La la la la, la la la la, Elmo Sucks

My son has grown obsessed with Elmo. For those of you lucky enough to not be in the know, Elmo is a Muppet of some sort that's on Sesame Street. He's red and he speaks in falsetto. He has a goldfish named Dorothy and he continually bothers a barely-functioning retard named Mr. Noodle. Or it's his brother, Mr. Noodle. And I hate that I know that.

My son adores this little red monster. He will run to the televison whenever he hears Elmo's wimpy voice or his theme song. He excitedly points to the TV and tells me it's, "La-La."

I have unwittingly fed his obsession with all things Elmo because I made the mistake of giving him two pair of Elmo jammies at Christmas. They are long-sleeved jammies. It has been hot the last few days. I want him to wear short-sleeved jammies. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I've tried to get him to warm up to his short-sleeved Mickey Mouse jammies to no avail. He apparently knows how to fully undress because he does a darn good job of it when I try to dress him in these stupid Mickey jammies. Last night he began thrashing about as I was dressing him for bed. He kept calling out, "La-LA! LA-LA!" I don't know if he thought the little red bastard would somehow save him from the indignities of wearing Mickey jammies or if he was simply demanding that I dress him in Elmo jammies.

He also has an Elmo T-shirt. An Elmo T-shirt that he has been demanding to wear every friggin' day. Thankfully, I do laundry every night and I can indulge him in this simple demand. The jammies were another thing altogether.

I checked at three different stores before I found one that had short-sleeve Elmo jammies. And I bought every damn style they had on the sales floor. For good measure, I also bought him some Elmo outfits for Summertime.

I dropped over $100 on Elmo clothes today. Jammies, T-shirts, and shorts. Over one hundred freaking dollars. I told my husband that part of this better count as the little one's birthday gifts.

I can't remember the last time I spent money on myself. Well, I did buy a mascara today because I was out. But to buy clothes just because? Geez, I can't even remember when I last did that. I'd guess I was still working, so at least two years or more. But I was (sort of) happy to spend this money because it makes my son so happy to wear clothes with his favorite little character.

He saw his new Elmo jammies tonight and his eyes lit up. He actually hugged and kissed the shirt before I put it on him. A hearty thanks to Kohl's for saving me from a bedtime struggle tonight.