Cole & Calliou

I must confess that Cole watches way more TV than I ever thought I would allow. Life is what it is and reality is reality, thus, Sprout, Nick Jr. and occasionally the Disney channel are quite frequently on in our house. Don't get me wrong, Cole is fantastic at entertaining himself, racing around the house with his ski/skating helmet on as if he is on a NASCAR track or pretending to fly the plane we created out of a box or jumping from part of the sectional couch to the other falling into a pile of pillows again and again and again. He will draw pictures, play games on the computer or IPHONE and make a mess with playdough. He has a terrific imagination.

However, independent he is becoming as he does say roughly about half the time, "I can do it myself or Mommy, go do something", but as I feel both of us age faster and faster, luckily for me the other half of the time he still likes to play with me. So I am often down on the floor with him lining up monster trucks so they crush one another or acting as a tunnel as he flies between my legs with his matchbox cars. We read, we snuggle and giggle, we build forts and we pretend to be pirates. I love my Mondays and Fridays with him!

Anyhow, I digress as the point of this post is about his TV time; so like when Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Train and the Wonder Pets were his fascination (those are for babies now he says), Cole has become quite attached to the character of Calliou. Calliou is a 4 year old boy with a cat and baby sister who loves adventure. Calliou goes to school ("like me" Cole says). Calliou has fears and dislikes similar to Cole (like crowds and vegetables); Calliou loves planes, things that go fast, ice cream and getting dirty (the writers must do their research or have 4 year olds because it really is spot on). Anyway, Cole gets so excited when Calliou comes on and at the library he saw Calliou DVDs on the shelf so now we have those as well.

I know the show's opening jingle word for word (as does Cole of course) but I love that the show has a very real life storyline, language and simplicity. I'm glad that Cole finds comfort in watching Calliou so that he knows he is not alone as he experiences life.