Name That ... Thing

If you've got little kids, you've probably heard of the Backyardigans (unless you institute a strict "one-hour-of-TV-a-week-and-it-has-to-be-a-documentary" policy - in which case, you're waaaaay out of place on my blog, yo). If you haven't heard of them, or they're not on your TV 24-7 and you need a refresher (lucky you) they look like this:

There seems to be a grand tradition of kids' shows having a few easily identifiable characters (i.e., Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck) and then at least one that makes you like, "What the eff is that, exactly?" (i.e., Goofy. I mean, the general consensus is that Goofy is a dog, but so is Pluto - which brings us to the question of why Pluto is so dog-like, running around on the ground and barking and stuff, and Goofy isn't).

Anyway, Backyardigans is the same way. Clearly we have Pablo the penguin, Tyrone the moose, Tasha the hippo. But then there's Uniqua the .... pink spotted .... overall-wearer, and Austin the ... um ... purple pointy-eared thing.

This morning the kids were pretending to be the Backyardigans, and Cameron was delegating characters. "Mommy, you be Tasha the hippo," he dictated. "I'll be Pablo the penguin. Colin is Tyrone the moose. And Coby will be Austin."

"So we've got a hippo, a penguin, and a moose," I said, "but does anybody know what Austin is?"

There was a brief silence as the boys hemmed and hawed, mulling the question over. But as y'all know, my boys are never silent for long.

"Maybe he's a moron!" Cameron piped up helpfully.

Maybe he is, Cameron. Maybe he is.