can you tell me how to get ...

so last night was kind of a big deal at our house.

i picked john up from school a little early, and he immediately started telling me how he was going to go see "ernie and bert and elmo and big bird and all of our friends, mommy!"

so we made our way to sesame street live, and to the "meet and greet" session beforehand, so not only did john get to watch sesame street on stage, he actually got to play with some of the characters!

at first, admittedly, he didn't quite know what to make of elmo and cookie monster. they were, after all, somewhat larger than they appear on even the biggest of tvs. in fact, when i asked him if he wanted to go see elmo and cookie, he said, "no, mommy!" in a nervous little voice.

if elmo talked, i think he would have said, "i won't eat
you, i swear! but watch out for the blue guy."

of course i didn't listen to his no, but forced the issue. isn't that what any self-respecting mom would do in the name of a photo op? (and if it's not clear that i'm rolling my eyes at myself, i'll just tell you outright that i am!)

john wasn't having any part of sitting with the furry guys, but i did manage to coax him into a smile as we stood next to them.

"easy, mommy -- if they attack, i'm relying on you to be my buffer."

the coolest thing, though, was that even though they said they sell 80 tickets for the meet and greet, there were only about eight kids there. so after the initial photo ops, cookie and elmo just sort of ... ran around and played with the kids. they danced a little, and did high fives, and played peekaboo. so pretty quickly, john warmed up to what might have been his favorite playmate ever:

"i just like oscar, mama!" says john.
"only cuter," says elmo.

"look, mommy, john and elmo are BOTH just like oscar!
we in the trash!"

by the time we were halfway through the meet and greet, john and elmo were best friends.

can you see the grin on his face? and john looks happy too!

and lest you worry that cookie monster felt left out, the three of them palled around for a little bit too. this last one may be my favorite pic of the bunch. something about cookie monster's hand on his cheek, john's hands on the platform in front of him ... i just think it's darling.

"cheeeeeeeeeese!"

and that was all just the pre- pre-show! after we played with cookie and elmo for a while, they left to "go get ready for the show," and then other sesame street characters showed up to sing and dance to entertain the kids. by now the play area was open to the public, so the crowd grew quite a bit, but we were still front and center to dance and give five to bert, ernie, murray, and cookie monster (who reappeared for a bit).

then we made our way to our seats ... which were on the floor in the second row! (i should note that i am the luckiest mom ever -- my rep for one of the local tv stations who has become a friend in the time i've worked with her hooked us up with these tickets, so i didn't know how awesome they would be until we got there!)

the show was amazing. there were enough gags to make the grownups laugh, but most importantly, john was utterly transfixed for the entire show. the characters came out and danced in the crowd, only feet from where we were sitting, and the perma-grin on john's face made it one of the coolest experiences we've had in a while. 

he didn't fuss that we wouldn't buy any of the merchandise - he asked a few times but accepted that we weren't buying it. he wasn't frightened by the bright lights or the loud noises. he was just riding high on the adventure of being in sesame street.

and when i think what that must be like for a two and a half year old -- how he must REALLY think he's at sesame street, as i can't imagine he understands the concept that that was a show -- no WONDER he couldn't stop grinning. and giving his "friends" high fives. and generally having a fine time.

it was a fabulous night.