Where is Elmo?

How does a small child get attached to a stuffed animal or a doll? Our eighteen month old grand daughter's favorite by far is Elmo.  She walks around with him and is constantly looking for him. The question frequently is, "Where is Elmo?" 

He is everywhere and in case you don't know who is Elmo is, he's the red one waving to us in a crowd of animals and dolls.

How old is Elmo and where did you come from? He is a "fictional" character on "Sesame Street" today since 2012 when he came to life. He was first used in 1979.  He is actually 3 1/2 years old all the time and celebrates his birthday on February 3rd. He has been the star of two movies and has appeared on many television shows over the years and had a very popular Tickle Me Elmo doll in 1996.

Sometimes it is difficult to find Elmo and recently my granddaughter and I searched several rooms without finding him.  I was sitting in the kitchen and looked downstairs to another room and this is what I found.  He did not have a heart attack.

Sometimes Elmo dresses up and thinks he's on a television show in the house.

He has a different way of shopping because he just jumps in the cart.

Elmo is going to be doing very important work for our granddaughter in the near future and I think it's about time he did something valuable.

If you think it's difficult getting diaper on a baby, it's a different kind of difficult putting a diaper on Elmo as you can see from this picture.

Frequently when I'm babysitting Elmo is just hanging around looking very innocent, but my granddaughter absolutely loves him. After her mom and dad and my wife, I'm just slightly ahead of.... Elmo.