The Cutest Little Fruitbat
As we've implied, the only television that Birdie really watches is Bluey. She typically gets to watch three episodes (8 minutes each) before bedtime, although very occasionally emergency circumstances lead to her watching some episodes during the day.
As of this writing, Bluey has three seasons with 141 episodes available on Disney+, with the rest of Season 3 coming soon. Given the interesting focus needs of toddlers, we don't watch a season from start to finish; in fact, using my standard of "watch every episode in the season" it's entirely possible that none of the three seasons will make it on to my Year in Review summary for 2024. As you'd expect, her favorite episode changes with some frequency. Some new episodes are never watched again. Others are watched obsessively. Earlier in the year we actually put together a cheat sheet of "this is what episode Birdie means when she says X" so that our babysitter knew which one to show her.
My personal favorite episode so far is "The Beach," which includes the marvelous subtitle "squawking intensifies." That one was one of Birdie's favorites for a good month, and I'm still happy to watch it in spite of that. I also like the episode "Hotel," not so much for the episode itself as because they play a game called "Crazy Pillow," which I am happy to report is a game I had actually made up and played with Birdie prior to us ever watching Bluey, so I feel like it validated my weird behavior. Birdie's favorite episode changes all the time. At various points "Rain," "Sleepytime," "Seesaw" and others have all been at the top of the request list for varying lengths of time.
The most impactful episode has been "Fruitbat." As we all know, bats hang upside down, so when Birdie was in love with the "Fruitbat" episode we started doing a little bedtime routine where she'd lie on the floor and I'd pick her up by her ankles so that she was a fruitbat! I'd lift her higher and then lower her, while M tells her to "flap your arms little fruitbat!" We often do this in front of the floor length mirror in the hallway, or in front of the iPad when Birdie has a bedtime chat with her maternal grandmother and aunt. Her aunt inevitably says "that's the cutest little fruitbat I've ever seen."
Lifting Birdie by her ankles is basically like lifting up a thirty pound kettlebell and lowering it over and over, albeit one that is wiggling happily and usually giggling during the process. We also do "sideways fruitbat" where I lift her by her arm and leg, which is popular way for her to move up to the changing table.
Unfortunately, playing as a fruitbat has not led to Birdie expressing more interest in eating fruit, but maybe one day.
As of this writing, Bluey has three seasons with 141 episodes available on Disney+, with the rest of Season 3 coming soon. Given the interesting focus needs of toddlers, we don't watch a season from start to finish; in fact, using my standard of "watch every episode in the season" it's entirely possible that none of the three seasons will make it on to my Year in Review summary for 2024. As you'd expect, her favorite episode changes with some frequency. Some new episodes are never watched again. Others are watched obsessively. Earlier in the year we actually put together a cheat sheet of "this is what episode Birdie means when she says X" so that our babysitter knew which one to show her.
My personal favorite episode so far is "The Beach," which includes the marvelous subtitle "squawking intensifies." That one was one of Birdie's favorites for a good month, and I'm still happy to watch it in spite of that. I also like the episode "Hotel," not so much for the episode itself as because they play a game called "Crazy Pillow," which I am happy to report is a game I had actually made up and played with Birdie prior to us ever watching Bluey, so I feel like it validated my weird behavior. Birdie's favorite episode changes all the time. At various points "Rain," "Sleepytime," "Seesaw" and others have all been at the top of the request list for varying lengths of time.
The most impactful episode has been "Fruitbat." As we all know, bats hang upside down, so when Birdie was in love with the "Fruitbat" episode we started doing a little bedtime routine where she'd lie on the floor and I'd pick her up by her ankles so that she was a fruitbat! I'd lift her higher and then lower her, while M tells her to "flap your arms little fruitbat!" We often do this in front of the floor length mirror in the hallway, or in front of the iPad when Birdie has a bedtime chat with her maternal grandmother and aunt. Her aunt inevitably says "that's the cutest little fruitbat I've ever seen."
Lifting Birdie by her ankles is basically like lifting up a thirty pound kettlebell and lowering it over and over, albeit one that is wiggling happily and usually giggling during the process. We also do "sideways fruitbat" where I lift her by her arm and leg, which is popular way for her to move up to the changing table.
Unfortunately, playing as a fruitbat has not led to Birdie expressing more interest in eating fruit, but maybe one day.