Curious George may have not shown as much monkey as he would have liked, having come in third at the box office this weekend with an estimated $15.3 million, but he definitely got mad love from me. ME, of all people. Can you believe it? Especially after my rant last week about him shoving his monkey overkill in my face at every turn.

Still, I guess all it takes is a little cuddliness to soften up a tough bird like me. Sure enough, that little cuddliness arrived when I least expected it.

Imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang this past Saturday morning and I opened the door to find a UPS guy standing there holding a box of who-knows-what? Kick that surprise up another ten notches when I discovered inside the box, among other things, this:

Isn’t he just the cutest? I want to hug him and squeeze him and call him George. Oh wait, his name IS George!! (Alright, that remark may be a little esoteric in reference, but those of you who grew up on old Bugs Bunny cartoons will remember that’s what the Abominable Snowman Hugo said to Bugs in the episode where Marvin the Martian gave Bugs to Hugo as a pet).

So now, of course, I’m all about Curious George and having him show me all the monkey he wants. I might even go see the movie now. Because this monkey is just toooooooo cute. Really. I mean, look at him…

Thanks to my wunnerful, wunnerful editor, Jennifer Pooley, who surprised me with that monkey-by-mail. She knew I couldn’t be annoyed with George after seeing him in such cute, stuffed, cuddly form. And, as usual, she was right.

Show me the monkey indeed!!!

Previously: The Lo Zone: Somebody’s Showing Me Waaaaaaaay Too Much Monkey.