Max's very first obsession (AKA All Chuck, all the time)

I always knew that little kids were prone to developing attachments to characters like Elmo, Curious George, or Dora the Explorer, but Max (Mr. I-will-not-sit-still-to-watch-even-5-minutes-of-TV-even-if-it's-Sesame-Street-and-every-other-little-kid-loves-Sesame-Street) had never really had much interest in any of these.

However, he did develop quite an affinity for this cute little truck we picked up for him on a Babies R Us outing. The truck's name is Chuck, and Max really liked him.

Fast-forward about a month or so and Chris also has a new toy - his iPad. Max was very interested in the iPad (he loves computers) and Chris decided to see if he could find some kids' shows he could download on his iPad. Well, turns out, Chuck the Truck has his very own show!! Not surprisingly, The Adventures of Chuck and Friends quickly became Max's favorite program, and before we knew it, everytime he saw the iPad he was begging to watch Chuck, which became one of his first words. (Well, I'm not 100% sure if he was saying Chuck or Truck...I think he says both at different times, but one is indistinguishable from the other in toddler-speak).

We discovered that this was a great way to give us some time to get ready in the mornings without a certain someone dumping all the contents of our bathroom drawers on the floor:

The especially great thing is that he never seemed to tire of watching the same two episodes that Chris was able to find to download. The bad thing was that Chris did get tired of watching the same two episodes (and Max's ideal/preferred watching position was from Chris's lap). I'm not sure why it finally dawned on us to check the TV guide but it was an extremely happy day when we discovered that Chuck comes on TV EVERY DAY!!! Sometimes THREE TIMES IN A ROW! So, a quick program of the DVR and now we are set. And Max is totally obsessed. I do not want my kid to be a TV junkie, but I also sometimes need a distraction for him for a few minutes and Chuck can grab his attention like nothing else (and you cannot beat that little grin when he hears the theme song):



A few weeks ago Max and I made a trip to Babies R Us again; Chuck needed his friends. We finally spent the gift card that Mema and PapaBob had given Max for his first birthday. He wouldn't let those trucks out of his sight once they were in our cart.

This is one happy boy. And one happy Chuck - he now has his friends to hang out with at our house.

So, it may not be Sesame Street, but Chuck and his Friends do try to teach good qualities like sharing, being obedient, and being a good friend; plus I think Chris is pretty happy that Max is so into trucks. We will also take advantage of Max's love of Chuck on our upcoming flight - here's hoping he can be entertained by those 2 original episodes on Chris's iPad for about 3 hours!