Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

My 2.5 year old granddaughter is spending the day with me today. One of our rituals when she stays with me is watching Sesame Street together. We love Sesame Street and today was a very special day. Today's show, the first of the new season, celebrates Sesame Street's 40th birthday, with special guest Michelle Obama. Sofia and I were thrilled.

Sofia doesn't watch a lot of TV. Her parents don't think it's a good thing, nor do I. There is a lot of junk on TV, but I have never subscribed to the idea that it is all junk. Like any kind of media, including books, TV just delivers the goods—some junk, some pure art. It is up to us to make the choices of what we accept.

I used to watch Sesame Street with my own children and then missed it for many, many years until Sofia came along. A lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same. One of our favorite characters, Mr. Noodle, was new to me. He makes both Sofia and me laugh out loud.

He is played by the very gifted physical comic, Bill Irwin and is very funny to watch in his hilarious ineptitude. Irwin is a good serious actor as well. He played the father in the movie, Rachel Getting Married, which I loved.

My art for the day is courtesy of Sofia.

She loves to color. We discovered, awhile ago, that the internet is a great source for coloring images for kids, including a whole bunch at the Sesame Street site. She loves to pick out the picture she wants, then I print it for her to color. What I really love is that the picture only interests her briefly, (picking it out seems to be the best part) then she flips the paper over to the back where she creates her own compositions.

8 comments:

  1. I love cookies monsters..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember watching the very first Sesame Street with my boys. I haven't seen it in a long time though, the grandchildren are now too old. How old does that make me feel???

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful memories. I'm embarrassed to say I used to act out and dance to Captain Vegetable with James. I can't wait to do the same with grandchildren. Sometimes, when it's a bad day, I get out the Fraggle Rock dvds my son gave me for my 60th. That inner child refuses to leave...thank goodness

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mr. Noodle was on Sesame Street when Steffi was little...boy that even dates Mr. Noodle!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ahhhhh. Mr Noodles looks like a parody of a grip-and-grin fellow in a photo that Jer encountered last night in some local newspaper he was researching. Perfect! Glad to see S.S. is still alive and well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sesame Street continues to be wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Another great show my 3.5 year old son enjoys is the Backyardigans on Nick Jr. It has great music and fun characters who discover a world to explore right in their own back yard. And no commercials.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This sounds like such a nice way to spend your retirement!

    ReplyDelete