Back On The Street

Much to my dismay, JR never really cared about watching Sesame Street. When he was a baby I thought he would love it, but it didn't come on in China, and when we were back home visiting he never showed much interest in it. By the time we moved home, I figured he had outgrown it. Lately I've been putting it on for the babies, and surprisingly JR will stop and watch. His favorites are Grover and Ernie, which had you asked me which muppets JR would relate to, I would have picked those two in an instant. Grover because he's always falling down, and JR loves a good sight gag. (He's just like his dad...Jason thinks anybody who falls down or walks into a glass door is a comic genius.) JR loves Ernie for the same reason I love Ernie, he's always picking on Bert and annoying him. Since he started catching episodes of "The Street", he dug out all my old Sesame Street books from when I was little. We've been reading them at night, and I've come to discover that he actually doesn't even know all the main-stream characters' names. What's funny is that he knows all the old-school characters that are in my old books. Just tonight he was pointing at the characters and naming them, when one stumped him.

JR: Hummm,...Hummm...B, B, Hummm..The Bird?
Me: That's Big Bird, JR.
JR: Oh okay, Big Bird.
JR: And there's Sherlock Hemlock, Guy Smiley, Betty Lou, and Prairie Dawn.

Let's hope I don't get points off my mom score card that my child can't name Big Bird. Here's some help for those of you that aren't very familiar with JR's favorite old-school muppets. And for others, a little trip down memory lane...

Sherlock Hemlock-hasn't appeared in a new episode since 1995

Guy Smiley-hasn't appeared since 1990

Betty Lou began appearing on a more regular basis in 1993 as part of an increased attempt to balance the number of male and female characters. She has since faded once again into the background.

Prairie Dawn who is still a Street regular and Betty Lou are often confused, since they are both blonde and pink.