Sesame Street’s Elmo turned 3-and-a-half Feb. 3, despite being introduced on the show in 1980. Here’s the reason why his age stays so specifically fixed.

Elmo just got off the phone with his good buddy Ronny Sassbottom. Elmo needed some ideas to make weather predicting more sassy. It was really quite simple for Sassbottom: “You need girls, Elmo, girls.