Sunrise Ruby

We don’t question it, we just go with it.  I mean, how many other kids actually want to wear a hat?

I wuv Daddy.  I wuv Maddie Wose.  I wuv Mommy.  Best. words. ever.

My daughter, to me the face of joy and healing.  The tenacious, happy spirit of life, of continuation.  Take your time, my littlest love, take your time.

photo by Carol Stanley of Faith and Danger Photography

My spirit baby, in such a hurry to get here in more ways than one.  Now nearly two years old and coming into the power of his ego.  Not so fast, my little love, not so fast.

photo by Carol Stanley of Faith and Danger Photography

This morning Nathan and I took the babies to the grand opening ceremony for our new neighborhood public library, the North Village branch of the Austin Public Library.

The library has created some fantastic space for our community there, and we’ll definitely be back.  There’s a great kids’ section, with plenty of open space.  There’re plenty of computers, comfy chairs and tables, and some lovely whimsical glass artwork by artist Kathleen Ash, who spoke at the dedication ceremony this morning.  There was even rumored to be coffee for sale somewhere in the library, which I missed in the general chaos of grand opening morning.

The new building is also green, with solar panels on the roof, an impressive water collection system, and native plantings around the perimeter of the building.

We walked to the library this morning, but I don’t think that’s going to be a safe way for me to get there by myself with the babies during the day.  Burnet Road is too busy and pedestrian-unfriendly, and there’s no way to avoid crossing it to get to the library from our house.

Our first selections from the new North Village Library?  Three picture books for Ben: one on firetrucks, and two on penguins, which he’s become very interested in after seeing part of Happy Feet at my parents’ house.  I checked the books out one of the library’s fancy new self-checkout stations.  The books are due back in three weeks.

My amazing little people playing together on the jungle mat yesterday morning.  I have a sense that this was just the beginning of lots of good play time together.

he smiles at me, with

brown wax stuck between his teeth:

Ben ate a crayon

Ben and I shared some wonderful coloring time together this afternoon, and then later, while I was nursing Maddie, he decided to sample one of the crayons.  Thankfully he didn’t seem to think it was too delicious.  (Although he didn’t shout, “Yuck!” either, which is what he usually does when he eats something he doesn’t like.)  What can I say?  Toddlers have adventurous palates.  Instead of finishing the crayon, he had cheesy bunnies and peach for the rest of snack.

Enjoying a very happy day with my little guy today.  And he’s been napping for 2.5 (two and half) hours now!!!  After the low duration and poor quality of the naps he’s been taking over the past couple of weeks, it merits exclamation points, believe me.

(Although just so you know, O Gods of the Many and Mutable Toddler Moods, if you really want to restore balance to the Universe, you owe us at least another week solid of this happy and long nappingness.)

Ben is so super cool now I hardly know where to begin.  He’s been speaking in complete sentences for at least a month now.  He tells us such things as, “I fast!” “I funny!” (which is always self-fulfilling) and “I got a truck!”  Trucks, and particularly fire trucks, are his singular passion right now.  He’s running, he’s experimenting with toilets and their paper, he’s coloring with abandon, he even sings a little sometimes.  I am so smitten.  And he’s becoming quite smitten with his little sister lately, too.

He really wants to pick her up, but she’s a hefty one, and he still needs help for now.

So completely smitten.

I hold my daughter

and look into the mirror at

my mother’s face