food, crochet, merriment
Seriously? Is this where we are?
Could our sweet babies honestly be turning two?
Truly? Madly? Deeply?
It’s hard to believe…
that we’ve had all this sunshine…
for two years straight.
And yet, somehow…
it must be true.
Whether or not I’m ready for it…
the babies are not such babies these days.
The only thing growing faster than these little dew drops…
is our love…
for them.
Something very peculiar is going on these days.
Whenever we hold up the camera, and say, “Smile!” this is what we get.
Or this.
What the…?
Awww…come on.
I think these babies are on to us and our blogging ways.
It’s getting so that…
to get a really great smile from either of them…
somebody’s got to stand on their head!
Ah, well–as long as it isn’t me….
Long, long ago—so long ago, in fact, that the queen of the whole world’s children actually were children—there was discovered a beautiful, magical piece of fabric.
This fabric was a perfect purple, blue and pink paisley, fuzzy, velor.
It was also discovered that the mystical fabric had a perfectly divine purpose and would be just the thing for making three lovely dressing gowns for the queen’s three incredibly cool daughters.
However, there was trouble in the kingdom that season and the queen became preoccupied with many, many mundane tasks. Therefore the 3 dressing gowns for the 3 princesses didn’t actually happen.
It turned out to be a good thing because as the princesses grew, one day they unanimously declared that the beautiful, perfect, purple, blue, and pink paisley fuzzy velor was in reality NOT beautiful. It was “dreadful, horrible, snakey” fabric.
Some say the word “hideous” was even gently tossed about that day.
Well, it’s a good thing the queen didn’t make those dressing gowns for her incredibly cool daughters out of that incredibly NOT cool fabric or certainly all would have been lost, and despair would have swallowed up the kingdom. The horrid fabric was sent to the cold and damp dungeon, to never be heard of again.
Phew.
That was close.
Several generations later, after much banishing, crown shifting and dragon slaying…
the queen was still in charge of the whole world, but the kingdom had new heirs to the thrown.
By royal decree, the dreaded fabric was searched out and found. To the delight of all…
it was miraculously beautiful once more.
Just perfect in fact…
for a playful romp through the castle halls…
a quiet chat in the upper chambers…
or even a quick ride around the grounds.
The magical fabric was wholeheartedly embraced and invited to stay.
He agreed.
At last, balance, harmony and good will were restored to the kingdom.
Next order of business…
Joy, love, rock and roll, and of course—
world peace.
News at 10.
So, how would it be…
to be little again and to find something as simple as poking an empty hot dog bun with a fork—
to be so dang funny—so hilarious even, that you couldn’t stop laughing…
no matter where you were or who was watching or how much sense it did or did not make,
because the laughter was coming from so, so, so deep down in your guts, that you couldn’t stop if you had to?
But you don’t have to, baby—
so keep on, Mr. Giggleface.
Remember laughter–
and life will always, always be good.
If you talk to the moms–they may say, “Wow…I’ll try this again in about 5 years,” but if you talk to the wise, old Grandma Oak–that would be me–I’d say these babies were fabulous little travelers.
First, understand that we woke these little people up at about 4 am and hauled them to the airport–still in their jammies for this adventure. The trip involved two flights–one from SLC to Atlanta then another to NYC.
Baby Chompy did really well because she just hung out with mom and dad with all the comforts and amenities of home…
so to speak.
We did, however, learn quite a bit about what worked to keep a couple of 18 month olds entertained and what…um…tanked.
Grapes were a great idea, along with string cheese and Goldfish crackers. Food is always a good thing…always.
Do you recall the wooden characters, held together by elastic cording? Well before the babies ever saw them, they got so tangled up in my bag that the excitement became seeing if we could free the little beggars from the twisted ridiculous mass they’d become. Once we got them sorted out–the twins wanted them tangled again–because it was more fun that way.
Next time, I’ll use shorter cord and store them in a ziploc bag.
They loved the quiet books their mama made.
And the cookies turned out to be the perfect size.
Remember the flash card strips? They were great until the babies discovered that it was pretty easy to tear them apart and toss them all over the place. Note to self: Use stronger tape next time.
The dolls with the pacifiers were good. The tiny toys stayed in the bag because I was terrified of having to pick them up off the floor—which would have been completely impossible—if they fell…or got thrown.
The wind-ups worked for a while especially the mouse that does back flips. Anything that does back flips is a keeper.
I’d say that the hardest part was that those active little bodies still had this to deal with…
spooky–non-play-in-able, high traffic aisles…
no where to go if you leave the safety of your assigned lap…
and zero leg room…ZERO. Seriously, have these plane designer people actually ever measured a human being?
Honestly.
Oh, and there are a couple of new discoveries. First of all–without exception, the other passengers around us were very kind, helpful and forgiving–when toys were dropped and rolled to the outer edges of the universe, or the baby woke up disoriented and needed to cry for a while. Our neighbors were amazing. We also learned that…
With enough entertainment, cuddling, patience and chamomile, it was possible to finally, finally wear our darlings out.
And–the stranger in the row ahead—with the fancy cell phone/dvd player/music maker/carrot shredder—
will always be cooler than Grammy and her Hello Kitty bag of laminated flashcards.
That’s precisely why I also brought Pez.
Naa-naaa.
I win.
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Happy Birthday Bald Kid!