Yes Gabba Gabba!

About a year ago I wrote a post entitled "No Gabba Gabba!" about my disgust with the state of television shows for children, specifically with Yo Gabba Gabba. I had only seen one or two episodes, and was more upset with how tv shows are so different today than they were when we were young, than the actual show itself. The trippiness of the show overwhelmed me, and I was immediately turned off by the low-budget 70s feel of the whole thing. Well...

Fast forward to today and I can recite every word to every song of every episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. My daughter's name is M and she is addicted to the characters of Gabba Land.

For some reason it is the only television show that she has shown ANY interest in at all - except of course for the last 5 minutes of Sesame Street that are devoted to her boyfriend Elmo. She hears the first notes of the theme song and she is screaming and shaking her butt with excitement.

We now have about 30 episodes on DVR that we cycle through, watching one episode each night as she has her before bed milk. We are the proud owners of both of the soundtracks, and listen to them every day in the car. She actually has favorite songs that she will recognize and sing along to ("All my friends are different," "Everybody wash your hands," and "All my friends are insects" to name a few). We own a handful of board books about the Gabba Land characters. We also own paper dolls that she will hold onto with a death grip while scooting around the house.

Her favorite part of the show though is Biz' Beat of the Day. She will try her hardest to beatbox along with him...till her face turns purple and drool is running down her chin...but to her it is the best time ever!

I have tried multiple times to get her onto Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with no success, which kills me a little because I was raised on Mickey and all things Disney. Hopefully someday in the future that will change so when we go to Disney she won't be searching for Muno and his friends!

Although some episodes are painful, overall I enjoy watching along with M. Each episode has a clear positive message - don't be mean to your friends, sharing is fun, try it you'll like it - and because of the catchy (most terribly annoying) songs, kids can hear the message loud and clear. But they do have a tendency to get stuck in your head for days and days so watch out!

So try Yo Gabba Gabba, you'll like it!