The girls enjoy a very short, waterproof, book called, “Blue Takes a Dip,” that we inherited with some hand-me-down items. While the little book — at three panels — is quite abbreviated, we’ve taken to improvising lots of additional verbiage, and the girls often clamor for us to read “Blue Dogga.”
Maybe two months ago, Amazon announced that they had inked exclusive distribution rights for “Blue’s Clues” and several other Nickelodeon TV shows. Further, Amazon Prime customers (like us) are now able to access whole episodes for free. Cool!
I decided that the girls were verbal enough to appreciate Blue’s Clues, and downloaded a single episode, called, “Snack Time.” One Saturday afternoon in June, when I felt that they would benefit from being still, I fired up our Tivo and played the show.
Sam was ecstatic to see Blue move and bark, and repeatedly turned to me, pointed to the TV, and exclaimed, “Blue Dogga!” Cate watched the show so raptly that her eyes were dry and irritated afterward from not blinking. As soon as the 22-minute episode ended, they clamored to watch it again.
Cate and Sam *really* like watching Blue’s Clues, and often campaign for the privilege. Some of their efforts are comical. One day Cate clambered up on to the sofa, pointed my iPhone toward the TV, and pressed at it repeatedly, saying, “Blue Clues!” While their requests are super cute, I’m not eager for them to start watching much television. I have come to think of it as a zombie box.
That being said, TV is one helluva distractor. I try to reserve it for when I really want/need daytime downtime or to accomplish something brief on my computer. That means the girls get to watch the show once every week to ten days, and Wednesday was one of those days.
Up to now, the show seemed to hold their attention absolutely, but this time, it didn’t. When the final credits rolled, I went in to turn off the TV and A/V stack. I turned around and was startled to see that Sam was where I’d left her — on the black couch — but she wasn’t wearing any clothes.
I asked Sam where her clothes were, and she replied matter-of-factly, “naked Sam.” However, Sam’s naked experience today ended quite differently from the naked Cate! event I wrote about earlier.
As soon as I addressed Sam’s nakedness out loud, I perceived that Cate stopped what she was doing to start pulling off her piggy pants and diaper, too. I turned to urge Cate to keep her pants on, and Claudia hustled over to make sure that Cate did.
When I turned back to Sam a moment later, she was looking down at her now-wide stance, and proceeding to pee in the middle of the couch. Yuck! It’s a good thing we have a urea-eating bacteria product, thanks to The Cat.
* * *
Several hours later, I tried to convince Cate to wear her sleep sack to bed, so that she wouldn’t get cold overnight. I left the room, so that she could fall asleep on her own.
Five or ten minutes later, the sound of Cate crying brought me back to her bedside. It seemed that after I left, she insisted on unzipping and removing her sleep sack.
However, she didn’t stop there. She also pulled off her piggy jammies, then her diaper, and proceeded to pee in her bed.
Fortunately, Daddy Bill was home to get Cate dry and redressed while I remade her bed. And with that excitement behind us all, Cate fell asleep soon after.