The Return of "rney" and a "Glimmering Jewell"

I thought he had gone:

But, here is is making a rare cameo.  I've missed him and his buddy Bert. In fact I've missed all the cool folks at Sesame Street.  There is a lot of that sort of melancholy sense of loss when you have kids, and it makes me sad.  It doesn't necessarily make them sad, just me.

There are so many things that were so very important to them that just fall to the wayside, never, really to be considered again.  Recently the boys were looking for something on PBS to watch, they found Sesame Street and said that it was for "little kids" (somewhat cavalierly I thought) and moved on.  However, it was a Bert and Ernie skit and here, a few days later, the brief reprise of his role.  Still teaching I see, you can count on those Sesame Street characters to do their job.

Sometimes as the pictures scroll by on my screen saver here, I remeber the things we've laid aside; sippy cups, soothies, onesies, overalls, the Old Navy jumpers I loved, those suctiony plates and those filthy bibs.  The little clown girl on Disney whose name escapes me, The Mickey Mouse Playhouse, Bob (of builder fame) and so many other shows.  Books, oh man, all those little beginner books so cute and earnest, Z loved a book that made a rainbow out of ribbons so much he used to hug it, and N used to mouth the words of Goodnight Moon when he was maybe two.  Even the beginner Dr. Suess books sit on the shelf collecting dust, although the biggies still remain favorites.

All this makes me sad, but, as I said, not them so much.  They are making new TV friends on Word Girl and Wild Kratz, Geronimo Stilton and Cam Janson are now household words, replacing the 'Do You Know How Much I Love You' mouse and Winnie the Pooh.  And man, they rock their new jeans and school spiritwear.  So it all moves forward, new discoveries, new places, new challenges... and I suppose it's hard for them, too.

Here's an arbitrary "glimmering jewel" that Z was very proud of the other day:

It is pretty cool, isn't it?

From Marci's '...things you don't expect to hear from the backseat...'

"Are there dinosaurs in heaven?'


That's a very good question...