Hot Potato

Yesterday I watched a documentary about The Wiggles on Amazon called Hot Potato. I had lost track of The Wiggles after about 2009, when Sarah moved on to The Doodlebops and other obsessions. The Wiggles remarked in the documentary that their fanbase turns over about every three years, as young children age out of toddlerhood. 

I had no idea that the original foursome were no longer performing and that there are now a completely new set of Wiggles, but the new ones seem to be perfectly good at their job. The old, original Wiggles, like Max and me, are getting rather superannuated and senior. No wonder they have retired.

The documentary brought back many fun memories, and at one point while The Wiggles were performing a familiar song, with their ensemble of animal friends, I reached over to Sarah next to me on the couch and shouted excitedly “It’s Henry the Octopus!” Henry was always a special favorite of hers. But Sarah was not sitting next to me on the couch, Polly the Beagle was.

At her best, Sarah could perform most of the hand and arm movements for “Rock-a-Bye Your Bear,” one of the best Wiggles songs, and I remember when it played on the DVD we had, Max would tell her “You’ve got a bear to rock-a-bye!” and help her get into position for the movements. She loved doing that.

Max and I ordered several of their DVDs over Amazon in the “used” category after they were passed on by other families whose kids had outgrown The Wiggles. We laughed ourselves silly over the comments other parents left about the videos. The Blue Wiggle was always my favorite. Sarah liked the Purple Wiggle. I think a lot of kids do.