Vaminos!

Have I ever told you how much I despise Dora the Explorer? Well just in case I haven't, guess what, I despise Dora the Explorer. Normally I would feel bad about despising someone, but since she's a cartoon and she's apparently trying to take over the world, I don't feel guilty one little bit. Please please can someone explain to me why it's necessary to have her picture on everything? Like cans of soup? Or tennis shoes?

BigM really likes Dora. A lot. As does any other toddler, so at least I'm not alone here. The moms and I commiserate together at the park. Despite my dislike, it's hard to deny BigM the pleasure of watching the cartoon, it could be worse, it could be Yo Gabba Gabba. I tried really hard to keep Dora out of our house (I much prefer the PBS shows to the Noggin ones) but when we were moving in, she spent a lot of time at Lolli and Pop's house and got very familiar with all the Noggin characters. (It was a decent trade, we could have never gotten the truck unloaded with her underfoot.)

Last year for Christmas, DM's grandmother gave her a pair of gloves with a picture of Dora on them. She asked me why there was a little girl on her gloves. Recently, I (re)organized our coat closet and she found them in the glove basket and has worn them every day around the house since. (And we live in the south and we're having a "cool" spell with the fall weather coming in- meaning it's been in the 80s instead of the 100s.)

As we were leaving Sassy & G-pop's house last weekend, BigM announces loudly, "I'm Dora." (She's into this imaginative play business. Woohoo.) So DM plays along and says, "I'll be Boots and LM can be Swiper." I didn't want to be left out (actually, really, I did want to be left out) so I said, "I guess I'll be backpack then."

BigM ponders that for a minute (I could actually hear the wheels turning in her little brain) and she says, "Well, I guess that means I'll hafta wear ya."