Thanks elmo

Scott and I have been working on teaching Ellie to count to three for quite some time. She has been having trouble getting past two. This is how most of our counting lessons went:

Mom/dad: what comes after one?
Ellie: two!
M/d: what comes after two?
E: one!
(repeat this conversation a thousand times and you'll understand our frustration)

For a while we thought the problem may stem from our disciplinary tactics. Like many parents we often tell Ellie we'll give her til the count of three to do whatever we're asking her to do before she goes in time out. Unfortunately we, like most parents, don't actually want to get all the way to three (putting a toddler in time out is such a production). Here's how many of those conversations went:

M/d: Ellie, I'm going to count to three. If you don't do _______ you're going in time out.
E: no!
M/d:1...
E:no!
M/d:2...
E: NO!
M/d:seriously Ellie, don't let me get to three! One...
(repeat a hundred thousand times and you'll start to understand our frustration)

So you can imagine my surprise and joy when I overheard this conversation this morning:

Kids on sesame street: one, two...
E: 3!
K: 4, 5...
E: 6! 7!
K: 8...
E: 9! 10!

Turns out our inability to teach Ellie wasn't rooted so much in our disciplinary shortcomings but more in our lack of youthful energy and the fact that we're humans and not muppets. So thank you, Elmo and friends, for teaching my toddler to count. Now please get started on potty training because that is definitely a lesson we're having trouble with...(and just so you know, we'll be turning to you in a decade or so when it's time for the birds and the bees)