Curious Elliana

I've never been much of a fan of Curious George--in fact, when Keira (a.k.a. Monkeyface) turned one and we were planning her monkey-themed birthday party, I was constantly cursing the fact that there was such a limited supply of CUTE monkey stuff, and such an inordinate amount of George stuff, on the market.

Then Pap-Pap gave us a hardcover collection of Curious George stories, and it wasn't long before Elliana was an addict. Day after day, she picks it up, trudges over to one of us (sometimes grunting, "Heavy!"), and begs, "G'oge?" And we get to read for the one billionth time about how George causes a huge disaster at the chocolate factory, or the pancake breakfast, or the animal shelter, or the hot air balloon festival...yet somehow manages to emerge an unwitting hero. And you know what?

I love George.

This is mostly because Elliana gets so adorably excited about these stories that she can hardly contain herself, and as all parents know, kid excitement is highly contagious. She has some of the stories practically memorized, and so now we have a little routine, where I pause and let her fill in the key words in the story:

Me: "This is..."

Elliana: "G'oge!"

Me: "George was a good little monkey, but always very..."

Elliana: "Sis-sis!" [curious]

Me: "One day, George went for a walk with his friend, the man with the yellow..."

Elliana: "Hat!"

Me: "As they were walking, they sat down to take a..."

Elliana: "Rest!"

My favorite part is when we get to the page where the man in the yellow hat is making the Home Alone face over something George has done, and Ellie's eyes get all wide as she exclaims, "Ohhh NO!"

Maybe Ellie likes George so much because she's pretty curious herself. Every day, she wonders things like...

Why doesn't Daddy wear more accessories?


What will Mommy and Daddy say when I walk into the living room like this?


Why won't these effing fish bite this effing pole?!


How can I possibly make more of a mess?


What does this button do?

And after a long day's mischief, Ellie has taken to snuggling up with Keira's Curious George doll (who seems to be, as Keira herself frequently is, not wearing any clothes):

Say it with me now: awwwwwwwwwwwww.