Late last night, Matt and I almost lost a poop from Carmen. This morning I looked for the poopy diaper. (It wasn’t in the diaper pail because with a front loader you really gotta wash pee diapers separately from poo diapers if really want your diapes to be clean . . . huge hassle . . . fortunately poo diapes are rare.) I couldn’t find it so I left a quick message for Matt at work asking him about it. He e-mailed me this response:
OK, so if you’re baking cookies, sometimes the dough all sticks together to itself so well that it just pops off the parchment paper that you have on the counter without leaving a trace? Well, we caught C early last night, and it all kind of stuck to her and not to the, uh, fuzzi parchment paper without really any trace. So I just filed it with the others in the big pail.
Skipped off to Picture People last week to redeem another coupon from the mail (free sitting and 8×10). The photo session lasted only 20 minutes; the photographer’s over-enthusiasm in an attempt to get them both to smile (simultaneously, of course) caused David to cry. I told him I understood; I think I would have cried if somebody had been laughing like an idiot and shaking a feather duster at me, too. We did get one other decent photo out of the session, and another that quite accurately reflected how they felt about the whole situation. While David clung to my shirt, we took a couple of photos of Carmen before she crawled off the dropcloth. I have more than the photos as a souvenir of this particular adventure. Carmen learned to imitate the photographer’s syrupy imitation baby-laughing and amuses herself with the sound of it while riding in the car.
On the way home from the Picture People we spotted Santa in his chair, and no line to wait in for a visit. I decided to swing by to say hello (as if C&D hadn’t enough of picture-taking, already, but . . .). He was a most lovely Santa, with a real beard and an East Texas accent (you know Santa winters here, don’t you?). I placed Carmen on his lap and despite his best and most gentle cuddles, she dissolved into a puddle of tears. David, riding along with Fiona, saw Carmen cry and decided the morning had been so traumatic that he should start crying, too, loud and wailing like a fire truck. Or a baby who has just been scared out of his wits. So I apologized to Santa, wished him a Merry Christmas, and went on our way with two bona-fide North Pole candy canes, the cellophane wrap of which entertained the babies all the way to the car. Then Fiona and I confiscated and ate the candies.
Another highlight from this week: Carmen discovered bubble wrap. Because the babies would rather stand and stare out the window then sit down to use the potty or, worse, lie down for a diaper change, I brought out a sheet of crinkly bubble wrap to keep them occupied long enough to let us take care of business. The sheet drifted down onto the floor last night while Matt was working with David, and Carmen crawled over to it. While she was leaning on it she burst an air sac. A minute later we watched her kneel over the bubble wrap as high as she could, then forcefully fall on to it, popping an air sac with the heel of her hands. She laughed. And did it again.
Now, before we sign off, please enjoy a picture of David on our behalf. I like to eat, eat eat eat, I like to eat, eat, Oatmeal and Molasses . . . (did you know that O’s stick to your face if it’s covered in molasses?).
Every now and then we meet a meal that simply must be applied to our faces, stuffed in our shirt sleeves, or, as in the case of this week’s amaranth, stuffed in our diapers (no wonder we thought David ate so much!). Three cheers for the bathtub! Hip, hip, hurray!
Which reminds me, we should pick out a tree this weekend to decorate and then plant. We’re thinking a sweetgum. Last year’s sweet bay magnolia was pretty, and would be alive now if I didn’t forget to water it (I was feeding babies! I didn’t have time to water it! And how was I to know this was going to be one of the driest springs in ages? Doh!). We still feel guilty about it.
Whew. What a weekend. Made it to the Weihnachtsmarkt and then downtown to the lights at Houston City Hall. After a not-so-nappy day, and a night that involved too much playing and giggling at 3 AM, David decided to fall asleep on the way there. So, we waved at the crowd, Carmen visited a police horse, and then walked through Sam Houston Park as volunteers prepared for the annual Candlelight Tour. We’ll have to visit Santa another time.
And move over, Purely O’s, C&D discovered the crispy, crumbly joy of a rye cracker.
We wondered if our babies had Non-Sleeping Sickness (the opposite of Sleeping Sickness, right?). But they’re normal, after all. Whew.
One bit of information might help here: from a biological perspective, it is appropriate for babies to awaken during the night during the first year of life. In fact, although infants can be conditioned to sleep long and hard alone, and without intervention and, hence, fulfill the cultural expectation that the should sleep through the night, the fact remains that they were not designed to do so, and it may not be either in their best biological or psychological interest. As always, parental goals and needs lead parents to interpret their infant’s behavior, including night awakenings, very differently. For example, many parents do not worry about night awakenings because especially where the babies sleep next to them, the infants are content and less likely to awaken and remain distressed.
Santa’s reindeer better be fast, because we’ll be hot on heels with this jogging stroller. We’ve wanted one for a while but not until this week did the perfect stroller pop up on Craig’s List.
Haven’t tried it out yet (trying NOT to freeze babies), but we will, soon. The 16″ tires will handle our b-u-m-p-y streets and sidewalks (and the dirt roads at the George Ranch, woo-hoo!) just fine. I tried a new model out at Babies’R'Us earlier in the week and Carmen really, really liked it when I pushed her at a run (in the store, hee hee). I’m sure David will like it, too. Found a plastic rain cover at the BRU clearance rack, to keep out the cold and wet. Yay!
In the summer I’ll re-evaluate how C&D might do in the Wellness Center childcare facility and maybe reunite with my yoga class. Until then, this should keep us all busy. Wheee!
