A Night at the Opera

Well, not for Georgia and Odessa. They stayed at Alfonso and Bruce's with Kathy, the babysitter, while we all frolicked at La Cenerentola at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown.

The fabulous R&R was a dreamscape. It may have gone unnoticed by O&Geo, but was fully appreciated by all the adults.

A wonderful time was had by all -- we think -- with Bruce and Alfonso kindly putting up with the non-stop explorations of two curious toddlers. Michael and Robin arriving for brunch on Sunday made the weekend almost complete (where were Jessica and Debbie?)


A few "special arrangements" were made, considering the verticality of the stairs in an old farmhouse.

And less work was done than usual, although some of us managed to squeeze in some fence painting.

Georgia Makes Her Own Way

Today I think Georgia officially became a toddler. She ventured out entirely on her own for some long distances, occasionally even forgetting to hold her arms up in the air for balance. I don't think crawling will ever feel the same.

A Day at the Backyard Beach

The first day of even close to hot sunny weather is in July? How is a child supposed to learn to swim? Well, we'll make what we can of this.

Playing in sand is a different matter. Yoram said they would eat it. Nana said they might eat it once, but then they would figure it out. Guess who was right? Well, how could a small portion of sand each day really hurt you? Georgia's approach to the aftermath of a small taste of sand is to ask for something else to eat -- maybe to wash it down with. If she were speaking my language, I would know better what she had in mind.

It was a busy afternoon, ending like most busy days.

Togetherness

From April, which seems already like a long time ago.

Ce n'est pas un poop.

Mommy's French turns out to be godawful, Mama's hand gestures only get you so far, and apparently Parisian restaurants do not look on starving screaming babies as even moderately charmante. Just run around this sensible-but-so-interesting, ancienne-meets-nouvelle, well-planned courtyard that makes us all look brilliant, and let's not talk to anyone. Next time we go on vacation, in ten years, you can do the communicating. Start studying.


Paris video (mostly Odessa learning to walk all alone!!!, and the sisters learning to play together in Gaelle's apartment caring more about not being in the @#$%^ stroller than about being in Paree) coming soon.

Trouble walks

No present is as much fun as [shredding, eating, spitting out in slimy gobs] the paper it comes in, and no toy is as entertaining as tearing the child locks off the cabinets and digging into the tupperware. Oh children, you're so retro and you don't even know it's hip!

Spring photos: here.

Officially Toddlers

O & Geo are now officially toddlers, and watching them gives meaning to the word. Odessa is her determined self -- practice practice practice (much of it at the expense of her adult admirers' backs). Georgia is herself as well -- watching, smiling, and every now and then hopping up to join the action.

Not snow white after all?

It's oatmeal... it's sawdust... it's poop... No, it's the Monkey's first freckle ever! (On her ankle. It's right there, yes you can see it! Oh, come on.)

See photos from January '09.

Teef

This machine eats cheerios.

Time capsule/blogging backward

Dear world, it turns out it's way more fun to hang out with the babies than to blab/blog about them. Sorry, fans of the twins and their daily foibles! Call us and we'll bring them over instead.

Meanwhile, the entire contents of Staci's camera (which is a little time capsule of the last 4 months) are here. It's summertime in the camera! Which it is not in the real world. Pink cheeks and grumpy munchkins sweating in bear suits is where we're at right now.

Indoors, the babies are standing up a lot, hanging onto the fence of the baby jail that now takes up half of the living room. Odessa likes to let go and practice surfing the living room floor. Jojo is a boinger -- she hangs a sock out of her mouth, pounds the keyboard of the music table and jounces from the knees and head-bangs. As frequent diners-out in Little Italy della Bronx, they eat crusts of bread, because they have teeth. Teeth! Georgia is breaking out her first upper tooth, and Odessa has four big massive choppers on top. And they sit in highchairs and stuff. And throw things.

The doctor reports that they're "normal" and "seem smart." (I would put it the other way around -- they seem normal, but we're not through with them yet; and they are smart, so smart! It's all framing. It's probably because they read and eat many fine books. How many books do they eat? You be the judge: Odessa weighs 18lbs 2oz and is 28" tall. Georgia weighs 16lbs 11oz, and is 29.5" tall. Not noted by the doctor: Georgia eats like she's practicing for a pie contest, whereas Odessa clamps her lips together and shakes her head No way, I'm not eating that!!! So no one should worry about which little Cinderella is deprived and starving, and which one is overfed.)

xo
Mommy

Here's some catch-up video...

From Staci's Time Capsule Videos