids" on TV.

Probably the most frustrating part of watching animated kid on TV is that you start to assume that your kids should be that eloquent, that talented and that coordinated. Of course, you forget that if the kid on TV (who is supposed to be three) spoke like a real three-year-old, no one would watch because no one would understand a word the kid was saying. Seriously, when I pick my daughter at preschool, the kids all run up to me and tell me about there day. I don't understand 90% of what they are telling me.

You always understand your own children (most of the time) because you listen to them speak all the time. I can listen to what my daughter is saying three rooms away and still be able to a) understand it and b) explain it to my husband. But the kids are TV are so articulate, it leaves me feeling less than confident in my own kids' progress.

Which is ridiculous. I guess we start kids early on aspirational TV: Here you are kids, here's an unreasonable model for you to aspire to be. I think I need to find more things to do with my time other than stress about how my daughter measures up to an animated monkey. As they are so gracious to remind you after every mini-episode: "George is a monkey, so he can do things that you and I can't." Amen.