I'll get lucky one of these days!

Escape From Your Dragon's Lair

Anya has been waking up in the middle of the night full of energy. She's not sleepy, and she's all happy and giggly and willing to hang out and amuse herself as long as you let her roll and scootch and try to crawl around the living room floor for a couple of hours. The only time she cries or shrieks or otherwise makes us hate life is if we try to make her go back to bed. But it's not like the living room is safe for her: there's the beloved undercouch, the place she heads first, cleverly keeping low till she is in deep, then inevitably raising her head in triumph once she is so far back I can't quite reach her, raising her head in triumph and bonking it on the hard wooden slats, and then there's the crying, the wailing, and me cursing myself for being a crappy mom. Second in order of fun (first in order of danger) is when she heads over to the awful wooden wall/storage monstrosity and tries to open the wretched wolf doors, a feat I thought surely an infant could not accomplish, till I found her shoulder deep in a box of assorted tools one afternoon. And her latest joy is the bookcase, because paper? Especially the bottom shelf full of delicious single issue comics that her mother has loving collected over the years? That is the most delicious thing in the whole world. Anya particularly likes a vintage 2003 Millar-penned issue of Trouble, but she also appreciate the fruity notes of a good Ellis Stormwatch.

Since babyproofing the living room is going to be a rather intense task, involving hundreds of dollars in gates to cope with the unusual entryways, and since we only really need to corral Anya during her late night sessions, Luke decided to create an Anya Containment Unit out of rolled up blankets, electrical ties and clever positioning.

Anya, sensing a challenge, escaped within the first 30 minutes.

I'm both proud and scared.

The Garment Renaissance

We went up to the U.P. for the holiday weekend and the babies got to ride in a golf cart, sit in the Dead River Basin, and go for a boat ride and meet and play with a dog. Also Anya discovered that cold (unopened) cans of beer are the ultimate teething relief.







We ended up wearing them for almost the whole visit because they were a little off their game with all the new stuff going on. The carrier of choice for the kids is currently the Bjorns, which is sad for me, since I have an assortment of beautiful and less crotch-dangling Mei Tei carriers. In an effort to increase my stash and find some Bjorn alternatives that they will like, I'm entering this contest: Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

And just for fun, this one too: Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Ride Like The Scream Machine

I mentioned Alex's screeching last time, now here it is for your enjoyment.




Pretty intense, no? Whattaya think, future singer for Judas Priest?

Love, Peace and Soul

There's been a lot of action in these parts: Alex learned to make an even more eardrum-ripping shriek; they both found their feet (and damn! feet are yummy!); there was another round of shots; Anya got constipated and started producing little tiny hard rabbit pellet looking poop; I became the kind of woman who discusses her baby poop on the Internet. And then there was the really cool stuff:

Alex and I were hanging out on a Saturday morning while Luke was at work, and on Saturday mornings we always watch Classic Soul Train (and you must always read that with appropriate "Souuuuuuul Train!" emphasis). I consider Don Cornelius to be a part of their early childhood education. On this particular Saturday morning, the most awesome thing happened: Don Cornelius welcomed the stars of a hot new trend to Soul Train, Run DMC!



They were so young! They were so adorably tongue-tied during the interview! And Alex got to see it! And yes, I know about the no-TV-under-two-years thing; BUT IT WAS RUN DMC!

Then they got a new cousin, the first one on their dad's side. His name is Dexter Keegan,

and it's going to be so awesome to have a cousin so close in age. Now if only I could work on that time-space continuum problem and make Kenosha and Madison magically be only twenty minutes away from each other.

Last but not least, we started them on solids last night! The menu was sweet potatoes, baked, then pureed with water till it formed a thick cream consistency. Yum. Anya was all over this. She's been trying to let us know she's ready for a couple of weeks. And last night we got her in the high chair, gave her a spoon to play with so that she wouldn't try to "help" us feed her, and she totally started getting the play spoon in her mouth right away because she is the smartest most awesome baby ever.

And then she ate like a champ, downing 1-2 tablespoons, which in babyverse is like a three-course meal.








Alex, however, was not quite ready for solids.
Poor thing.

Use It Wisely, Soldier

I finally managed to capture Anya rolling on video, and inadvertently captured Alex mesmerized by Charlie Gibson and Barbara Walters on TV.


My daughter is so rad, she doesn't cry when she gets to her belly. She struggles like hell to pull her hands from the tucked under position required by rolling to the outstretched superman position for pushing her chest up to look around from her new vantage point. All the while she's kicking her little legs to get her knees beneath her butt, the better to scooch herself around and finally conquer the heretofore unknown realm of True Mobility! She can't quite do both at once, which leads to some hilarious head down bulldozer style movement and often scooching requires some counterpressure for her feet provided by me or a piece of furniture or the sleeping cat, who is only too happy to provide some leverage because at least it means someone is paying attention to her, the poor thing.

It's not just that it is cool to see her learning and developing and (wait for it like cold maple syrup, sticky and sweet) growing up, it's that she is learning to cope with the world, and she's doing it better than I expected, its like she's this little ray of hope, like she's proof to me that the world isn't as crappy a place as I always assume it is.

I've got some stuff to say about Alex, about how sometimes I don't think I even know how to handle being loved so much by one person, about how scared I am of the inevitable time when he'll hate me, and how much he makes me wonder about my own mother, whom I'm sure I loved like he loves me, but who I'm not sure ever could handle that love, and WOW! is that a mindfuck?! But that's for another post because, dude, check this out:



It was just hanging out next to the window! Isn't it rad? Man, I can't wait till the kids are old enough so that we can go out an explore the natural world together.

"Oh, shit! Did you know there's a whole other baby in this house?!"

It's hard to capture when I have to prop one of 'em up and wield the crappy little camera with a tiny memory card, but I think you get the idea. Before last week it was all blank stares through one another.