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Helps Elmo count Love from, Mother and Daddy October 10, 2001 Poor
Elmo! Everyone was ready for the big
hike through the park but him. Heather Lynn Jones, age 3,
from New Orleans, Louisiana, found Elmo sitting
sadly on the steps of 123 Sesame Street. “What’s
the matter, Elmo?” asked Heather, swinging a
backpack. Elmo sighed. “Elmo
is supposed to bring 10 sandwiches on the hike, but Elmo isn’t good at counting
to 10.” “Come
on, I’ll help you,” said Heather. “Tara and Kimberly
always help me when I need it. That’s
what friends are for!” With
help from Heather, the sandwiches were soon
ready and everyone set off on the hike.
As they walked, they heard a loud growl. “Yikes!”
yelped Bert. “Bears!” Ernie
laughed. “Nope. That’s just my tummy telling me it’s time
for a snack.” His tummy growled again. “Who
has the backpack?” asked Heather. “There are snacks inside.” “Elmo
has one backpack,” said Elmo, as Big Bird pulled some apples from the
pack. “Yum, yum, two apples. One for Elmo and one for Ernie’s hungry
tummy.” The
path led to a wide stream. “Watch me!”
shouted Prairie Dawn. “I won’t get
wet.” She jumped across the brook on
some stones. “Elmo,
can you count the stones?” asked Heather. “Yes,
yes! Three stones.” Elmo hopped across. Hop, hop, hop. Pop,
pop, pop! Three heads popped out of the
water. “Look, Elmo,” laughed Heather.
“Those stones were really turtles!” “Elmo
can count turtles, too!” said Elmo.
“One, two, three!” In
a sunny spot beside the brook, Heather spotted
something else for Elmo to count. “Take
a look at those bumps on the log,” Heather said. “Oooooh. One, two, three, four lumpy bumps on a log,”
counted Elmo. “Four bumps that look
like…” Ribbit, ribbit, croak,
croak! The four bumps jumped away. Heather
grinned. “Four lumpy frogs like bumps
on a log! Tara
and Kimberly would sure like to see those
funny frogs.” When
they reached a bright green meadow, everyone ran and played in the long
grass. “I spy five things, Elmo,” said Heather. “Can
you guess what they are?” “Where? What?” said Elmo. “Elmo sees lots of things.”
“I’ll
give you a hint,” said Heather. “The five things I see are little and green
and squiggle a lot.” “Okay,
Elmo will look for five little green things that squiggle.” “Hey,
Heather!
Elmo saw five little green, squiggly caterpillars,” shouted Elmo. “You’re
getting very good at counting, Elmo,” said Heather. “Listen, can you hear the knocks?” Tap! Tap!
Tap! Elmo listened
carefully. Tap! Tap!
Tap! “Elmo hears six knocks.” “Yes!”
said Heather.
“See, high in the tree, six birds pecking away.” Next,
Heather and her friends
hiked to a small waterfall. Heather picked up a shiny pebble and tossed it into
the pool beneath the falls. It landed
with a mighty splash. KERPLUNK! Elmo
gathered seven stones. But before he
could pitch the first pebble, some fish popped up and yelled, “Hey, cut that
out!” “Whoops! Sorry, you guys.” Heather gulped. “Uh, how many fish do you see, Elmo?” “Do
you want to play a game?” said Heather as they
hiked through some tall pine trees.
“Let’s see who can find the most pine cones.” Elmo
looked the hardest. He found more than
all the others. “Elmo
has nine! Nine pine cones.” Elmo groaned. “Help! Elmo can’t carry
nine pine cones, Heather.” “Don’t
worry, we’ll help you plant them so they’ll grow into trees,” said Heather. “Nine
pine trees are almost a forest.” By
now, everyone was hungry. Heather picked a picnic spot and said, “Let’s
eat!” Big Bird poured the
lemonade. Ernie and Bert passed out
cookies. Prairie Dawn unpacked grapes. “My tummy’s hungry again,” said Ernie. “Where are the sandwiches, Elmo? I hope you brought a lot!” “Elmo
and Heather made ten sandwiches,” said
Elmo. He counted them out slowly. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten!” “Ten
sandwiches sure is a lot,” said Ernie, munching happily. “Congratulations,
Elmo,” said Heather. “Today you counted one backpack, two apples, three turtles, four
frogs, five caterpillars, six birds, seven pebbles, eight fish, nine pine
cones, and ten sandwiches, all by yourself.” “Heather is right,” Elmo said. “Elmo DID count all that.” Heather
smiled. “It’ll be fun telling Tara and Kimberly about the fun stuff you counted when
I get home to New Orleans, Louisiana.” “You
can tell them one more funny thing Elmo counted,” giggled Elmo. “Look, Heather! One sandwich being carried away by ten
ants!” The End Heather Lynn Jones
“Eight fish,” said Elmo. “Eight
ANGRY fish. Let’s get out of here!”
©
& ® CTW Muppets© Henson