Mineitis

First of all, let me say this: I love Sesame Street. Not only does it make me feel a level of comfort only a stuffed Grover hidden in my bedside table can give, but it has amazingly taught my still under two year old son his ABCs, his numbers, and his animals. Although he does think Snuffleupagus is part of the animal kingdom.

But Sesame Street has taught Elijah a terrible, terrible concept: “Mine.”

There is a pretty funny episode where all the Sesame Street characters contract
“Mineitis.” Where they grab things that don’t belong to them and shout, “Mine!” A few intrepid survivors including Elmo (of course) and NBC’s Brian Williams (huh?) search for a cure.

The lesson, of course, is that being selfish isn’t cool and if you want to be like Elmo and Brian Williams you should share.

Unfortunately, the lesson Eli learned is that if you shout, “Mine!” and grab stuff, you get stuff.

Now, this isn’t really a big deal for me because I’m much stronger than Eli and if he grabs my iphone I can wrench it out of his hands and say, “No, MINE!” And then watch as he descends into an adorable hissy fit.

But it is significantly worse when he gets Mineitis around his little cherub playmates. According to Diana, Eli spent the whole playgroup time yesterday yanking stuff out of his buddy’s hands.

While the other moms looked at Diana with that special look that says, “Bad mommy. Bad bad mommy,” she wrung her hands and said, “He’s sick. He has Mineitis. We’re seeing a specialist. Brian Williams.”

But it’s just a phase, right? Right?