When I was in San Francisco this past Thanksgiving weekend, I got to spend nearly a glorious week hanging out with my nephew. It'd been almost a year since I'd seen him last, and now he's at the age (two and a half) where he can say all kinds of words, some of them even forming semblances of sentences.
He can say my name, for example: Tia Patricia ("Tia" being the Spanish word for "aunt"), which -- with its five syllables full of consonants -- is a much better job than his father ever achieved at his age (Brian used to call me "Patika." Another family friend referred to me as "Matricia.")
I had my computer with me, and, having been subjected to the Wiggles for the first time the previous night (the horror! the horror!), I decided to start showing Diego old classics from my childhood. Onto YouTube I went, to unearth old Disney scenes:
"Bare Necessities" (a song I like so much, I sang it in performance class when I was in my 20s)
"Mary Poppins" - "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (wasn't Mary always just so cooler when she was with Bert?)
With the majority of people in the house being Spanish-speakers, we all got obsessed -- as we always do -- with singing 'Cielito Lindo.' This time, Luciana Pavarotti with Enrique Iglesias! Girls screaming! Kids singing! Que chevere.
And then there's the old 'Sesame Street' songs. These days, I hear, 'Sesame Street' is dominated by a nearly intolerable munchkin puppet known as Elmo. Now, I understand why kids like Elmo, but the "Sesame Street" I knew didn't focus on one character -- it was full of diverse, original songs and muppet characters I loved. And the songs themselves? Wow. Listen to them again. They're actually really good.
I am immensely proud that Diego asked repeatedly for encores of these, two of my favorites:
'I Love Trash' by Oscar the Grouch (Diego spent the rest of the weekend singing, "I loooove trash!"). What was the lesson they were trying to teach here, though? It's awesome to be messy? (I'm OK with that.)
And, of course, "C is for Cookie." I love the swaying monsters in the background. They're like football players being forced to perform in the school production of "Swan Lake."
As soon as a video would end, my nephew would point and select what he wanted played next. "Another one!" At one point, my sister-in-law called over and said, "He's never allowed to watch this many videos at once." Me: "Well, he asked for them." (I believe the specific request was "MORE MOVIES! MORE MOVIES!") My brother: "You could say no." My mom: "But she's the aunt!"
Yes. I am the aunt. My job is to be fun, and then give my nephew back over to his parents. I love being an aunt. It's pretty much like being a grandparent, except younger.
All those Sesame Street videos drove me to look up some more this morning, including this one that I remember from the very early days, with all the human characters and only a few of the muppets.
Seeing them all young and together like that, I couldn't help but think: Do you suppose any of the cast members slept with each other? They must have, right? The fact that they were working on a children's television program doesn't exclude them from the rules of attraction and friction on an ensemble TV show.
I'm going to guess Maria hooked up with David, and Susan and Bob had a torrid affair. I can't wait for the tell-all book.