The Curious Case of Curious George...

image from: pbskids.org

My children are clued-in to the fact that Curious George is not a monkey. He doesn't have a tail. After all... all the monkeys at the Lincoln Park Zoo had tails! Perhaps George suffered an amputation... perhaps this is the reason that he is able to get away with so much: being considered 'disabled' and therefore people treading lightly around his *disability*.

The 'Man-in-the-yellow-hat' is affable yet clearly an eccentric. This is obviously a very good trait when dealing with those inflicted with a heavy dose of 'curiosity'. I wish I had an ounce of his patience dealing with my kids - I really don't consider theft, havoc and the resultant mayhem and pandemonium that seems to revolve around George with as much glee or humor as the Man-in-the-yellow-hat seems to muster with George's transgressions. I do wish I could however.

I am surprised that, living in this country, the Man-in-the-yellow-hat has not been hit with a huge lawsuit for some of George's misdemeanors. I have come to the conclusion that the man in the yellow hat is independently wealthy. This would explain his ability to keep a monkey, a weekend retreat in the country, not appear to have to work, ability to pay out-of-hand reparations for George's catastrophes, and the luxury of time to support his miriad hobbies: long-distance running, exploration, art, space travel... Actually, the man in the yellow hat might be quite a catch?!?!

My husband Paul, sent me a link to Werner Herzog reading Curious George. I had a chuckle!

Baby 911

One of those embarrassing stories that really has to be told... at some two years ago, my embarrassment has subsided... a little.

Let me set the scene...

We were preparing for son Nic's fourth birthday party. Husband Paul took the boys out to the supermarket to pick up some items. A bout of wet weather left our garage a little wet so Paul left the garage door open on his way out to let the garage dry out a little. The local scout troupe was collecting food items for a Thanksgiving food pantry. Recent rain prevented me from putting the food out overnight and I forgot to put the items out earlier in the morning, so was a little late in setting these out on our front step for collection. Our local squirrels had gone mad eating our ornamental pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns... destroying them in the process. We had decided to leave the pumpkins out for the squirrels to finish off - it seemed they needed them more than we did. Paul rang me while I was cooking to ask if I needed any more items. He hung up and I handed the phone to Little Miss 14-month Mietta - largely to detach her vice grip from my legs and provide her a little distraction. Every parent I know does this - kids love phones! I finished what I was doing, extracted the phone from toddler, and went onto my next task...

A little while later, the doorbell rang. I answered the door to find a local Deputy from the Sheriff's department standing there. My immediate thought was that he was collecting for a Thanksgiving charity. He told me that someone had put in an emergency call to 911. I looked at him blankly. He asked if everything was fine. I told him "Everything is OK. No one had made a call to.... oh..." What was the possibility of a 14 month old hitting 9, 1, 1, in sequence then hitting the call button?!?! "It is possible that Mietta made the call?" I could feel a brilliant shade of red starting to creep onto my face... I told him the unlikely scenario of what I thought might have happened. He looked at me somewhat suspiciously and said "You'd be surprised how often it happens. Are you SURE you are all are OK?" Feeling totally embarrassed, I really wanted him to go away, but he was very insistent on establishing that we were OK. I was about to invite him in to have a look around when he described the scenario he'd envisaged to me...

When he first arrived, the Deputy noticed the garage door open, and thought that it appeared as if someone had made a quick escape. He then saw the mangled pumpkins... that he assumed had been smashed during a physical fracas / fight. Arriving at our front door step, he observed the bag of groceries: obviously dropped to the ground during the melee, before the perpetrator made their escape... or perhaps they were still inside...?!

From this perspective, I had to agree that the scene did look a little suspicious. Mortally embarrassed, I explained the situation and the Deputy left us to stay calm and carry on...