June 2 - 6, 2003
Mon -- Tues -- Wed -- Thurs -- Fri -- Bibliography
The
Mystery of
Mrs Monster
Friday, June 6
Up to now, we've given you the evidence for the Lone Mom Theory -- demonstrating how all of the various Moms that have been sighted could in fact be just one Grover's Mom at different stages of life.
However, there is one Mom variant that can't fully be accounted for by this theory -- the Incredibly Old Mom.
Moms with brown perms, Moms with straight blond hair, Moms with a blue Rachel cut -- they could all be the same woman, who happens to have a stylist with Attention Deficit Disorder. Therefore, the white-haired woman in the family portraits here (MM) would be her mother, Grover's Grandmommy. That's easy enough.
But things start to get weird with the picture below:
Now, the question of Mrs Monster's identity is easy in this book (LGD). This Mrs Monster isn't Grover's Mom -- it's his Grandmommy, who's come to stay with Grover.
The real question, which any sensible person would ask, is what the hell are these three doing sitting around in the living room with one sock on and one sock off? And why does Mrs Monster have to "find" their missing socks? What have they been up to all afternoon?
I mean, if I was Mrs Monster, I'd be feeling pretty pissed off with my grandson and his freaky friends, making me search all over the house for the socks that they mysteriously "lost" during whatever weird head-trip they were on that day. But she seems just as relaxed and pleasant as her daughter usually is. It must run in the family.
At this point, it gets even stranger:
Now, in this story -- which is called "All in the Family" (AIF) -- Grover is clearly talking to a white-haired Mrs Monster, and calling her "my mommy."
Which leads to only one conclusion: For some reason known only to herself, Grover's grandmother is pretending to be his Mom on the phone.
What scheme is this strange, silent woman trying to pull off? Does Grover's Mom
know about it? Is Grandma acting for good or ill?
We know for sure that this woman is not Grover's Mom, because she appears in the same book as this picture of Grover cuddling on his Mom's lap, from "Grover's Poem about Feelings" (GPF).
Both "All in the Family" and "Grover's Poem about Feelings" are reprinted in the Sesame Street Treasury, volume 5 -- the closest example we've found to two different "Moms" appearing in the same book.
Things get even weirder in "Around the Clock with Grover" (ACG), which presents this picture to illustrate 12 o'clock:
"Lunchtime. I always eat lunch with my mommy. Today we are having peanut
butter and banana sandwiches. What time do you eat lunch? Touch the picture of
us eating lunch."
You heard him. Touch the picture!
No, I don't know why we have to touch the picture. But I also don't know why Grover is now looking straight at his grandmother and referring to her as "mommy," so we might as well do what he says and try not to make any sudden moves.
Maybe Grover is in denial about the fact that his Mom is working all day and unable to eat lunch with him at 12 o'clock, so he's calling his grandmother "mommy." Maybe Grandma's hypnotized him and convinced him that she is his mommy. Maybe she's holding a gun on him right now and forcing him to call her mommy. ("Just take it nice and easy," she may be purring. "Keep eating that peanut butter and banana sandwich and nobody gets hurt.")
Clearly, we still haven't found the key to the Mystery of Mrs Monster. There's much more research to be done before we can fully understand Grandmommy's secret motives.
Luckily, GroversGrandmomology is a totally different field, so it's somebody else's problem. We're off the hook.
Mon -- Tues -- Wed -- Thurs -- Fri -- Bibliography
A shout-out to my Groversmomologist colleague
Scott Hanson
who combed through dozens of texts to research this article,
and who spent a couple weeks obsessively watching "Elmo's World"
to find the Super Mommy appearance.
Also a holla to Alaina Breeden
for sending us the "Don't Worry, Grover" story.
Word to your Grover's Mother.
My Week with Christmas Vacation