Toddler Communication

 

Many times I (and others) can't understand what my darling toddler is saying. Sometimes, like in this comic, she is helpful and gives context clues and additional noises to help make the connection. But most times she just says the same sounds and I'm like, I haven't a clue what "eesh" means so can you point or give a few more clues? It's like playing Mad Gab with someone who just says the words the same exact way over and over and gets frustrated when you don't get it. 

I just remembered that Robin started off calling dogs "woof woofs" because that's easier than the real word, and later progressed to calling them "goggies," so when her friend couldn't understand her newer word she just fell back on her previous one. Hmmmm. Or maybe she just did the sound. It's hard to really know. But the interaction was quite funny because her friend has excellent diction in three languages but apparently doesn't understand toddler English, which is all Robin has. 

Text:
R: Goggy!
N: What is a goggy?
R: ... woof woof. 

Bluey Card

 

The show "Bluey" is a pretty good kids show, with competent parents and good lessons learned and each episode is like 7 minutes so you aren't locked in for half an hour or whatever. Robin really likes the show and she doesn't understand that "bingo" is more than just a cartoon dog's name. Also she says "watch" when she wants to watch a show. 

Explanation: On the children's show "Bluey" there are the main characters Bluey and her sister Bingo. The phrase "that's not on my bingo card" means that something unexpected and/or surprising has happened. I'm not sure what would be on your Bluey Card - maybe "silly games" since they do those nearly every episode. 

Text:
M: I didn't have that on my bingo card.
L: Did you have it on your Bluey card?
R: WATCH!

Chicago Problems

 

♪♪"Scruff McGruff, Chicago Illinois, 60612"♪♪

Why do the jingles from your childhood stay with you for life? How did Scruff McGruff take a bite out of crime? So many questions. I never watched the tv show (I only realized there was one when I looked up how to spell his name because I figured it was like this but wanted to check because you know how you think something is one way your whole life then you get fact checked and your world is rocked?) but I heard the commercial about "taking a bite out of crime" so many times. I don't recall the plan to take a bite out of crime, but I knew the name of the bloodhound detective and his city, state, zip. Not sure if that was enough to mail something to him - maybe it was? What would you even mail to him - I guess evidence of a crime? Many questions remain. I don't recall the article that my husband was reading that made him give the above statement, if I did then I would link it here. But I don't think it's a disputed fact that Chicago has a crime problem. 

Text:
M: Chicago has a crime problem.
L: But Scruff McGruff lives there!!!

And They Never Learned Each Other's Names

 

So I confess that there was a guy in my previous neighborhood who had a dog names Jasper (like one of the foundations of the New Jerusalem, per the owner) and every time I saw them walking I always remembered the dog's name but totally forgot the owner's name. For whatever reason, it can be easier to remember cute kid's and pet's names but adult's names just go in one ear and out the other. 

Text:
Title: And They Never Learned Each Other's Names
M: This is Zoey. (walking a dog)
L: Aw, this is Lucy! (holding hand of toddler)

Rude Pointing

 

Happy Birthday to my darling!
Drawing a stick figure dog is not the easiest, but it is easier than sketching out a dog. Not much else to say here other than I did look up "pointer dogs" to get the position correct - I know basically what a dog pointing looks like but when I went to draw it out, I couldn't remember which legs were doing what. 

Text:
Sign: Happy Birthday!
Dog: *pointing*
Person holding balloons: It's rude to point.

Santa Puppy

 

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and remember the reason for the season. Christ came as a baby to live a perfect life so He could pay the price for our sins. He came to pay a debt He didn't owe, because we had a debt we couldn't pay.

As for the comic, I really don't like the song parodied here, but I do like the change I made to adapt it to a puppy. And now I know that the original version of that song is sung by the woman who voiced Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove, so that's ... interesting. I'm gonna resist drawing that character singing that song. 

Text:
Title: Santa Puppy
Dog: I left you a present under the tree!
Owner: *facepalm*

Two Heads

Happy almost birthday to my little one! Wow, it's been a year. 

This comic came to me when a speaker mentioned the phrase about "looking at me like I had two heads." I'm trying to find the phrase but I'll I'm seeing is the phrase about "two heads are better than one" which is kind of the opposite meaning to the phrase for which I am looking. 

To explain, in Greek mythology there is a three-headed dog (named Cerberus). This comic is a play on the phrase "looked at me like I had two heads" which means "looked at me like I was weird" since most people only have one head. The joke is that this dog has three heads, so while "two heads" is still wrong, it's too few rather than too many. 

