It started - First episode: May 1, 1999, when my daughter was two. She never spent one minute in a crib, her crib was my lap.
I worked on the computer and she sat on my lap watching Sponge Bob at the same time. I swore that toon wouldn't last a year. The more I watched, the more I got hooked, realizing a lot of the jokes were for adults. Soon we both watched and enjoyed together.
Now she's 17, and it's something her and I share, and no one else understands when we laugh about events and bring up a Sponge Bob reference. Drives my wife nuts as she never "gets the joke"
As she gets ready to go off to college it will be one of our most charming things her and I shared as Daddy daughter. Thanks Sponge Bob, I enjoyed it as much as she did.