I don't believe I have a ton to update on but as I rattle on here, I'm sure things will come to me. First off, a confession.....I've single-handedly gotten my daughter addicted to TV. Well, to one movie in particular. Remember when I said she wasn't interested in TV or cartoons at all. (and that I secretly wished she'd like them a little so that we could take a 5 minute break each day??) Well, that secret wish was probably every parent's biggest mistake. Now I've got a full-blown TV watcher - with one movie in particular, as I said. And I'll give you one guess. It's a Disney flick. Every "person" in the movie is either a race car, a tow truck, a semi-truck, or some other type of moving vehicle (even the bugs in the movie are cars!) and because of this, you will not be surprised when you hear the title.......Cars! Eloise is in LOVE with the movie Cars. And I only randomly DVRed it. I saw it was coming on one night, I clicked "record" and since then we've had it saved. I turned it on early this week for the first time and whamo - I've got a TV watcher. And not just like a minute or two. She'll sit there and watch it for as long as I let her. Great. I know, I'm parent of the year. Might as well drive myself straight on over to DSS, right? But here's the catch....I LOVE the movie too. It's hilarious! Disney and Pixar are brilliant. These "kid" movies are just as funny to parents. Yes, this type of "be funny for both parents and kids" type of movie was launched long ago, but I'm new to the kid movie scene so cut me some slack.
Between my friends and me, we've used this phrase "she/he's a climber" for many years. And it always gives me a chuckle. It came from Andrea's dad and it was in reference to us high schoolers (at the time) going on to college, then finding jobs, and yada yada. See....we were "climbers." Always reaching high and having great success. Lol. And therefore, any one of our friends who accomplishes something, whether that be getting a raise, or finding an excellent sale on 7 jeans, well, they're climbers. Thank you Mr. Clark. We love your saying. It's been used in perfect form for all of these years!
Well, now "she's a climber" has to take on a more literal sense because Eloise is seriously climbing the walls around here. If it's something that can be climbed, she'll climb it. She's now dumping toys out of her wagon and climbing into it. She's climbing on top of her baby doll stroller, climbing into the Bob stroller, climbing up on the ottoman and sofa, the book baskets, the play cube, up the stairs, and the list goes on and on and on. We really love hitting new developmental milestones around here (insert sarcasm). It's so much fun to be on guard and stressed out watching your child explore all while approaching a near face plant incident into the hardwoods. Lord.
Nonetheless, the other day when I turned my back for 10 seconds to finish folding a shirt fresh from the dryer, come to find out, that was just the right amount of time for the Monkey to sneak right on into the dryer. It was all stealth too. I didn't even hear her! And she was maybe 12 inches behind me. Someone save me. I will say though, her climbing has reached gymnast status. She's quite good at getting herself into something. Not so hot at getting herself back out of something (but we're working on that part). So for the dryer, I give her a 8.5. She got in fast and did it perfectly quietly. I was none the wiser. She would have gotten a perfect 10 if she could have gotten herself back out safely but as I said, we're working on the dismount.
As promised, here are the much-anticipated Proctor twins at their precinct in Raleigh getting their absentee ballots for the November vote. Ok, ok, sliiiiiiiiiight exaggeration. But they are truly growing up over night and frankly, I don't like it one bit. They need to stop maxing out the growth charts when I leave RDU and then they can start growing again as soon as I return. I promise to visit more often. That is, if they'll agree to my no-grow-zone rules. I mean, I'm nearly a blood relative for crying out loud. I don't think it's really all that much to ask. Do you??
Lots of fun was had by all at the NC State Fair this weekend in Raleigh. All snobbery was tucked away and Corinna, Eloise and I had the best time. We went first thing Saturday morning and explored all the Fair had to offer including the land of "turkey shoots", ferris wheel and fair rides, farm yard animals, funnel cakes and much more. We were planning on going when we first arrived on Friday afternoon but I passed the state fairgrounds on my way into RDU and saw the massive crowds and traffic on the roads leading in that we decided to go first thing Saturday morning, which was the best move we made. Because we were there first thing, we almost had the run of the place. It was perfect. The weather was nice and cool, it was sunny and there were no crowds for any of the activities. In total, the Monkey pretty much loved it all. She wanted to run around and catch the sites including barns full of animals and tractors (including some cow cuddling - pic below), stuffed animals, rides and just plain Fair mania. Really she just loved running around like a mad woman. I bagged the stroller for this outing as well and I either carried her or let her go for it. I thought that was a good move because managing the stroller, and her, and the diaper bag, without turning Corinna into my mule would have been too much. She was a wiggle worm, don't get me wrong, and she wanted to run around the entire time vs letting Mommy hold her but back to the fact that we went early and the place wasn't too crowded yet, I could keep a handle on her. We'll definitely be going next year as the trip was well worth it and so much fun. Cheap, easy adventure. Perfect!
Here are pics of the day including some of Eloise on her first horse ride. (look out for another post tomorrow with new pics of those super cute Proctor twins! they are growing like mad. seriously almost to voting age. unreal!)
