Our Dear Friend, Pablo

It’s been a long time coming but I finally decided it was time to introduce the world to Cooper’s love of The Backyardigans. This relationship started well over a year ago and it continues to blossom and flourish more and more every day. Many people may see The Backyardigans as simply a cute little animated cartoon on Nickelodeon, but to Cooper it is a way of life. The characters on the show (especially Pablo) are his buddies. To say Cooper loves this show would be a HUGE understatement.

It all began when we found a Backyardigans book at a garage sale. The book was colorful, nice and big and had some cute little characters in it. I had NO IDEA what would soon develop because of this book. We were clueless at the time that The Backyardigans was actually a cartoon. The book quickly became Cooper’s favorite. Then one day, after hundreds and hundreds of times reading the beloved book, we stumbled across the TV show. Well, the rest is history. The love affair had officially taken the next step. Let’s just say the book was kind of like a series of innocent little dates and the cartoon consummated the relationship.

Am I worried that Cooper is obsessed with a TV show? Well, no. That would be a little hypocritical of me considering I am and always have been an avid TV viewer. In fact, some would argue (mainly Mark) that I have horrible taste in television viewing. The difference here is that the Backyardigans is actually a really great show. It teaches Cooper about having a vivid imagination, working together and building friendships. Each episode has an amazingly creative story line as the characters head from their backyards into an imaginative adventure. Each adventure is set to a different genre of music and choreographed with cute dance numbers. Singing and dancing to catchy little ditties. What more could one ask for? No wonder I love this show (almost) as much as Cooper.

Last Christmas, I searched and searched for a Pablo doll for Cooper and our neighbors were nice enough to give Cooper one of their son’s Tyrone dolls that he no longer played with. We also have quite a collection of Backyardigans books now. We figured that when we think that Cooper has had enough TV time, we could convince him to read some of his books instead. That doesn’t always work but we do realize that when enough is enough, the TV goes off. I won’t lie though… Pablo, Uniqua, Tyrone, Austin and Tasha have given us plenty of shower time, cleaning time and time to do stuff that Cooper doesn’t always allow us to do. And for that I am eternally grateful. I just know that if I ever were to run into the show’s creator, Janice Burgess, I would give her a big ole slobbery kiss.

Here’s a key that I want to remember as I look back fondly at Cooper’s very first favorite TV show:
Pablo = Pawbo
Tyrone=Rone
Tasha=NaNa (like Sha-Na-Na without the Sha)
Austin=Aaaah’in (kind of in a Utah accent)
Uniqua=Can’t quite make out how he pronounces her name just yet. I can’t really fault him though as I have a hard time pronouncing her name.

“Mo Pablo” Translation: I want to watch more Backyardigans

“Raa Moos” Translation: I specifically want to watch the Surfing Episode with Rad Moves. His favorite.

“Che Meeee......Raa Moos” Translation: Check me, I got the rad moves as he breaks out in a little dance. This can be done anywhere and at anytime he feels the need to dance.

“Mo Cowns” Translation: I want to watch Best Clowns in Town Episode.

Total Episodes that we currently have recorded on our DVR: 27. No, Cooper doesn’t watch all 27 in one sitting. But he probably would if he could :).

Honestly Mom, enough with the camera already. Can't Pablo, Tyrone and I have a little swing time? Alone! Sans Camera.

Click HERE if you have hankering to check out some rad moves. How can you not want to dance after watching this? So cute.