Pi Pi Surrender

I love Sesame Street. There's something incredibly warm and nostalgic watching these same characters I loved as a child with my own son.

We have a ritual. Each morning, when Hudson wakes up, he and I cuddle in bed and watch Sesame Street. It's one of my favorite parts of our day. On today's riveting episode, Elmo was giving up his pacifier (at our house, it's called a pi pi (pronounced pie pie). Hudson LOVES his pi pi. He took to it immediately when he was born and since, has been a great soothing mechanism. Relatively early, I restricted its use to when he was sleeping or in the car. He will cuddle in bed with it, but he knows he is to throw it into his crib when we start our day. And so, this episode had particular interest to Hudson.

Elmo didn't want to give up his pacifier, but all of his friends had, and he really was a big boy. He knew he should get rid of it, he told Gordon. Hudson watched intently as Elmo discussed how much he loved his dear pacifier. Hudson clutched his blanket tightly and sucked his pi pi. As the episode reached it's climax, Elmo triumphantly announced he was ready and ceremoniously gave his pacifier to Gordon. Suddenly, Hudson pulled his own from his mouth and climbed from the bed. He quickly scampered off to his bedroom, his blankie and pi pi in tow.

"Wow," I thought. This Sesame Street is powerful stuff! Wanting to witness this monumental event of giving up his pacifiers I walked to Hudson's room and peered in.

What I found was not what I anticipated. Yes, he had gathered his pacifiers, but instead of surrendering them to me as brave Elmo was doing, my son was hiding them under the ottoman.

Obviously a wise choice. You can tell I don't dust there. :)

And here's when he realized the jig was up. I found his hiding space.

Don't worry. I promised I wouldn't tell Elmo.