Senorita Madelyn

I do not like Dora the Explorer .

And not just in a "I'm totally sick of this show and wish my two-year-old would develop a taste for Psych and Doris Day movies" kind of way, but in a true "This show makes me want to throw puppies at other puppies" kind of way.

And Maddy loves it. I'm crossing my fingers for a "phase." Except when I use them to make air quotes for the word "phase."

But anyway, Dora's saving grace is the fact that Maddy has actually learned some Spanish from the dang girl.

I first discovered this a few weeks ago, during a car ride in which my sister was in the car with us. Maddy was jabbering away happily in the backseat, and then she started counting (in English). I guess my sister thought it would be cool to teach her to count in Spanish, because she said, "Maddy, say 'uno.'"

Maddy replied, "dos."

I was seriously blown away. I had no idea she could do that.

And now she can *pretty much* count to 10. It sounds like this:

"Dos. Tres. Taco. Tsinco. Seis. Sete. Ocho.....Noobe.....Diez! Ocho, ocho ocho."

She doesn't say "uno." You have to say that to get her started. And it's likely that "ocho" will get thrown in there several times. Which is kinda funny, because when she was learning to count in English, she wouldn't say "one," and "eight" would get added in wherever. Hmm.

Oh, and yesterday she said "Abre" at her booster seat tray.

So, I guess it's a good thing we watch Dora, because I wouldn't have known what "Abre" meant otherwise.