Playdate at My Gym

Last Thursday we met up with Patrick & Finnegan (and Juliane, of course!) at our local My Gym. They were offering a free "play day" to their members as well as the general public. Rumor had it that Elmo was scheduled to make an appearance, and that alone was enough to entice Ella and Aidan!

They had a wonderful time playing in the bouncehouse, in the ball pit, jumping on the trampoline, and climbing and sliding on all sorts of gym equipment.

And then, Elmo entered the room.  Apparently, Elmo, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are all the same to my little munchkins.  

Ella immediately shrieked in terror, digging her fingernails deep into the back of my neck and wrapping her legs around me like a little monkey. She quite forcefully screamed at Elmo to go home, and was even more upset when he did not obey her orders.  Needless to say, she screamed for the remaining 20 minutes that we were there and was only happy once we were physically exiting the building, at which point she waved at him and blew kisses!

Aidan, on the other hand, was cautiously optomistic.  He didn't cry, shriek or run away.  Instead, he kept about a 4 foot distance and followed Elmo around the room.  After about 10 minutes, he worked up the nerve to approach Elmo, reached out and touched him, and was instantly hooked. He then got a nice big hug and a kiss and did NOT want to leave.

Both Ella & Aidan have been repeatedly asking to see Elmo again ever since.