God Bless Elmo

I am thankful for a lot of things: love, life, health, forgiveness, my home, my family, my job, joy, peace -- all that stuff.

and ELMO.

I could kiss that little red muppet. I want to shout it from the rooftops: "God Bless You, Elmo!"

"Elmo's World" aires for the last 20 minutes of Sesame Street, and for about 20 minutes, all three of my little ones will sit nicely and watch educational TV. Lately, my two-year-old boys will bite, hit, and pull hair if they are within arm's reach of one another (or not, in Jack's case, as he's rolling and scooting all over the place now). And there aren't too many things that 2 year-olds and an almost 4 year-old have in common. And then there was Elmo recorded on the DVR and ready for quick access.

We reserve Elmo for those emergenecy times when we can't have our eyes directly on the kids for whatever reason, or maybe I just need a few minutes to do A, B, or C without the disruption of fighting, whining, or unexpected messes. And yes; almost every day there is an appropriate occasion for the use of Elmo -- oh who am I kidding: every day.

You have come to my rescue and salvaged what was left of my sanity on many an afternoon, Elmo, and today, I salute you.