Sunny days, keeping the pervs away....

I obviously have Sesame Street on the brain today.


We don't let our son watch a lot of television. He's only 16 months old - he doesn't need to sit and watch tv. *Note - I know that some of you who read this blog are nicer than me and allow your babes to watch television. I'm not knocking your parenting style, nor am I claiming to be a better parent, so please don't feel offended or leave me nasty comments.* He actually shows very little interest in the television. I do turn on Sesame Street for him at 10 a.m., though, because he LOVES Cookie Monster and Oscar and The Count. They're his peeps. I also turn on Super Why (another PBS show) in the afternoons if he's awake, as he loves being a "super reader" and helping Super Why and his pals solve the puzzles...even though he has no clue what's going on. That's it, though. He doesn't even sit and watch them, but he'll occasionally look up from our playing or coloring when he hears a familiar voice or likes the sound of the music. I allow these shows because they're educational, they're totally kid-friendly. I don't have to worry about him seeing or hearing anything scary or confusing...he doesn't need scary or confusing at 16 months of age. These shows are safe.

Or so I thought. The "Elmo's World" portion of SS started at its normal time - God help me, an entire half hour - and Elmo announced that, today, he was thinking about going up and down. A lot. Perhaps it's my Catholic school girl upbringing, but the first thought in my likely unfit-parent mind was not "Oh, yay - a lesson about opposites." Elmo was all about the up and down today. He asked his neighbor Mr. Noodle, who lives with his "brother," the other Mr. Noodle (who can often be found peeking in Elmo's window), to show him all about up and down. Mr. Noodle's eyes grew wide and I think his face even flushed a bit. After Mr. Noodle's perverted demo of how a see-saw works (I say teeter-totter - am I the only one?), the Up and Down Lady came on. She announced how she LOVES going up and down and proceeded to sing a song about ohhhhh, how she'd go up and down all day long if she could.

I'll take what she's having.

It was like a train wreck. I had to watch. Finally, at the end of the segment, Elmo announced that he was going to sing his own up and down song...appropriately titled "Up and Down," and sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. He invited his friend Mr. Yo-Yo to sing with him. At the end of the song, Mr. Yo-Yo stood up, as any good yo-yo can do, and announced the following:
"I gotta go walk the dog."

I'm sure he fully intended for it to be yo-yo rhetoric, but the creepy way he said it, with his husky, throaty voice...well, you know what he really meant.