Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff

Elmo finally has a rival for Jack's affections. A couple of weeks ago, I borrowed "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" from the library, and Jack just fell in love. We have watched it at least once every day for the past week. I eventually gave in and bought the DVD for us to keep.

At first, Jack was calling him "Winnery Pooh" or "Twinnery Pooh." He has now learned to say it clearly: "Winnie the Pooh," mostly from learning the song. He sings along to the opening theme song and frequently asks me to sing it throughout the day.

Jack's favorite "chapter" is when Pooh has lunch at Rabbit's house and then gets stuck in his front door on the way out, and this little sequence is Jack's very favorite:

Winnie the Pooh: Is anybody at home?
[no answer]
Winnie the Pooh: What I said was, "Is anybody at home?"
Rabbit: No.
Winnie the Pooh: Bother. Isn't there anybody here at all?
Rabbit: Nobody.
Winnie the Pooh: Must be somebody there because somebody must have said "Nobody."

Jack cracks up every time that part comes on. He frequently repeats bits of this dialogue throughout the day. He also always laughs when Gopher pokes Owl in the belly with a stick.

There are, however, three parts that I have learned I must skip through. Jack doesn't like Pooh's dream with the Heffalumps and Woozles. He also doesn't like the when Rabbit is lost in the mist and his eyes go all crazy when he gets freaked out by the chewing caterpillar and the croaking frogs. I knew both of these sequences were a little intense for a toddler. But he also hates the part where Tigger is ice skating, loses control on the ice, and eventually crashes into Rabbit. I don't see why this is so upsetting to him, but sometimes there's no guessing what he will find funny or frightening.

So what I have realized when it comes to Jack and movies or television is that it really helps for him to have a prior knowledge of the characters before he sees them in motion. He's had a little ball and a couple of books with the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood since he was an infant. If he is familiar with them through books or toys or other media, he is much more likely to take to them when he sees them on television.

Otherwise, I think he assumes anything that doesn't feature a character he already knows must be a Mommy or Daddy show, like the dreaded "Jeopardy!" or Chargers football games. (I think one day he will be embarrassed to know how many tantrums he threw because we wanted to watch football instead of Elmo.) The only character that needed no prior introduction was Barney, but - oh darn! - PBS switched their schedule around, and now it only comes on at 6:30 in the morning. Too bad! (Heh.)

The timing for Jack's latest obsession is actually perfect. We are going to take him on his first trip to Disneyland next week. I keep telling him that he'll get to meet Winnie the Pooh in person. I'm hoping that will make him want to actually do something at Disneyland other than find all the public bathrooms and water fountains.