Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Pill's Progress

More new pix are here.

When you are an only child, a mishmosh and a Gemini, and not a blond & blue eyed Aries twin (began your mother's somber tale) the world tends to feel like it has a very sharp and special kind of teeth. The world says: A baby? A joy. Two babies? Triple happiness.

But you are not so concerned with your own bliss. You look into your babies' perfect, silent faces, which look like wizened, grown-up faces of people who are silent because it's judicious; who could talk if they liked. You look at gas pain that tightens the lips and clenches the eyelids. You see the eye-widened gaze at rustling leaves and flashing lights. When you push the stroller too fast, you see fawnlike panic. Eventually they giggle at you -- and also at anyone else. You stare and stare, waiting for some sign of recognition that you, and not the subway token clerk, you and not the take-out man, you and not the super, the neighbor, the babysitter, or the lady in the elevator, are the mother of these babies. And you think, GODAMMIT! Why won't you talk to me?! How else, when you make googly eyes at everything that moves, can I notice that it's me you love?

It's only a question, I'm told, that a Gemini lonely would ask. And maybe even then only if they were the workaday stiff who just put in family appearances in on mornings and weekends. Apparently you're just supposed to know.


Luckily for us and unluckily for the therapist, Odessa has started to laugh and smile at us more regularly, and in response to happy things. And our Georgia, who has been so pliant and good, has started to complain sometimes when we put her to bed before she's ready. They have opinions at last, so every smile is that much sweeter. We do stand around like collectors waiting for them. Especially the desperate, craven Geminists who turn out to be ruled by their children's rationed affections.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Monday, August 4, 2008

Plus ça change

The babes are changing madly... Stand them in the Jumperoo and they're whole new people with real person faces, cooing strange and beautiful whale noises at anyone who'll listen: plastic roos, spinning gears, clacky beads, singing frogs. Lots of photos here and hopefully more to come -- including the video of Odessa finding her feet -- from Bethany.

The constant attention of many cooing aunts, uncles, grown cousins and baby cousin, all gathered at Myrtle Beach, seems to have the babies growing and waking faster than ever.
They're getting Habits now. Odessa is no longer willing to go out to dinner no matter what's on the menu. She wants to walk around, and better yet, to just leave out of the restaurant. (If you try to come back in, the lip starts to quiver and curl and you're in trouble all over again.) Georgia, if you lean her back, slams herself forward in a sit-up... a trick she first unveiled for Great Grandma Dot. And she seems to have learned how to eat. Amazing!

The beach itself may have been incidental -- who knows what a baby takes in, when so little of it is remembered? But they looked devilishly cute in their stripey kits... which are more for the mothers, as we found out when we dipped everyone in the ocean. Really, the baby bathing suit is not the issue. Naked would be fine. The bigger problem is the sopping gelatinous diaper mess. (Although plastic diapers, grossly, don't seem so wet once the outside dries off. Chh! Feh.)

The funny part is that, the more conscious the bubelehs get, the more they look alike... till finally we took a picture and found, for a second, that we almost couldn't tell the difference.

P.S. What's with all the French? Don't know. Staci thinks all dogs are boys and all cats are girls. Maybe all babies are French. They certainly wear a lot of very daring horizontal stripes.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

BoheMaman

And has anyone noticed how easy and dextrous our Staci has become with the babies that we once feared to break? Check this out... Yes, it's what it looks like, she's got that baby in the Big Purse Hold, chowing down. (True, we were in search of late night ice cream, which is a pretty strong motivation for just *making it work* on the go. Still, admirable, right?)

Monday, July 21, 2008

At Swim, Two Pupchiks

The kids had their first dip this weekend in the Roe-Jan swimming hole in Milan. It was hot hot hot and the babies were surprisingly willing to be dipped in cool water (although today Odessa cried about what was coming when we ran the water for her bath. Anticipation has arrived!*)

As we swished the babies around, a pickup full of 14 kids and 3 dogs arrived, all of whom started swimming a bit up the stream, which meant we were in the wrong spot... so we went back the next day with friends, neighbors and faraway visitors to the nice deep currenty part where they'd been. 24 years it took me to figure out where that swimming hole was. And the babies? Less than 4 months, the smarties.

So it looks like the baby-blob days are over. The kids are watching things that move (like the ceiling fan), talking to bears, giggling at each other and barking to let us know whenever the plinking musical mobile needs to be rewound.


*Aaaaaahahaha

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

First Wedding

Nathan and Maki
were wed on Bremen Island.

A beautiful step forward
for them and us too.


Odessa and Georgia
attended as tenugui girl
and lemon meringue girl
delighting everyone.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Cousin love

Bethany said...

My ploo for the "threesome" pic:

One of us questions
the camera's strange purpose
unamused with the bright light
Silly mommy's fun

The other content
go ahead flash away more
I'll be my sleepy wee self
Teddy bear will watch