Shhh, Don’t Give Blue(s) Any Clues!

My son, as is perhaps rather common, is having a Blue’s Clues moment. Of late, a blue animated dog and a guy in a striped rugby shirt have shunted to the dustbins of history (and my living room) both Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. Fine by me.

One rather interesting aspect of this is that I happen to know Steve, Blue the dog’s friend (dare I say Lord and master?), through a mutual friend. He’s a swell guy, and only moderately in the Bob Saget mode of former-child-programming-star. To date I haven’t mentioned to him that JP is a devoted fan, and I haven’t mentioned to JP that I have access to the MAN HIMSELF.

This weekend, though, Steve is hosting a birthday party for the child of our mutual friend, and JP and I are invited. I’m curious to see JP’s reaction: will he recognize Steve? Will he get the idea that this guy whose house he is destroying is the very same one he watches (and learns!) from on television? It becomes a question of development. Does his present level of sophistication include non-threatening television personalities jumping out from the screen and offering him cake? We’ll see.

I also am considering the impact this will have on Steve, who I don’t know all that well but I do really like. Let’s say JP goes ape shit and follows him around the house all day. Is that rude of me to let happen? Or has Steve, given his level of fameishness, gotten used to this just this sort of treatment?

Time will tell.

Here’s one lucky thing: a couple of weeks ago JP announced that for Halloween he wanted to dress up as Blue, and I bought him a costume online. Fortunately, given the present turn of events (this is a Halloween-themed, dress-up birthday party), the costume was too small, and he changed his mind to stormtrooper.