Eli Discovers Elmo

For Eli's birthday a distant relative gave him an Elmo doll. Fortunately it is just a plain, old-fashioned Elmo - no singing or dancing or accessories. It's been sitting on his shelf of stuffed animals since, not really getting any more attention than any other stuffed toy. Suddenly this weekend he got a serious Elmo-attachment. I'm not sure what started this - we've never shown him Sesame Street (although they do let them watch videos on occasion at daycare), or maybe he just decided Elmo was his favorite toy all of the sudden in one of those toddler quirks. He pointed out all the Elmo-themed merchandise at Target, and at home he now announces Elmo's image on his diapers and toothbrush and cracker box and coloring book and anything else (no, we didn't intentionally buy Elmo products - he's just everywhere!). But assuming he hasn't seen that much Elmo on tv (if any), it kinda makes me wonder if the tv fueled the interest in the doll or the doll fueled his interest in the other products. I'm all in favor of educational programming - I watched Sesame Street every day when I was a kid, but I'm not in a rush to expose him to "screen time" just yet either, so we've mostly avoided it at home (which is a lot easier to do when he's at daycare during the days), although the idea of him sitting still learning ABCs for 20mins so I can cook dinner has its appeal.
Anyway, here are some pictures from this weekend: trying out the martini glass I got for my birthday, sitting in the papasan chair with Daddy and Elmo, and cruising down the avenue to Nana & Grandpa's in his wagon.