Nola's First Big Outings... and a Library Book to Boot!

Until very recently, Nola's journeys out of the house were an entire family affair, as I was way too anxious to be in the driver's seat and leave my little rear-facing morsel in the back just wondering what happened to her constant attendant. Nick (in the driver's seat), and Nola and I (facing each other in the back) managed to get out and about to a few destinations during the past few months.

Most of our outings tend toward the mundane: Doctor's appointments, scoping out houses much larger than ours, and of course, going to exciting destinations, like, Blockbuster. We did manage to spend one wonderful weekend in Summerland (sadly, no pictures), and we've visited family and a our friends, the Fraziers. It was the Fraziers, in fact, who emboldened me to attempt a trip or two on my own... with Nola ALONE in the backseat.

Let me clarify... she isn't exactly alone. She has all sorts of dangly things (probably choking hazards) to entertain her, along with a mirror (that the guy at the Fire Department told me to remove, but I just couldn't because it was the only way that I could have peace of mind while not being able to stare at her from the backseat), and NPR (which I logically assume is soothing to her, as she listened to it so much in utero), and one of my hands (bent in a Cirque de Soleil like fashion just to touch her head and make sure she's fine.)

So with all of these safety nets, Nola and I have begun to venture into the wilds of Camarillo, and I think we both are getting braver by the day. Our first trip was to the Bread Basket (Aunt Jaimee would be very proud) to get a cake for our friend Melissa Frazier (very wise of her to embolden me to get out of the house). After that, most of our trips have been to the library. I wish that I had some great pictures of the Camarillo Library, but when we're out, I'm usually hand sanitizing everything in our path, so I don't have much time to pause for photos.

Other than my new obsession with hand sanitizing, I've decided to commit myself to curing Nola of her blossoming TV addiction. I figured, rather than turning off the TV altogether (I can't manage all that well not knowing if Antonio Sabato, Jr. is going to end up riding off into the sunset with his mom rather than one of his floozie bachelorettes), I should counter TV time with book time. So, I picked up a book at the library, and wanted to include a little video clip of Nola with her first library book, Let's Dance Little Pookie.

I like to think that all of her sounds are signs of an incredibly accelerated knack for language, but I fear it's just her objecting to the fact that we are not watching the book on TV.