Open Sesame

M winged his way back to The Lou yesterday, and Zozo and I are sure glad. We were waiting for him to get home, and to keep her occupied, we started to go for a little walk down the sidewalk towards the direction I knew he'd come. We were in front of the house when she saw his car and started doing a little dance right there on the sidewalk. It was the sweetest thing ever.

Until he pulled in the driveway and she took off running towards his car. Then that became the sweetest thing ever. I think this was his first trip where she really grasped the concept that he was gone, and now he's back. I'm not sure who was more happy to see the other, but it was great to watch them have their little reunion.

Parents as Teachers has recommended regular doses of Sesame Street to help with Zozo's talking (or lack of). She began treatment yesterday at Grandma's, and came home saying "Elmo" and "Oscar," so it must be working. Many thanks to Grandpa for calling me this morning and giving me the heads-up to sneak over and peek through the window to watch her watching. It was adorable!

I love love love Sesame Street, and have to admit that I'm kind of excited that I have an excuse to watch it again. If I remember it correctly, there are all sorts of sly adult references mingled in with the kid-friendly stuff. Just enough to keep adults amused, too. I think the program is so powerful for children, and am certain that Zozo will really enjoy it.

My favorite SS character was always Grover. I remember receiving two large, identical Grover dolls when I was a kid (miscommunication between divorced parents...hey, no complaints from me! Two Grovers are definitely better than one!). My cousin Jen and I solved the identity issue by liberally spraying one of the Grovers with our Granny's perfume (thereby turning it into Groverina or Groverette, I suppose), which worked quite well but probably shouldn't have been done in the car on the way into town. One of us got sick (I think it was Jen) and Gran was, to say the least, not too pleased. Groverette was not long in my possession after that, as the family decided that although Gran's perfume was lovely, the amount that had been sprayed on Grover was drastic overkill and bordered on noxious. In fact, I'm sure in today's world we'd have WMD folks, dressed in those funny environmental outfits with gas masks, descending on our car within minutes.

Kermit is a close second as far as favorite SS characters go, and deserves props for being not only an SS regular, but also an official Muppet. I never really understood how he could hook up with Miss Piggy, who was more than mildly annoying, especially to a tomboy like me. Now, however, that I've grown some girly-girlness, I can see the attraction of Piggy. Especially when she's wearing sparkly outfits. Anyway, the fact that Kermit can transverse between the two worlds (Sesame and Muppet) is very cool.

Muppets are a whole other level, entirely. Who doesn't love the Muppets? If we're going to get into Muppetdom, I'm going to have to admit my irrational fondness for Beaker. That guy just cracks me up. Long live Beaker!

I've always thought that one of the best jobs in the world is that of a puppeteer. I even have proof of my long-standing love for puppets (and Muppets) thanks to one of my grade school yearbooks. In art class that year, my art teacher asked us all to draw a picture of what we'd like to be when we grew up. I chose puppeteer, and so drew some puppets. I didn't know that all our drawings were entered in a school-wide competition. Mine was chosen to be the cover (the cover!) of that year's yearbook. Along with the honor of my artwork gracing the cover, my whole class got Blo-Pops. I was very popular that day. Should you ever want to see my winning artwork, just let me know next time you're over. I'm warning you, I was not, nor am I now, even close to a decent artist when it comes to drawing. I think the judges just liked the oddity of a little kid saying she wanted to create puppets for a living.