Text:
Fairy: *staring*
Cerberus 1: That guy's looking at us like we have two heads or something.
Cerberus 2: *judgmentally/silently staring back*
Cerberus 3: Weirdo.

It's a Tie

 

Happy Birthday to my littlest brother who's actually the tallest of us all!
So my friend posted pictures of her dogs both wearing matching bandanas and this comic was formed. I feel it could be done with two guys wearing bolos as well. Pretty much any neckwear could work with this joke. And in my head, the second character has the voice of the yellow M&M.

Explanation: the one character says it's a tie, meaning both win, but the second character misinterprets the statement to mean a tie like a necktie and corrects him to say the dogs are wearing bandanas, not ties. 

Text:
A: Who wore it better? Trick question - it's a tie!!!
B: No, it's a bandana. 

Namaste in Your Lane

I don't do yoga so I actually wrote this comic with "Lamaste" instead of "Namaste" and thankfully caught it before scheduling. This comic came about because I saw a statue in some eclectic store (possibly TJ Maxx) of a dog in the position above and the phrase just appeared in my head and struck me as funny. "Namaste" is a phrase people use as a greeting in yoga (it's Hindu in origin). This comic is also funny because there's a position in yoga called 'downward facing dog' so saying a dog can't do yoga when there's a position named after dogs is humorous to me. I'd also like to add, it's a little difficult to draw a dog in that cross-legged position because it's very unnatural and also I draw stick figures (tried with a stick figure dog and it was too vague). 

Text:
P: I don't think dogs should do yoga.

D: Namaste in your lane, bro. 

Names Starting with E

 

One of these names is not like the others :) I couldn't resist adding my favorite bird into the lineup. 

My friend's due date is today and she has already shared the name of her kiddo so is not in need of any suggestions but I figured it wouldn't hurt to do another short series on names. 

To explain the comic, the first person has a picture of her children (3 kids and a dog). The second person thinks Emu is the dog since it's not a normal human name while the others are. The first person corrects the misinterpretation by saying Emmett is the dog, which means her kids are named Ella, Emma, and Emu. 

Text:
A: Here's a picture of my children - Ella, Emma, Emu, and Emmett. 
B: WHAT?! Oh, three kids and a dog, nice.
A: Yeah, Emmett's a good dog. 

Peanuts Gallery

 

I did my best to draw Charles Schulz's characters, and here they are in my style (a little more filled out since they just didn't work as stick figures). Do you know where the term 'peanut gallery' originates? If you clicked the link, you now know! It apparently is debated if the comic strip's name is related to the popular phrase. I always liked reading the Sunday comics in the paper, especially the Peanuts strip. 

Text:
C: Nobody wants our comments.
P: They tell us to be quiet.
S: *sad face*

Puppy Charging Cable

 The item mentioned and sort of shown in the comic above:

I don't recall where I got it but my charger is too fat for his mouth - he's suppose to fit snuggly to your phone to help the charger get a solid connection but he's just decoration at this point. 

The joke is that memory is measured in megabits and megabytes but if a puppy tries really hard he can give a mega bite :) 

Text:
A: What a cute puppy on your charging cable.
L: He adds memory to my phone!
A: Really?!
L: One mega-bite :) 

Donkey Kong

It's my sister's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUU!
Since this comic is about a dog toy, you should get a dog! If your kid is allergic, there are hair-less dogs but NOPE never mind those just look wrong. Maybe go for a hypo-allergenic one - there are some cuties like a GIANT SCHNAUZER! Oh, the hairless ones are there, too. Pay them no mind.
I'm quite happy with coming up with this pun. I should sell the idea to Kong but then they might need Nintendo licensing and who knows how that would go. Even if it was a real thing, probably not an appreciated gift to a video gamer friend.

UPDATE: I submitted my idea to the Kong Company. Hopefully I have brightened someone's day.

Text:
B: Why did you get me a little red horse? It's a dog toy.
G: IT'S A DONKEY KONG!

Blue's Prints

Oh, Blue's Clues. Not the most intellectually stimulating of shows. I much preferred Kim Possible. That show was excellent - dry humor, loads of puns, what more could you want.

Lap Pool

Haha, dogs lap the water...
So in college I had an international roommate and I asked her if she wanted to go run laps with me and she was all confused when she looked up what 'lap' meant because she only had two definitions - 'the dog laps the water' and 'the baby sat on her lap'. I rephrased the question as 'do you want to run in circles outside' and she declined.

Present Under the Tree

A Heeling Prophet

Handbasket

If you haven't seen this movie, that's just sad. Yes it's from 1939, but it's the most watched motion picture in all of history (or so says the Library of Congress).

Let sleeping dogs lie

An interesting phrase.

Heeling dog