Books, Babies, and Other Excitement

Sam looks at an insect
With Beautiful Island's most famous skyscraper in the background
Babies are bundles for a cold, wet February day
Emily is making this twins thing look easy
Dad front carries Sam

Another week worth remembering. Saturday was the incredibly awesome book fair downtown. It was a bit of a hassle getting there, then it was a bit of a hassle carting around three kids and a sleep deprived spouse, and then by the time we came back it felt like we’d been there 12 hours instead of three and a a half, but, still, it was AWESOME. The babies slept the whole time. We had lunch at a great food court where we at Indian food (I loved it; Emily was not so sure). We found a nursing station. And, as is the case in large crowds here, we were rock stars because we are foreigners with twins who backpack a toddler. A memorable day to be sure. I think since Saturdays will almost certainly be a wash, we’re going to try to do more fun stuff on them. It’s no more fun being at home and there are plenty of local attractions to brave.

Other news… Sam’s speech is coming along. Just moments ago he said “t-rex dinosaur… nice… it can bite you… a big one.” So, basically he’s nearly speaking in full monologues. At the fair he got four books, which he proceeded to “read” for the rest of the evening, then take to bed with him, then look at the next day. The four topics are: dinosaurs, bugs, animals, and vehicles. He was lured in by the dinosaurs and then it was around $10 for four books, so we got four books. Today he would try to pick up all four books, walk a few steps, drop some, pick them up, walk a few steps, drop some… You get the idea.

Having a nanny is also quite wonderful, especially since Emily’s sleep has been really rock the last few weeks. Sam has only been letting me put him down, and then Emily ends up with the babies for a long stretch. She can sleep some in the morning, but it doesn’t make up for the lack of a long block. So tonight we’re going to try the old (= three weeks ago) schedule of me staying up and quieting and feeding babies until two or three. We’ll see if it goes okay. Some good news so far this semester is that I don’t have to teach in the morning or at night, which is a nice change after last semester. Linda has just helped with a lot of things. Emily now gets solid blocks of daytime to work, as do I. She’s doing the babies’ clothes, helps with things like cleaning and boiling water, and is a nice resource for logistical questions (How do I do this? How do we get there?). We still have our work cut out for us, but work is again possible.