Open Letter to Oosje

Dear Oosje,

As you know, Dora still holds a lion's share of the room in the toy box. However, Boo's television preferences have moved from Dora to Blue.

Blue is a dog who lives with his friend Steve, or Steve's little brother Joe, depending on the season, and who leaves "Blue's Clues" about the house to convey some message to Steve/Joe. The Steve years ended when Steven Burns started losing his hair (despite looking about 12) and didn't want to go bald on children's TV. So, Steve went to college and little brother Joe moved in to take care of Blue. Daddy, who watched Blue's Clues long before he was a parent, prefers Steve. Boo is a Joe girl.

In the show, Blue leaves paw prints on three items, which are the "clues". Steve/Joe find the clues with the help of the audience, and draw each in a "Handy Dandy Notebook", that lives in the side-table drawer. After all three clues are collected, Steve/Joe goes to sit in his "thinking chair" and figure out the clues.

Daddy is especially happy about a little bit of relief from Dora. Blue's Clues is far mellower and more adult-friendly. Blue is to Dora what Grover is to Elmo.

So, Daddy and Boo were watching Blue, and Boo told Daddy he needed to get out of his favorite chair in the living room because it was time to sit in the "thinking chair". Use the couch? Silly Daddy. There's no "thinking couch", there's only a "thinking chair". Thinking quickly (maybe sitting in the chair helped), Daddy managed to convince Boo that her Dora chair was her thinking chair. He then said to Boo, "We're going to have to get you a notebook." Boo looked at him without hesitation and said "Oosje is going to get me a handy dandy notebook."

So, we just thought Oosje should know that, and also perhaps what a handy dandy notebook looks like.

Steve's notebook is on the left and Joe's notebook is on the right. Presumably Steve needed a "handy dandy notebook" in college.

Post script for Nanna and Papa: Yes, I know this isn't what you meant by "more pictures, please." I just wanted to play with my new toy by the fire and Daddy hasn't loaded the pictures onto my computer yet. I'll get some up, I promise!