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

Will is smitten....completely, unabashedly in love with Dora the Explorer. He can't get enough of that girl. He wakes up talking about her and goes to bed talking about her. He talks about her when he eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact, that is pretty much the only show he will watch. Oh, he'll trick you a little bit and make you think he's going to settle in for an episode of Elmo's World, but it's all a lie. He only has eyes and ears for Dora.

At night when I try to sing him a lullaby, he demands (oh yes he does) that I sing "I'm the Map" instead. I kid you not. He will be a snuggly and as soon as I start to sing something soft & soothing, he raises his head off my shoulder and says (LOUDLY I might add) "I'M MAP. I'M MAP."

We also have a Dora soundtrack CD left over from Maddy's toddler years that he discovered one day. Guess what we have to listen to in the car as we travel to & fro? Yep. (Oh yes we do.)

It's really not a problem....except that ALL the Dora toys & accessories are geared toward little girls. I went to buy him some new sippy cups recently (do those disappear like socks in a dryer at your house too?) and thought I'd delight him with a new Dora cup......but they were all pink and purple. Diego cups it is, then.

Oh, yes, we've tried to get him interested in Diego.....but to no avail. Only Dora will do.

Michael and I have embraced this and are comfortable with letting the saga continue (we'll do anything to keep this busy baby entertained for an entire half hour). His older brother and sister, however, are concerned and have all but demanded for this episode in Will's development to cease.

For instance, Will's birthday is in a week and I am planning to get the boy a Dora cake. I mean, really--if you can't have a Dora cake for your 2nd birthday, when can you? Can I get a witness?

Both John and Maddy are trying hard to get me to go with a Plan B.

"Will LOVES Elmo, mom. Don't you Will?!? Tell mommy that you want an Elmo cake!"

"Mom, Will told me this morning that he really doesn't like Dora anymore and that he would actually be embarrassed if you got him a Dora cake because he is a boy and boys aren't supposed to like girl toys and all the Dora toys are pink and purple and not blue and boys should like blue toys and cakes so that's why Will told me when he woke up that he shouldn't get a Dora cake. He told me to tell you this." This was from 5 year old Maddy in the car on the way to the Y this morning.

I don't care what they say. It's my baby's 2nd birthday and if he wants to celebrate his cumpleaños felices with a senorita named Dora and her monkey Boots....then that's what we're going to do!