These are the pets I love, these are the pets I love: horse, horse, horse, horse, neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh!Yippi-yai-yo-kai-yay and howdy from Texas. A few weeks ago I was filling out a form that asked for my occupation. I wrote "baby wrangler." The entirety of my day involves feeding, leading, and herding two little babes who have learned to run far around and afield like a pair of happy little calves in spring.
Sunday morning we drove west to the George Ranch, our favorite backyard. After a detour to peer through a fence and visit Rooster the horse (above), C&D walked in circles
They will soon be doing all the talking, too. Carmen signs cracker, baby, book (and says "buh"), and tries to sign horse, cat, and mama (but they all look a little like milk). She still blinks all done - milk - all done - milk after she is nursing, but not as often as she did when she figured that little trick out. When she has finished eating something delicious she will often sign all done - more - all done - more. I thought at first she was just confused or babbling, but after weeks of watching her sign the same thing over and over it seems that she's trying to say that she's run out of that food and wants more of it. I apologized for being so dense. At least I understand her when she signs for milk.
David can sign baby, eat, orange, and all done now, and more very well, especially when he's eating something wonderful like gnocchi (a new favorite food). He doesn't seem to try signing too much else. He does sometimes try to say all done, and this morning said "ho(t)" when he was handling a too-hot chicken taquito.
I still haven't really heard either of them say "mama" or "daddy" in a way that makes me certain they were referring to me or to Matt. Labeling us with names is clearly not as important as making sure we know that we need to refill their plates.
Baby wranglers shop at Whole Foods. Can I just tell you how much I love my Whole Foods? Let me count the reasons why:
- I always get help carrying my groceries to the car. At Central Market I once had to manage four paper sacks and the double stroller; at Target I had to carry a 13-gallon trash can in one hand and push the stroller with the other. But at Whole Foods, someone always carries--and loads--my groceries for me. For that, I forgive Whole Foods for not carrying a good-tasting salsa or a decent package of corn tortillas.
- Whole Foods sells rotisserie chicken that C&D rejoice over. In fact, last week as we passed the hot shelf full of chickens, both C&D started extending their arms and jumping up and down in the stroller, their eyes wide. "Uh, uh, uh!" they said. I bought one, of course.
- I can find organic . . . everything. So I don't have to worry about pesticides when Carmen swipes our bag of oranges and begins gnawing on it.
- At Whole Foods works a beautiful group of checkout people who always remember us. And they don't seem to mind if some of the groceries have baby drool on them.
- Shoppers have access to a huge selection of fresh breads, sandwiches, salads, and a gigantic self-serve hot table for those times when we're eating dinner on the run. And guess what? Whole Foods lists the ingredients of every item. Afraid your baby gets sick on soy? Cool on canola? Done with dairy? No chances taken, here.
Baby wranglers feel so proud to see their babes growing more clever every day. David can work a simple shape puzzle sometimes (like the circle, square, and triangle). Grandma Reisdorf should be proud of that, since she likes puzzles.
It's interesting to watch C&D's manual dexterity improve. After several attempts David can now slip a disc into a wooden box that resembles a simplified piggy bank. One side of the box is open so David can retrieve the disc and insert it into the slot again and again. He likes to hear the loud clack sound when the disc hits the bottom of the box. A week or two ago Carmen finally figured out how to stack rings on the ring stacker. She tried for several some frustrating, tearful days before she figured out exactly how to slide the rings over the dowel. I think the fact that David could stack the rings easily made her feel even more bothered.
Several of the rings have wound up scattered about the house, and I should get to finding them. Right now the rings only stack halfway to the top. We're missing one of David's little wooden peg men, too. I found one under the refrigerator a few weeks ago; maybeI should check there again.
David has lately been busy bending over and studying the world upside down. Carmen will do it, too, but David enjoys the view a little more. He also likes to make noises that Carmen isn't so fond of, like banging on a stock pot.
David is afraid of the trash truck's noises again, though, and will cry when the truck passes unless I'm holding him. And both C&D are afraid of the washing machine's buzzer (I haven't always used it because it really does sound awful, and so they aren't used to hearing it). A couple of weeks ago when the buzzer sounded both would cry, now they just look at me with big eyes and raised eyebrows. Dum-dum-DUM! Dum DUMMMMM! They don't like thunder, either, so I've been lucky it's been a dry spring thus far.
The day the dishwasher arrived, Carmen figured out how to climb up her slide, and then with our help was able to sit down and slide back down. We should do some more of that this weekend. She has fortunately (for the moment) given up on climbing the futon.
Baby wranglers love clean dishes. In case you were wondering, the new dishwasher is working well. It just barely fit under the kitchen countertop but did leave some awkward gaps all around, so now we're going to have to get creative with some moulding to cover them (I should look for the little peg man around the dishwasher, first). That's on the to-do list for this month.
Now I want a new washing machine. Our current one is small and wimpy and doesn't always wash well, maybe because it doesn't have as many buttons as the new Kenmore HE4t. More buttons means a better machine, doesn't it? Actually, for the $1500, I might need a washing machine to dry and hang my clothes, too. And sing lullabyes.
Duty will soon be calling; naptime is almost over.
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