We’ve pointed out the predilection of our children to pay minute attention to what they watch on a screen. They are paying attention, and in a way we adults don’t really understand anymore. We are looking at most everything we see and ignoring the bulk of it out of hand, relegating it to a kind of background noise. But our little ones are not comparing what they see to a framework they have already assembled; they are busy assembling that framework. And they notice.

Pat and Stanley are brushing their teeth in yesterday’s video. My little boy has camped out at my door for two days now, waiting to importune me to show him the big hippo and the silly dog at every chance. And yesterday, he ran up the stairs after watching, to brush his teeth, because Pat and Stanley do. He got out his bucket of bath toys, and started rifling through them like a mad person. He found his heretofore ignored rubber duck bathtoy, placed it next to the sink, and brushed his teeth over and over.

My wife later noticed that Pat and Stanley have a rubber duck off to one side in the video. We hadn’t noticed. But if it was good enough for his French-speaking friends, it was good enough for our little boy.

We’re afraid to eat spaghetti.

All Pat and Stanley weekend! Enjoy!