Little (and Not-So-Little) Monsters

Saturday, my BFF took me and the boys and her daughter to see "Elmo Makes Music", a live show with giant Muppets (or maybe they were people dressed in Muppet costumes...no I'm sure they were real Muppets) from Sesame Street singing and dancing. The tickets were Harrison's birthday gift, and it was really a great show.

No, I'm not kidding. The boys both loved it, and Harrison danced around in my lap or in his seat the whole time, and anytime Elmo left the stage, Hutton asked, "Where's Elmo?" One time he said, "Elmo went to go potty." Haha. Who knows, but if it's a person under Muppet fur, it would be quite an ordeal to go potty. And those Muppets really can dance! Big Bird looked a bit odd in person, with shorter wings, and BFF pointed out how big The Count's schnoz was in person, but still, they were getting their grooves on, joined by a human, "Jenny" who was a music teacher new to Sesame Street.

The highlight of the show for me was the Muppets dancing to the Hustle while singing, "Making Music", which segued into Bert, dressed in a hot white disco tux, dancing to a song from Saturday Night Fever, with the lyrics changed. (It reminded me of the Sesame Street Fever days!) Yes, the show was definitely geared to the parents, too, with classic video footage, including the pinball number of the day thing. You remember that, right? "1 2 3 4 5, 6 7 8 9 10, 11 12! Doo da da doo da di doo da doo doo dada doo dooo....Aaahhh, eight!" Yeah, I know it's hard to do those lyrics. I bought the CD from the show, but it didn't have the lyrics printed. Here's the YouTube, but with number six.

We had a totally non-GFCF lunch pre-show, but Hutton seemed fine. And I further pressed my luck with cotton candy at the show (they sold it on these cool light-up plastic sticks, so you had a neat toy after you ate your cotton candy!). Again, he was fine. Until that evening, when he got into the leftover cotton candy and quickly started falling apart. Oh well. It was a one-time only thing, and up until five or six, he was doing great. When we got home, Hutton wanted to go outside, but I was tired and said no, since he had played outside for an hour at BFF's house after the show. Hubby didn't jump in to take him outside, even though he'd been free all day while we were gone. Oh well. Hutton decided to go outside anyway. I figured he would, and went downstairs, to find Hutton coming in the front door, saying, "Uh oh! The Elmo balloon is stuck!"

Huh. "Where is it stuck, Hutton?"
"In the tree!"

I looked up. The giant mylar Elmo balloon I'd spent $8 on (hey! It was fun! I couldn't resist!) was about 40 feet up in a maple tree. I got angry, as I had told Hutton we weren't going outside, and he'd gone outside and let go of the balloon. Hutton got sad and whiny, and soon afterwards the boys were going to bed, after neither wanted the delicious leftover "surprise" dinner I'd whipped up in the microwave. I actually attempted to scale the tree later, after the boys were in bed. I got about 20 feet up before I realized:

a) I'm 33. I haven't climbed a tree since I was about 12.
b) The ground under me is either shrubbery or the stone walkway. I don't want to fall on either. Risking my life, or even a broken limb for an $8 balloon is just plain stupid.
c) Man, my heart is racing. If I continue climbing, I may have a heart attack from fear.
d) That balloon is not anywhere near me. If I make it 20 more feet, I still have to go out on a limb, literally, to get it.

So, the cons won, and I carefully climbed back down. Yes, I've changed a lot since my daring college days, when I was into rock climbing and regularly helped out on the high ropes course, sitting on a tree platform for several hours on Saturday mornings. Then again, both of those involve harnesses and ropes, so if you fall, you're not going to land on a hard surface and break your neck. Well, you still run that risk, but if you've got a good belayer and are very safe, not as likely to fall as when free climbing a tree.

So, Elmo is still taunting me from the tree. "Wuss! Elmo knows you want Elmo! Some squirrel or bird will surely die from Elmo being here!" I may wait a while for the helium to evaporate, and tackle the climb with a ladder. Elmo balloon, you will be mine!