But it’s just so damned cute
Just like a million (give or take) other parents around the world, my Tuesday was spent at the shopping center, purchasing The Spongebob Squarepants Movie“>The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a soft spot for Spongebob, and I even remember the first episode I ever saw (Squidward was challenged to a band challenge by an old nemesis). It’s a pure fluke, however, that my son has developed such an attachment to the show, though. It doesn’t air on AFN here in Europe (as far as I know), though it does come on German cable (dubbed in German, though). I think Dash had seen maybe two episodes with Mike and I when he started saying “Bob Bob” frequently. Something about that little yellow square has captured his heart.
When I was still in Texas, I got a VHS of a few episodes from Target and would let Dash watch it with me on occasion. He didn’t get any of the jokes, but he laughed his ass off anyway. He asks for Spongebob decorated items at the shopping center, and he carries around a little Spongebob action figure (!) wherever he goes (provided he doesn’t have to choose between Bob Bob and Bunny).
So I decided it couldn’t hurt if we got the movie, and I wanted to see it as well, so we ventured to the mall.
Huge mistake.
I lost Dash momentarily in a massive throng of toddlers and their parents, all rushing to the new release wall in an effort to obtain a copy of the DVD. Granted, it’s a small store, and the only one in a 30 mile radius that sells American movies in English on or around their actual release dates, but I was still shocked. Perhaps I’m a little late catching on, but this Spongebob thing is out of control!
My son was accidentally pushed aside as a pair of twins each grabbed their own copy of the movie. A father yelled, “GRAB IT AND LET’S GO” to his wife as she crowd-surfed over to the movies. Daschel clutched Bunny and looked at me in terror. I didn’t think we’d make it out alive. What I thought was going to be a peaceful mother-son trip to the mall had quickly deteriorated into a free-for-all of epic proportions.
Eventually we made it over to the movies and Dash grabbed his DVD. “BOB BOB!” he exclaimed, lighting up. He held it close the rest of the day, and watched it twice, singing along, clapping and dancing throughout.
For a while I felt guilty because usually he only watches educational videos, but the look on his face when he hears Spongebob sing is so amazing I can’t deny him. Earlier this evening he came running out of his room and grabbed my hand. “Mommy, come here.” I followed him into his room, where Spongebob and Patrick were floating amid a pinkish bubbly haze in the bathroom of a bar in Shell Town. “BUBBLES! BOB BOB IN THE BUBBLES!”
He set Bunny down on the bed, clapped his hands and spun around. When he regained his balance, he looked up at me and smiled. It was one of those smiles that you know is going to replay over and over when you put them in the car to head off for college; the kind of smile that makes you feel like once in a while you get things right, and everything else just sort of drops off the radar.
I live for moments like that, I just wish I could record them without having to use the words sponge, bob, square and pants when I do.
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