See, Savannah believes in Santa, although his time is limited, the Easter Bunny and Elmo. Every other character or creature that she sees seems to be met with an understanding of make believe. Curious George is her favorite show but she asked long ago if there was a real George in the world with an "I know there isn't" undertone. She gets that animals don't talk, Charlie Brown is pretend and Princesses are just stories. What she has yet to admit to herself is that Elmo isn't real.
She desperately wants the big furry guy to come knocking on our door someday. She thinks he lives near by being that we live near Sesame Place - a Sesame Street Amusement park.
Years ago, I took her to see Elmo Live and she really enjoyed it. Fate would have it that Elmo visited our area again. She was so excited when she saw and advertisement for the show at McDonald's. She instantly started putting together a care package to take to him upon returning home. I had to cleverly convince her to mail it later as I knew we would not get the one on one time with Elmo that she was wishing for. Not only did she spend hours drawing pictures, making cards and decorating his box, she had to go shopping for his gift as well. Finally, the package was ready to go. I put it in the van when running errands with my mom, and told Savannah that I was taking it to the Post Office. My heart broke as I squished it into a trash can. All of her hard work and love, sitting in a McDonald's trash can.
I ended up taking Savannah to Elmo live and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was a small arena and we were able to see it all. She naively sat and waived to him each time he looked our way and asked why he didn't wave back a few times. As I sat there I saw parents and their toddlers (not 4 year olds) and I thought to myself, "Do I tell her?" How long do I let her believe? She is already requesting another Elmo cake for her 5th birthday. Are the kids going to make fun of her?
She is so sweet, sensitive and amazingly innocent for her age. I worked hard trying to instill these traits when she was young, I just hope they don't become her biggest enemy on down the road. This is a tough world to grow up in and Savannah takes everything to heart. Especially, Elmo.
The first Elmo birthday cake three years ago!
