D-D-D-D-Dora the Explorer!

These days Emilia is all about Dora the Explorer. I never knew I would become one of those parents leaving a smart phone or iPad in their children's hands to bribe them to be quiet in public places. We do it occasionally and I cannot help feeling embarrassed when a passerby gives Emilia and us a glance. I know that look. I used to give the same look too.

I never knew either that I would be one of those parents who buy their children TV character merchandise. Now she has at least 6 Dora colouring and sticker books, a Dora jigsaw puzzle, a Dora doll (a gift from her uncle), and eats Dora graham cookies. We bought VIP tickets to the Dora the Explorer Live show in December, which cost us $95 each person including Emilia, but the VIP tickets will give Emilia a chance to have a photo taken with Dora and a Dora-themed backstage party before the show. The other day I was shopping for Dora underwear (but couldn't find any so didn't buy). My brother just told me two days ago that he had bought some Dora toothbrushes for Emilia.

I start to wonder whether it's me who is fueling this frenzy by surrounding her world with all kinds of things Dora. Yes, she's a kid and she can be crazy about Dora, but am I feeding her desire and getting her hooked more and more on Dora? Naturally I want to give her what she likes and make her feel happy.

Any way, it's too late now. Emilia is absolutely crazy about Dora and there is no way we can back track it. We don't even show Dora shows too often, but Netflix made it very convenient for us to show it to her at any time we want and Emilia also knows that it's on Netflix anytime she wants. Right now, Friday night is Dora night for Emilia. We play 2-3 episodes and log out of Netflix. Of course, turning it off creates such a drama, to put it mildly. There will be about 10 minutes of crying and screaming (she cries "Doraaaa... Booooots...Dooorraaa...Boooots") until she gets distracted by one of her Dora colouring books. I need to give credit to Dora though. Emilia picked up quite some words and phrases by watching the shows, including, to our dismay, some Spanish words. I wish the Canadian version Dora would teach kids French instead.

I hope this is just a phase... or is Dora simply going to be replaced by another TV or movie character? As my husband says, maybe we should be thankful that she's not into Thomas and Friends, which would have cost us a fortune to collect all the toy engines.