Note: This is the first in my new series, Media Monday, in which I will post a scholarly analysis of some media that has recently caught my eye--including literature, film, music, and of course, fine television.

Have you ever seen something so irresistibly adorable and cute (sorry for the overused word, but it fits) that you want to giggle like a child and squeeze a baby and sigh with relief that there is such cuteness left in the world? If not, then go watch The Wonder Pets. It's a Nick Jr. show for the toddler set, and it could be the dictionary definition of cute (kyoot).

The Wonder Pets are three little schoolroom pets: a big-hearted and savvy guinea pig named Linny; a darling duckling who can't pronounce her r's; and an all-around friendly turtle named Tuck. Every episode follows the same formula: after the schoolchildren clear out for the day, the pets receive a phone call from a baby animal in distress. The Wonder Pets are justly concerned and rush to save the baby animal, always successfully, then reunite the baby to his/her mom and dad. Along the way, they must use teamwork and some Macgyver-esque resourcefulness in order to accomplish their heroic deed. The creators of the cartoon pioneered a style called photo-puppetry animation, which means that the little creatures are composites of photographs of real animals, and much of the scenery is also taken from photos. On top of that, every episode is like an opera (well, opera for 2-year olds). Much of the dialogue is sung, "The phone...the phone is winging! Thewe's an animal in twouble.."

Since we don't have cable, we can't actually watch it on TV, and youtube's best offering is a 10-minute segment in Portuguese (which Ava doesn't seem to mind..), so we downloaded a few episodes from itunes. I highly recommend The Wonder Pets Save the Dolphin, for starters (featuring a fabulous celebratory hula dance, as seen below). Ava would eat a plate of spinach for a chance to watch Wonderpets. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but she will get her jammies on, eat breakfast, take a bath, or clean her room for the Wonder Pets.

Gooooo Wonder Pets!

So lately I've been noticing some qualities in Ava's character that remind me distinctly of myself or her dad (that would be Derek). Can you match each picture with the parent? Answers at the end of the post.

1. Pride in her kitchen work:

2. A belief that the cake's not made until the mixing bowl's licked clean:

3. Cake is for breakfast, lunch, or dinner:

4. Looks good on the dance floor!

5. The love of a good cuddling:

6. EVERYTHING goes in a line:

7. Nursing Queen:

8. General morning crabbiness:

9. Sleeping here...

10. And sleeping here...

11. And sleeping here...

12. Artistry and Messiness:

1. Mom
2. Mom
3. Both, but especially Mom
4. Dad
5. Mom
6. Neither of us will admit to these tendencies, though we both have them in certain areas of life.
7. Mom, obviously.
8. Dad
9. Dad
10. Dad
11. And more Dad
12. Artistry-Dad; Messiness-Mom

How'd you do?

That is the title of one of Ava's favorite bedtime stories. In it, she awakens, eats, rides to the zoo, pays for a ticket, then gets to choose which animals to see, and in what order (though the number of animals varies depending on her parent's level of patience and energy). She rides the backs of old, slow turtles. She feeds french fries to the foxes. She climbs the long neck of the giraffe to pull leaves off the trees. She has tea with the monkeys. Last Saturday we all went to the zoo, and Ava's bedtime story became a reality. Except for the part about riding on turtles, feeding foxes, climbing on giraffes, and having tea with monkeys. But she DID feed goats, wave to the fox, and giggle at the turtles. No giraffes.


This photo, though it's hard to see, is actually a monkey driving a car. Really, the zoo must give him a donut every time he does that. Quite a crowd-pleaser.

Austin Zoo is a rehabilitation/rescue zoo, so it's a little more humble than the big city zoos, but we really liked it. You get up close and personal to the animals, including FIVE giant tigers, which I admit unnerved us a bit in the aftermath of the San Francisco tiger attack. We kept a close eye on those guys and were not entirely convinced that the fences holding them couldn't be scaled. Ava offered them french fries and a sweet smile to pacify them.

This is Derek, trying to get up the nerve to feed the goats. I teased him about his lack of courage, but honestly, I really didn't want to get near enough to get slimed by them, either. Derek overcame his timidity and let the goats feast from his palm, but he paid a price: a goat sneezed on him. Eeeewww! But trooper that he is, he kept on feeding.


And we rode the Rawhide Rocket--a train that meanders past emus, longhorns, and the like. A definite highlight for the toddler/baby set. And a great spot for happy family shots:

We had a holly jolly Christmas in Arkansas. It really is the best time of the year. Here are some highlights.

A highly successful road trip--to and from Arkansas. The girls were fabuloso, and the car behaved like the champ she is. Mary Poppins helped from time to time, as well as the irresistible soporific effects of a moving vehicle...

Mom was ON. No matter how little sleep she gets, no matter how many people are crammed into her house, she always is a basket of cheeriness and ready to go--homemade cinnamon rolls, late-night chats, back rubs, Skip-Bo into the wee hours...You name it. She's the Queen of Conway Christmas. Did I mention that, inexplicably, she had the youngest Wii Age of us all (including some seasoned gamers) on first try??!! Man, if only I had a photo of that.

But then again, she does have her tragic flaw: a refrigerator with no cold Pepsi! AAH! (Here she is in a desperate, noble effort to quickly chill a bottle of Pepsi before her ladylike composure disappears down the drain. Sorry, Mom. It's really not a secret anymore.).

Granddad (aka: Radioactive Man) was in good spirits and always around to lend a hand...

Or a handlebar.

Aunts and uncles and cousins and siblings...Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a flock of noisy family clucking around, in my opinion. And did I mention they're all kind of crazy? Ava placed so much trust and admiration in these two suspicious characters below that she'd have followed them off a cliff.

Kalie kept the kids entertained with her fascinating repertoire of animal noises (unlike her husband Scott who only does one animal: a monkey, though he does it with such passion and realism that he became known by Ava and Cousin Lilly as "The Monkey"). Here is Kalie popping up from behind the sofa as a new animal each time, to the shrieking delight of her nieces.

And she's also an excellent cuddler of babies:

Brian and Crissy (not pictured) also made an appearance. Even though we were bummed they couldn't stay longer, it was fun having them around. Brian was a doting uncle, as usual, and is soon to be a doting daddy, too (yea!). We can't wait to see the little baby cuteness that those two concoct.

Hannah, my oldest niece, is suddenly a tall and beautiful young woman. Yikes. I mean, she's always been beautiful, but she is just so grown-up now. It's weird. She played Skip-Bo with the old ladies (me, Mom, Ira, Kalie), and she was quite good.

And it was wonderful to see Grandma again, now just a few months away from her 100th birthday! She was a sweet gem, as always. Here are the women who came before me and the women who came after me, all together (boo-hoo: we missed Kelly!).

Who'd have known I could give birth to a flamenco dancer?