Gracias, Dora!

FYI- I fell asleep AGAIN last night on the couch BUT I didn't wake up angry this morning! :)
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Much to mother's dismay my son LOVES Christmas music. Why does he love this music? Probably because I played it to my womb when I was pregnant with him (although we're pretty sure he couldn't hear it) and probably because each year I start listening to Christmas music, sporadically, in mid October. He is a creature of habit and routine and the routine is Christmas music! His favorite cd? A Barenaked Holiday by the Barenaked Ladies. His favorite song? Ironically enough, not from that CD. It's Feliz Navidad by anyone who will sing it.

The radio stations by us have been playing Christmas music since Thanksgiving which is nice for me because I no longer have to remember to bring the CDs along for in the car. What I've been noticing is that whenever any version of Feliz Navidad comes on the boy sings every word! At first, it boggled my mind as to how he knew every single word and then I realized it...DORA!

Yes, my children watch tv. I am not ashamed of it. They watch significantly less than they did 6 months ago but they watch it. The boob tube really isn't on much during the kids' waking hours during the week. And when it is on it's not like they're watching Terminator or Gladiator. It's tuned to Noggin or PBSKids Sprout or Disney. My kids watch "educational" TV and I'm ok with it. Dora the Explorer has been a staple in our house since the boy was born. He friggin' LOVES Dora and her counterpart cousin Diego. He knows the songs, the characters, he has or actually had all of the toys to go with it. (We had to toss many of them courtesy of lead paint.) But he LOVES it!! Dora is the reason that my kid can sing every single word to a song that was once quite annoying to me. Dora is the reason my kid can speak and count in Spanish- well that and daycare. (He has Spanish classes in daycare. They taught him how to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Spanish. Very Cute!) So, now I love Feliz Navidad! It's probably my favorite Christmas song. I pray for it to come on so I can hear the boy's voice from the back seat singing away. He won't sing it if I just break out in song. It has to come on the radio and he has to announce to everyone that this is HIS song and that's that!

Gracias Dora and Feliz Navidad to you!