La La La La

If you have a child between the ages of 1 and 5, you probably know what song starts with very distinct "La-La-La-La". Or maybe it's just in our house that we sing the song on a daily, or rather hourly, basis.

Allow me to explain. Reilly is obsessed with Elmo.

Well, that was the understatement of the year. Reilly loves Elmo so much, that she wishes we would adopt him. Reilly asks to sing the Elmo song all the time. She literally bounces and claps and giggle whenever she sees him on TV, in a store, on the tiny emblem of a child's diaper (true story). If we hear her say "Emmo", we know that she sees him somewhere...even if we don't see him, she does. She has a tiny Elmo doll that she sleeps with, and she asks for him as soon as we lie her down at night. We ask her what song she wants to sing before bed, and if it isn't "Skiddamarink", the request is always "Emmo". She can even sing the words of his song with me, which cracked me up one day when she started doing it. My mom bought juice with Elmo's picture on the front, and every time I opened the fridge, she would run to it yelling "EMMO! EMMO!" because she knew he was in there. It's quite a hilarious little infatuation, and I have no idea where it came from. I did not encourage or foster it in any, until the love was full-fledged and we started getting her merchandise and singing the song. But that wasn't until after the obsession was in full swing.

Does anyone know why children are so in love with this creature? There is a documentary called "Being Elmo" about the puppeteer, and I'm dying to see it. I'm convinced this guy could sell anything. He must have a secret.

Anyway, recently Reilly got to meet her Number 1 love.


We walked in, and she saw him from across the room. She started saying "Emmo!" We were curious as to how the encounter would pan out.

At first, it was going well. She was leery at first, a little shy, and not as excited as one might expect when meeting one's BFF. But then Elmo offered a high five, and Reilly reciprocated with her little hand.


And just as soon, as they touched, Reilly recoiled like she had just come in contact with a burning stove. She burst into tears faster than I had ever seen, and grabbed onto Daddy for dear life. Of course we could do nothing but laugh and console her. I mean, look at that pathetic little face! Could you just die?

So meeting Elmo was not the epic event that we would have expected. Still a little too young to enjoy those giant frighteningly stiff characters that don't speak and always look distorted. Then again, what is a good age to enjoy these creatures? The window is small, if you ask me.

So it's decided - Reilly prefers Elmo on the small screen. And from far away. When we walked to the other side of the room, she reached and said, "Emmo! Emmo!" as if she wanted to be near him again. So we have two options: take her to the actual Sesame Street to meet a teeny Elmo, or Sesame Street live. OH, the possibilities...