Addie + Elmo

It's a sad day in a father's life when he is replaced by someone else. To many, that replacement is a handsome young man -- at least that is hoped for -- who comes in and rips your heart out of your chest. Wow, sorry for the graphic nature, after all, this is a family blog. But my replacement is a furry red puppet that some call Elmo.

Addie's recent fascination with Elmo caught Courtney and I completely off guard. We've seen parents incent their kids to like certain things, be it movies, characters, etc. I admit that I am guilty of this. I am currently encouraging Addie to become an avid Red Sox fan, my heart would break if she wasn't. But neither Courtney or I have tried to make her watch Elmo or any other Seasame Street character.

However, one day, as Court was flipping through channels, she noticed Seasame Street and stopped to see what has change and what it was like. To Court's surprise she discovered that Bert still has a unibrow, Ernie plays with ducks, and Gordon is still bald. But what blew her away was how Addie stopped everything that she was doing when Elmo came on the T.V. Addie never stops to watch T.V. for more than 10 seconds. But here she was, entranced by Elmo. She got so excited that she climbed up and tried to touch him on the screen.

To prove that this was no fluke we Tivoed Seasame Street and showed it to her again. Once again she stopped dead in her tracks to watch Elmo. The picture above was taken a few days ago and it is Addie mesmerized by Elmo. All I can say is that at least I wasn't replaced by Barney or the Wiggles.