Obsess much?

When Cole was born, I wondered what he would be into at certain ages. What toys and games would he like? Would he be into sports or like to read? Since he has gotten to the age of really playing, he has pretty much been an equal opportunity kid in regards to his toys. But lately, I think we have found our first obsession. Actually there are 2 of them- balls and Elmo.

I don’t know what these things have to do with each other, but he loves them both. And this kid can spot a ball or Elmo anywhere. We walk into daycare and he shouts “ball!” We went to Target the other day, and he saw those big red cement things out front and called them balls. He has so many balls in our living room that he can’t possibly play with all of them, but he certainly tries. He throws them, carries them in his lacrosse stick, and I finally taught him to kick, so that’s a whole new thing. Any color, size, texture, he loves them all.

And then there is the Elmo fascination which is even worse. We enter pretty much any store and I hear “Elmo!” A cashier at the grocery store was giving him stickers and after every single one that she gave him (5 in all), he asked, “Elmo?” She was tempted to go back into the store looking for Sesame Street stickers. And of course, our trip to Sesame Place was overwhelming! We weren’t even in the gates and it was “Elmo, Elmo, Elmo!” And the funniest part of this is that he hasn’t learned to distinguish yet between Elmo and every other character/furry person out there. So the Philly Phanatic, all the characters at Sesame Place and just about any other thing that remotely looks character-like are all named Elmo, according to Cole. He now has Elmo cups, shirts, a bowl, and we even bought him a potty where he will get to high five Elmo when he uses it. We have even looked at Elmo Halloween costumes already. Now it’s just a question of who will get burnt out on this craze first, him or us. I have a feeling it will be us.