Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Anyone with children under the age of ten will be able to sing the rest of that song.  I bet they'll be just as hard-pressed as I am, though, to figure out just what is the draw of Spongebob Squarepants.  I will admit there are very few good television shows designed for "in between" kids.  What happens when they outgrow Dora and Little Bear but aren't quite ready for ICarly?  Surely there is a better option out there than a whiny little yellow sponge?

As I sit here writing this post, my sweet little princess-loving, nightgown-wearing, My Little Pony-obsessed daughter is watching episode after episode of Spongebob.  She will even sing (ok...yell) the opening theme song at the top of her lungs.  In my opinion, there is nothing about this cartoon that would be interesting to a girly-girl like mine.  And yet here we are.  She has learned to deftly control the tv remote and the first show she ALWAYS looks for is Spongebob.  She can't really read yet, but she knows enough to look for the show on the guide with two "S" words.
I wasn't exactly thrilled when J started watching, but he was far from the only little boy to enjoy it.  What I don't understand is K's addiction to this mind-fluff phenomenon called Spongebob Squarepants.  Every once in a while I can distract her with a DVD (thank you Tangled!), but for the most part, what she's watching is the SS cartoon.

I guess I should be grateful that we're over the Max & Ruby kick?