yo-gabba-gabba – MamaBlogga

Is it possible for children to be empathetic at nineteen months?

Of course, the question requires a little explanation. (Okay, so maybe it doesn’t require it, but you all want to hear the story, right?)

I’ve mentioned that Hayden’s favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba!, yes? So naturally, I’ve been taping episodes just in case the virulent people dominating the discussion at Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba! message board succeed in taking the show off the air and forever scaring my child.

And, since Yo Gabba Gabba! is the only show he watches, we rewind the tape and watch the show at least three times a day. By now, we’ve watched the “Sleep” episode a total of six times (it also happens to be the first one that we ever watched).

The first three times we watched it without incident. But the last three times, one song in particular really seemed to disturb Hayden. It begins with Muno (“he’s tall and happy”; the red cyclops) tossing and turning. He can’t seem to fall asleep, and is feeling sad and lonely—and whimpering appropriately.

The rocks in Muno land come to life and sing a song with him, telling him to “Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts / That’s what you gotta do. / Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts / and a smile’ll come back to you.” But before that can happen and reassure his friend, Hayden was in tears—full out crying. He calmed down a bit when I (and the second time, Ryan) came to sit with him and sing the happy thoughts song. (The third time I think was influenced by his fever 🙁 .)

So what do you think? Could Hayden be feeling empathy at nineteen months or was it just a really sad song?

Of course, there are many things that Hayden does that are totally normal for a nineteen month old. Like

Hayden covered in ketchup
love hot dogs and ketchup,

Hayden wearing mom shoes
wear mama’s shoes, and

Hayden hamming it up
ham for the camera

Hayden hamming it up again
(a lot).

Hayden’s First Word!

It’s been almost two weeks since he said it, but Hayden’s first official “word” (which, I do have to admit, is a bit arbitrary) happened to be one of the ones he was already very good at signing: “More.”

Yes, he said “Daddy” in July (though he refuses to now), and “Mommy” and “Nana” (which quickly became “Nanny”) in August, but aside from “Mommy,” this is really the first word that he’s said that he repeats consistently.

And, within a week, he had a new reason for repeating it: his first television show.

It was an accident, really. I figured I’d switch on a kids’ show. Blue’s Clues was on, according to the television schedule, followed by a show I’d only heard about. Everyone I knew who’d seen this show complained and whined about it being bizarre and scary and annoying.

And when I turned on the TV, it was on. Hayden sat down on the floor and couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

And then we were hooked.

So in the last week, Hayden has added two new words to his vocabulary: “ha da” or “da da” (hot dog) and “Bah” or “Bah Bah” for our new favorite past time,

Yo Gabba Gabba!

I’ve even gotten Ryan in on the act. He says that the fact that one of the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba is an Aquabat has no bearing on his liking of the show (he’s a fan) (of both, I think). I’ve also been corrupting my currently-childless sister Jaime and sister-in-law Jess.

Possibly the worst part? The other day after Hayden had been in bed for a while, and I realized I hadn’t heard any Yo Gabba Gabba for several hours.

And I missed it.

Thank heavens for YouTube! Of course, that does mean that the computer is now Hayden’s personal Yo Gabba Gabba viewer. He walks up to whoever is on the computer and begins signing and begging, “Moooore!”

Oop, and here he comes now…