"Melmo" 2.2.13

When I was pregnant, my mom sent a "chicken dance" Elmo.  Jeralyn was 6 months the first time we showed her Elmo.  She thought he was cool then.  A few months ago I brought out Elmo and showed how when you press his foot he does the chicken dance.  She wasn't impressed at ALL!  She cried and was scared.  So Elmo sat on her closet shelf just waiting to come out and play again someday.  Well, a couple of weeks ago we were at a store and there was some Sesame Street scrapbooking paper for sale.  She saw it, pointed to Elmo and said, "Melmo."  Surprised, I asked, "What?  What did you say?"  She said, "Melmo."  I had no idea she even knew who he was.  She has a book with Elmo in it, but it's not one we read that often.  And the scary chicken dance Elmo has been hiding in her closet.  So her knowledge of Elmo shocked me.  A few days later she spotted Elmo in her closet (way up high on the shelf) and showed interest.  I asked her if she wanted to see him.  She nodded a very enthusiastic yes (I need to get her nod on video because it's hilarious!).  He came down and when I showed her Elmo's moves, she cried.  I decided it was time for her to get used to the dancing contraption, so I put Elmo on our coffee table in plain sight.  We slowly got her more comfortable with him by asking her where his eyes, nose, and mouth were.  And we even got her to give him a "five".  But she did NOT want to see him dance!

And now when she is out with me at story time or the rec center gym playing, she goes up to perfect strangers, holds out her arms and asks, "Melmo?"  It's slightly embarrassing because people think she's asking where her mom is, but I'm right there watching.  Then I explain that she's asking about Elmo and then they understand and tell her they don't know where Elmo is.  And she will keep on asking them over and over again, "Melmo?"  And she holds her arms out like, "where is he?"  She asks about him after she wakes up in the morning and after a nap.  She talks about him almost as much as she talks about Shelly.  And now, a couple of weeks after being reintroduced to him, she's okay with him dancing--not completely, but she doesn't cry anymore.

So that's the story of Melmo.