Friday's update

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.

So since I've created the addict (both in myself and Eloise), I've put in place some movie watching rules.  No more than 30 minutes a day and so we typically do 15 minutes in the morning and15 minutes at the end of the day.  And any time in between where she's pointing and grunting at the TV makinig car noises (addict, you see), well, I simply ignore her and/or distract her back to books or toys.  How pathetic am I though? I wanted a TV watcher.  Well, I wanted a break. Just a quick 15 minute break. Remember what breastfeeding got me?  And all those other moms who get 2 hour breaks because their kids take "real" naps....well, I never got that.  (am I guilt ridden and making excuses??)  Ok, ok. I just had to get all that off my chest and let you know, I'm totally OK with it and honestly, I love it. I love this movie. It cracks me up and I love that Eloise chills for 30 minutes a day. And I love that she loves Cars and I love Disney for making it.  Am I warping her and will she forever be ADD? Maybe. Did we as kids somehow make it through watching TV? Yes. Am I going to sleep just fine tonight? Yes. Do I highly recommend this movie to everyone reading this blog? Yes!

Ok, confession off my chest and we're moving onward. Now catch this craziness.  Yesterday I thought to myself, I'm going to take the Monkey down to the park today so I can get fall pics of her in the leaves like I did last year. It'll be cute to see her year over year and I know she'll love the leaves.  I didn't look up last year's date until this very second and come to find out, it was literally today, but last year. Well, it was Oct 30 but last year, Oct 30 was a Friday. And today, Oct 29, is a Friday. You get my point. So, isn't that crazy??  It's like I have some sort of inner clock sending me calendar reminders. Thank you calendar reminder. Another side note, while I was running today, I thought to myself, maybe I should add something to the blog that's called "One Year Ago Today". I'll do it just every so often and we'll all click back and see tee-tiny Eloise looking hilariously young and cute. So that makes today last year vs. today this year so weird. Inner-psyche talking to me. Calendar reminder popping up. Ding.

Ok, back on track. Last year Eloise was 4 1/2 months old at this time and was my perfect model, laying in the leaves, contently studying them, enjoying the crunchy noises they make.....and this year....she's a crazed stick lover who honestly could not get enough of the park.  It's a different one than our usual. This one is at the very end of our street and is actually the field adjacent to an elementary school. It also has a playground but we didn't head over there today. We just ran around and played with sticks.  One other difference to note, there were hardly any leaves on the ground this year. So much for that "leaves photo shoot." Is this because of our crazy hot summer?  I'm not sure but I could have taken pics of her in our front yard. There are many more leaves there that need to be raked up than were in this entire park. Weird again. Whatever.

So onto the pics....quite a difference from Oct 2009 to Oct 2010, huh?!

While we were there, I taught her how to use her pocket. Hilarious.

And just like last year's post....this weekend is Halloween and we're suuuuuuuuuuppper excited!  As you know, the Monkey is going to a butterfly for her fun neighborhood parade. The parade will again include a fire truck but this year we'll have an entire new appreciation for as Eloise loves her some trucks. I will not let you down with fab pics from this outing. I might be a pinch more excited about the parade than Eloise!!

Have a great weekend!