The Influence of Dora

For quite a while I swore that I was not going to let Ally watch Dora.  I had no real reason for this ban other than the fact that I had let her watch one episode and was brutally annoyed the entire 26 minutes.  Really, how many times can they repeat where they are going?  Then, for a long car trip, I got a few Dora dvds so that Ally would have something new to keep her entertained.  I told her Dora was only for really long car rides.  But, she liked Dora so much that my resolve finally broke and now she chooses to watch little else.  Thankfully, Dora eventually becomes less annoying, and her clear destinations are a good model for detail oriented kids like Ally.
So, how has Dora influenced Ally?
1.  Wardrobe selection.  We went to a consignment sale and one of my goals was to find cheap Dora shirts.  I found two and when I gave one to Ally she replied, "Oh thank you thank you for my Dora shirt mama!" (Totally worth the $1.50 and the drive to Canton)
2.  Language Skills.  Ally has been peppering Spanish into her vocabulary.  Frequently she says to me "Vamonos!  Let's go!"  She has named a red firetruck toy Rojo after a Dora episode.  The other day she counted: "Uno, dos, trees, quappolo, cinco!" (The misspellings are her pronunciation)
3. Bedtime Routine.  When we put Ally to bed she will ask for the 'Dora song' or the 'Boots song.'
4. Answering the annoying 'where are we going' question.  For whatever reason it really does help in the car if Ally asks where we are going and I can say 'through the light, around the circle, to the store!'  She tends to repeat that and then stop asking. 
5.  Patience with malfunctioning technology.  Mike's phone has V-cast and he can get episodes of Dora.  Sometimes Ally gets to watch Dora on the phone if we are out.  Frequently the video needs to buffer and you will hear Ally say "I have to be patient,"  and she will be patient.  I think she has even managed to figure out how to navigate the phone to play Dora.
I'm sure there are other things that I miss or have become numb to.  Mike even incorporated Swiper (the fox who steals things unless you say 'Swiper no swiping' three times) into a football game.  As friends told us, we should just be happy it's Dora and not something more annoying or a poor influence.
Aaron also occasionally enjoys watching Dora, though she has yet to influence his life in a visible manner.

Poor Aaron has had a cold for the past two weeks.  I think that it is a combination of a weather change, teething, and a cold.  Either way the rest is lots of drool and snot.  He does have two teeth that have fully popped through.  He has been enjoying using them to eat a multitude of Cheerios.  I think that kid could eat a pound of Cheerios and still have two jars of food for dinner.  Today Aaron even got to enjoy a baby sized Goldfish cracker.  He seemed to really enjoy it, but I think that he really enjoys anything that is not baby formula.

Aaron has also really begun pulling himself up onto things.  Today he was using a toy car parking garage to give himself a boost up to a dining room chair.  His problem is that once he gets up he cannot get down.  He pulls himself up onto a toy, plays for a few minutes, and then cries because he can't move on to something new.  Although, today I walked in to find Aaron pulled up onto the couch using a toy piano and Ally pulled the piano away.  So, even had he wanted to use the piano to sit back down he couldn't.  I doubt that he would have, but still, it was a low blow.

I have noticed that Ally enjoys taking Aaron's toys and putting them in places that he can't reach.  I find the toy mailbox up on the couch all of the time and really had to stress that a toy train belonged to Aaron and he just shares it with her.  I try to let her have somethings that she doesn't have to share and today I overheard her telling him, "this is my toy and I can't let you have it because ... well ... it's my toy."  We're working on sharing, maybe someday she'll get there.  That, or Aaron will start walking and just taking back all of his toys.

Tomorrow we embark on a brief road trip to Mike's cousin's wedding.  This will be the second wedding for both of the children this year.  We are hoping that they are well behaved and that there is music so that Ally can show off her dancing skills.  All that Ally is really looking forward to is cake - I'm not sure she understands that there won't be singing and candles with the cake.