Character Flaws

I hate it when I'm cutting up raw chicken and little bits of it get caught under my fingernails. I never feel like I can get it all out when I wash my hands. It makes me feel yucky. *shudder* But that's not the subject of this post. Just wanted to share my cooties.

Years ago I told John that we wouldn't buy into the marketing hype of "characters", like Disney Princesses, Elmo, or any other kid's cartoon thing that parent's "waste" their money on. Then I had a kid. And that kid became a toddler. All it took was two weeks at my sister's house for Libby to become fixated on Dora.

Now, I like Dora. She's cute, she encourages kids to help others, teaches a little Spanish, and her cousin, Diego (who has his own show), is, in my neices words, "so handsome". Also, Dora looks like a little girl. She isn't sexualized like the Bratz characters (you really don't want me to get started on Bratz, so let's just leave it at "I don't approve").

When we moved to Atlanta, we discovered that Dora appears on Nick Jr. three times a day and also is included in our OnDemand shows. Now Libby asks for Dora probably a dozen times a day (don't worry, I don't always say yes). Libby dances during the theme song, yells "MAP!" when Dora asks "who do we ask for directions?", stands and holds her hand out in front of her and says "Swiper, no swiping!", and dances during the "We did it!" song at the end.

Dora has a friend, Boots, who is a purple monkey that wears red boots. One day we dug out Libby's stuffed monkey, but a pair of baby shoes on it, and renamed it "Boots". Harmless, right?

Then, a few weeks ago, we took Libby to Target to buy some new winter shoes, a pair for church and a pair for play. I was looking at the tennis shoes, picking up each pair and bending them to find the most flexible pair. The most flexible pair was hot-pink metallic. The second most flexible pair was white with 2 silver stripes, two pink stripes, and Dora's picture on one side of the heel with Boots on the other.

My first thought was "Libby will love these!" My second thought was "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm considering buying her Dora shoes!". We tried a few different pairs of tennies and boots on Libby, and each time she screamed and kicked and flailed until we removed them. Except the Dora shoes. She wouldn't let them go. So Dora came home with us.

When Libby is dorking around and not wanting to get ready to go somewhere, I say "Come put on your Dora shoes" and she immediatly appears in front of me, eager to get dressed.

And for Halloween? I will raid Libby's dresser and put her in orange shorts and a pink t-shirt and yellow socks and her white Dora shoes. I'm even considering looking for a purple backpack and a black wig.

And today, I found a box set of Dora's "movies": Dora Saves the Snow Princess, Dora Saves the Mermaids, and Dora's World Adventure. The set also includes a few regular-length episodes. The set sells on Amazon for $36. And I want to get it for her. And I don't want to wait for Christmas.

I have fallen, hard. And I am really enjoying it :)