Busy Month

First off, I double-dog dare you to figure out which one is which in this picture. Honestly you take the hair away as a factor and it's a little tough for me as well.



All kinds of happenings since my last post. About a month ago. Heh. Anyway, Linda, Jordan, and Jalen came for an afternoon of play:



This serene picture belies world of chaos that was the house that day, lead chiefly by Jalen, of course, who I am convinced has the strength, speed, and stamina of 10 babies. One day soon we will learn that government agents gave him the Super Soldier formula shortly after birth, and he is destined to become Captain America.

This week also had Granny Vogts down with us, taking care of the girls while giving Ruth a break from daycare duties, an event that we somehow managed to not document with even a single picture (though we did get some video I believe). She came at an opportune time, as both girls are teething pretty hard, and have had a Fussiness Quotient well above 7.9 at times, especially at bedtime. Nobody can rock a baby to sleep like Granny, though, so all was well, and we definitely look forward to her triumphant return the second week of July.



So yeah, teething (and other tricks). Megan now has two bottom front teeth poking through (you can feel and see them); Kayla has none yet, but considering the fevers she's been running, we expect them any day. No crawling yet, at least according to Webster's definition of the word, but both girls can get up on hands and knees with ease, and will make progress sort of lunging forward when properly motivated. They just need to make the quadrupedal locomotion discovery. They both can sit up on their own power as well (though it lacks grace admittedly, generally coming in the form of a half rollover from the hands and knees position), and just this week we caught Megan in particular sitting up in her crib. Megan has also made efforts to pull herself up into the standing position, though gravity of course remains an unforgiving instructor.

Both girls have also mastered "Peek-A-Boo" to a level unheard of since my junior year of college, recognizing that the burp cloth should not only be removed from their faces, but daddy's as well. All these things should come as no shock to me of course, as they are 8 months and counting now, but still, it is somewhat surprising how a simple act like sitting unaided or pulling cloth from face can change your perception of a human life. I told James the other day that for the first 3 months or so, babies are basically Sims characters, which is crass for the sake of humor of course, but the point being, the ultra-small of our species basically has 4 settings: Hungry, tired, soiled, or just mad at the world. You evaluate the situation and react accordingly, and that's pretty much it. Then one day you wake up and they can say "Bye bye" and you realize that, yes, there is a brain in there, and it is growing exponentially.