If "America Is..." is the book of choice "Caillou" is the tv show of choice. A month or so ago I got tired of playing the same 5 Signing Times we have on DVR in our room while I get ready in the morning. I felt like I'd seen/heard them all 1001 times (I probably had) while I got ready in the morning. The kids didn't seem to mind watching (although about half way through they'd get bored and go find something destructive to do.) So, I put on Sprout (which is the cable version of all of the PBS kids' programming.) It so happened that Caillou was on during this time and over time, they began to really pay attention to the characters and what was happening in the show.

For those of your not familiar with Caillou, he is a 4 year old boy who lives with his mom, dad, and 2 year old sister Rosie. His cat Gilbert makes appearances as do his stuffed animals Rexy and Teddy. The show just depicts the life of a 4 year old - it is gentle in its approach and very benign. And so now rather than begging for Signing Times, they beg for Caillou. They only get to watch an episode or two in the morning and then one before bed. We don't turn the tv on during the day unless someone is feeling particularly ill and we just need a lazy day to recoup.

It is coming in handy though. Carter fights us putting on his pajama top every night. When we put on his pjs after a bath, he always says, "NO SHIRT." And that it fine with us. He can hang out in his pj bottoms till bedtime. But we have a rule that he needs to have a shirt on when he goes into his bed to go to sleep (he often throws his blanket off and gets cold - he'd be really cold without a shirt.) Tonight on the episode of Caillou, Caillou had on a dinosaur pj top and coincidently so did Carter. When I told him he had a pj top on just like Caillou, he put that shirt on without a peep - the first in months.

Meet Caillou and his family