2nd Generation Fans

[MuppetQuilter]

Hi!

I know there are some people who just had a baby and others with kids here and I was wondering how many of us are raising 2nd generation Muppet fans.

My daughter is almost two and adores the "Muppies" as she calls them.

So, who else has kids?

 

[scarecroe]

Hi Annika,

It's nice to see you on the new board! I was going to make you a Ma Otter sig way back in December after we'd all come back from MuppetFest, but then I kinda disappeared from the Internet for a while. I'd be happy to send you a smaller version of it to use for an avatar if you ever want a change

Anyway, there seem to be so few of us around who are devout fanatics and have children. I happen to be one of them and proud to be passing on my passion for the Muppets to my daughter, who is now 19 months (that's a year and a half and a month for those of you who never understood why after 1 year old parents continued to chart their children's age by month. I understand now )

It's funny, I've always been a devout Muppets and Kermit admirer from the moment I could focus my little retinas on a TV screen and watch those characters come to life. Over the years, I never stopped being a fan per se, but when Gillian was born, it regenerated an appreciation I've had all my life and catapulted it to fanaticism.

When she was born, "The Rainbow Connection" was a constant song coming from my vocal chords. She'd fall asleep on my chest with the vibrations of Kermit's words echoing through her head.

Now, just as instinctively as you and I blink, when she gets up in the morning and sees me coming for her in her crib, I don't get a "Daddy! Daddy!" as if to say "Good Morning", but rather "Kermit? Kermit?" as if to ask if we can now watch Kermit as she knows that this is part of the process of waking up.

Gillians' rules for waking up:

• Yell for Daddy to come and get me
  
• Daddy changes my diapy
  
• We watch "The Muppet Show" or "The Best of Kermit On Sesame Street" so Daddy has some time to wake up to the world

Night-time is more for watching The Muppet Movie, Caper or Manhattan (I think since I purchased them on DVD, I've collectively seen them about 80 times each). She won't sit perfectly still for anything other than these movies.

I'll never forget the very first time we watched The Muppet Movie together after she'd been doing nothing but listening to Kermit sing "The Rainbow Connection" on the CD for months. It was like a whole new world opened up to her.

We were supposed to go see a special performance of "Sesame Street Live" next weekend, but it looks like that idea's been nixed since my source for tickets has fallen through. It seems we'll be settling for "Bear In the Big Blue House Live" instead, which is hardly anything to complain about. On the other hand, I can't wait for the moment when she can see Ernie and Grover up on the big stage, LIVE in front of her! She'll freak!

I hope to get her to Sesame Place (the theme park in PA) this summer if things go as I hope they will. Have you been with your little one yet? I know Jess (FellowWLover) takes her 3-year-old daughter every year and they love it.

Until then, we'll be tiding ourselves over with our home video collection and singing the songs in the car.

"Night-night!"

 

[Joggy]

Shouldn't we call it a "third generation"? I mean, I'm 19 and I always considered myself a second generation...

I wonder if everybody's kids will come together online one day to form a New Generation Muppet Central! Wouldn't that be cool?!

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Joggy
Shouldn't we call it a "third generation"? I mean, I'm 19....

I think because of all the different ages at which we begin to have children, there could probably be several generations of Muppet fans by now. I think what Annika meant by 2nd generation is those who have offsprung (a word?) from those who grew up watching the Muppets in their prime. Technically I was a little late myself. I wasn't even born until 1978, two years into The Muppet Show. Then again, It didn't end until `81, and we still had Caper and Manhattan in `82 and `84, respectively. So yeah, I was right there as a little tike when the Muppets were really going full throttle; just one of the younger ones of that group. Hence, why, now that I'm passing on this fandom to my daughter, she becomes 2nd generation.

Maybe you're kind of a generation 1.5

I guess there's a number of ways you could look at it, which really, none of it really matters so long as we're all one big zany Muppet-fan family.

(I hope this doesn't get as confusing as the whole "3rd cousin, twice removed" thing)

 

[MuppetQuilter]

It's good to know I don't have the only child who puts Kermit first in her priorities!

We went to the mall tour of Play with Me Sesame a week or so ago and it was great! She danced to the classic Sesame Street songs before the show started and was thrilled when Ernie and Bert and Grover came on stage. In fact, I told her we were going the day before and she kept saying "See Grover! See Grover now!"

Gillian is a great name, BTW.

Eleanor also spent a lot of time snuggled up against her father's chest while he sang Rainbow Connection and (her favorite) I'm Going to Go Back There Someday. Actually, she still does, only now she sings along in a sleepy little voice.

We haven't been to Sesame Place yet-- as it is about 3000 miles away-- but plan to go in the next few years. I've never been there so I may be more excited to make the trip than the kidlet.

About the generational thing--

I did indeed mean Muppet fans raising their own children to appreciate the Muppets. My parents were finishing high school as Jim was making his first puppet-- so I'm definitely a first generation Muppet fan. My mother likes them and all, but she sure didn't grow up with 'em.

 

[Gonzo]

Well, my wife started having contractions yesterday, so I'll be a part of this list before too long....we're having a boy, and he's going to see the Muppets around a LOT in his life--whether or not he latches onto that will be his own choice. I don't want to brainwash him or anything, but he'll definitely know they're around!

Gonzo

 

[MuppetQuilter]

Gonzo

Well, my wife started having contractions yesterday, so I'll be a part of this list before too long

Congratulations and good luck!

Hope it all goes quickly and smoothly (my daughter arrived three weeks after the contractions started-- but that is one of those bizarre things that only happens to me)!

Let us know when he arrives!!

 

[BlueFrackle]

Joggy

Ooohh 1.5, That gives us an edgy style !

Like they are never sure what we are going to do next !

Freak City !

 

[Gonzo]

Well, the contracting is still going on...but no baby is coming out. Yet. We have a doctor's appointment Thursday...hopefully he won't see a baby-head or something. Never mind.

Quinnnnnnnnnnn

 

[scarecroe]

Good luck Quinn!

And start dusting off that Sesame Street: Dreamytime Songs CD