Evidence that we, too, play dress-up; although, as I painted Ford’s fingernails today (as per his explicit request, in the color orange no less) I realized he quite often cross-dresses. I think that’s way cool. I’m down with the whole cross-dressing thing. I hope he never gets fussy about trying to look conventional. This orange scarf here? It makes a great,long head of hair when Ford pretends he’s Violet (Incredible). He’ll chase around the house, in pursuit of…Dash? muttering and repeating sharply, “I said shut UP!”

OOh, OOOh, this is important: Chas stood and boogied for the first time today! He stood in the middle of the living room and bounced up and down to music! Grinning with wide, four-tooth abandon. Any other parent knows that this is truly a fun moment in time. It’s the last time they’ll ever do that move without frowning and shoving out their lower jaw as if to say, “I’m so fly, look, I can dance (even though I feel like a total dork out here alone on the dance floor).”

There are certain landmarks in a baby’s development that must be recorded.
I haven’t remembered to record the day Chas learned to climb the stairs, and stand alone, although it was sometime last month. I know now that he has a working intelligible vocabulary consisting of 6 words: mamamama, dada, dah (dog), bubba (brother), bubba (bubble), and buh (book). He can point when I point and clap with applause and he has a wonderful sense of humor that, these days, spreads great joy and levity. But today, at his girlfriend Sofi’s first birthday party, he impressed all of us by eating dog shit.
As with many milestones, we are often too caught-up in the moment of achievement to capture it on film, but when they are this impressive, such special advances are etched in our brain forever. Sofi’s birthdate, for example, will always be The Day Chas Ate Dog Shit.

Every evening for the past week we have been going down to the lake to play. The breeze coming off the lake is cooled by the water, so much that it almost feels like Fall as the sun sets, but the heat rising from the sunbaked asphalt dries our suits by the time we reach the car on our way home.
On the curb sits a five foot-high pile of empty fireworks cartons, colorful and littered with tall exclamatories and hazard signs. The head of a black cat, on one box, hisses at us; he is the hero atop the technicolor caricature of a trashpile, much like the head of a lion in a taxidermist shop.

They say some of the best ideas come to you in the shower. You can also belt out great music in the shower. Especially when the kids are in there with you, singing to the tune of “Three Jolly Fishermen:”

We all went to the Ap-ple store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store.

We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
i-Book i-Pod powerbook
Canon camera and games
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store.

By the afternoon, most of the neighborhood kids, who had overheard our singing at the pool, we all making up verses of their own.

They say some of the best ideas come to you in the shower. You can also belt out great music in the shower. Especially when the kids are in there with you, singing to the tune of “Three Jolly Fishermen:”

We all went to the Ap-ple store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store.

We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
i-Book i-Pod powerbook
Canon camera and games
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store.

By the afternoon, most of the neighborhood kids, who had overheard our singing at the pool, we all making up verses of their own.

They say some of the best ideas come to you in the shower. You can also belt out great music in the shower. Especially when the kids are in there with you, singing to the tune of “Three Jolly Fishermen:”

We all went to the Ap-ple store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
APP-le APP-le store store store,
We all went to the Ap-ple store.

We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store
i-Book i-Pod powerbook
Canon camera and games
We have stuff from the Ap-ple store.

By the afternoon, most of the neighborhood kids, who had overheard our singing at the pool, we all making up verses of their own.

This could very well be both the happiest time of my life and the hardest. Mothering both boys is a balancing act that I never seem to master with each day. There are always frayed edges or undone parts, sometimes it feels a little like I’m managing to walk across an invisible tightrope with the baby in my arms, that’s how fragile my grip feels. But as I stared into the lake today, beyond the bubbling enthusiasm of the pool, Chas crawled before my eyes like a gorilla in pursuit of a transparent blue beach ball with white polka dots. When he had finished chasing the ball across the concrete, he hoisted himself onto his feet and began to clap and smile. Evidence that my job is, despite the aching heart, pretty precious. I mean, he could learn to do these things on his own, I know this, but the job of being there to see it all–how fortunate I am to always be witness to these little miracles.

This could very well be both the happiest time of my life and the hardest. Mothering both boys is a balancing act that I never seem to master with each day. There are always frayed edges or undone parts, sometimes it feels a little like I’m managing to walk across an invisible tightrope with the baby in my arms, that’s how fragile my grip feels. But as I stared into the lake today, beyond the bubbling enthusiasm of the pool, Chas crawled before my eyes like a gorilla in pursuit of a transparent blue beach ball with white polka dots. When he had finished chasing the ball across the concrete, he hoisted himself onto his feet and began to clap and smile. Evidence that my job is, despite the aching heart, pretty precious. I mean, he could learn to do these things on his own, I know this, but the job of being there to see it all–how fortunate I am to always be witness to these little miracles.