Cute vs. Cute: Rumble in the Concrete Jungle!

That's right. The time you have all been waiting for on the edge of your keyboards has finally arrived. It is time for BATTLE, my minions! I mean, readers! I give you:

LEONARD VS. ELIZA:

In the war of cute, everyone wins.

As you all know, I spend my days entirely surrounded by cute. Boatloads of cute. Nauseatingly intense amounts of cute here, people. I am finally starting to be desensitized to it, but I figured I'd better share the joy with all of you before I lose the ability to see adorableness and instead see only tiny creatures who have little to no control over their bodily functions.

So here's the rules: I took my camera with me to two very typical afternoons, one at work with Eliza (with the boss's permission) and one with Leonard and Sam (who had no say in the matter). If you're feeling up for a little interactive blogging, vote for the winner in the comments, and at some point I will post a photo montage of said winner enjoying a tasty treat and looking lovingly into the camera. Who doesn't wanna see that??!!

(Wrestling announcer voice.... go!)

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaaand in this corner, weighing in at about 22 pounds, a drooler bruiser, the crawler who's a brawler, iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's Baby Eliza!

Contrary to what this picture implies, Eliza is not actually terrified of me and my horsey smile.

See! She lurvs me. And the shiny, shiny camera.

Eliza, at the time of these photos, had just entered the teething phase. Now she has become a slobbering, chewing beast, and I yearn for the halcyon days when a few minutes of this toy (named "the piglet star" by her mother) was enough to take her mind off things.

"Those bug toys just out of my reach are clearly the BEST TOYS EVER. I wants them!"

"Amy, don't move that round thing, I was talking to my friend! How rude."

This is one of my favorite pictures, because this is Eliza's default expression. She's really that happy of a baby! I could go on and on about how I have the best day job in the world, but after these pictures I don't think anyone would disagree with me. So I won't. On to our other contender!

(again, wrestling voice)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand in THIS corner, weighing in at, um, somewhere under 40 pounds, the whale with no tail, Scary & Hairy, iiiiiiiiiiiiit's Leonard the Dog!

Ok, yes, there is no dog in this picture. Let me explain: this is the park down the street from us, with its awesome wading pool fountain that Sam, Leonard and I were sitting by to cool off on the appointed afternoon. I had the brilliant idea that Sam should take his best buddy Leonard over for a drink, since they were both hot and thirsty. This is what Sam thought of the idea:

Aw, he loves me so much.

Leonard seems up for the idea, though! And yes, he did lick the camera at this point.

After cleaning off the lens slobber, Sam continued to try and talk me out of my apparently crazy idea. I didn't want to hurt their epic bro-mance, but in the name of science I demanded that they sally forth in search of brave new worlds... and cute photo opportunities.

Off they go!

Aaaaaaaand that's as close as they got. Sam thinks he's funny. Don't worry internet, he'll be punished.

After I "scarred poor Leonard for life" by suggesting he slake his thirst, he got some comfort from his one true Sam love. Can't you just see the love?

Oh, and Leonard now loves Sam so much that he lives in Sam's closet. Seriously. We had to clean all of Sam's shoes off the floor and move the dog bed in there, cuz Leonard just kept weaseling his way in and laying down. It's a little disconcerting at night to have those shiny eyes in the depths of the closet, but otherwise its kind of amazing.

Ok, that's the ballgame. Now I do realize that the Leonard portion of this battle is really a tag team of Leonard and Sam, but since they're attached at the hip there wasn't much I could do about that. I think together they make a pretty decent showing, though. Vote for your favorite. Or not. And I shall soon declare the winner. Or not. Either way, I think we can all agree that I have a very cute-filled life at this point, and that I'm going to need to do something very gritty and urban to keep from turning into a carebear or something.

Love to all!