I don't really have anything to say today.

Nor did I have anything to say yesterday. Which is why I have been relatively silent.

I did take Smithfield for a walk (ps, I am house sitting) last night, which I think he appreciated. It reminded me of our neighbors around the corner, an elderly couple (Mr and Mrs Wood) who are often out watching for an owl or walking their dogs near midnight. I find this extremely endearing.

I had a bunch of other things to say which I have forgotten and remembered at least three times. Unfortunately I seem to be on the "forgotten" piece of the cycle right now. Perhaps it'll come back to me.


One thing! (One that was forgotten, that is.) Christmas music starts playing on the radio next month. I realized this in the car last night on my way back here, and I became instantly giddy and began singing. Unfortunately I don't know all of the lyrics to "Winter Wonderland," and so sang the verse about the snowman and Parson Brown about five times, in addition to two or three repetitions of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)" and whatever I could remember of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." It's so true. It is so The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. Yes. Yes it is.

Then I sang the skinnamarninky dinky dink song and "I love you, a bushel and a peck" several times, and then I was here.

Don't judge me.



One sad thing (yes, I know, my mini-crusade) from Peaceful Parenting today. A baby boy with a congenital heart defect was nevertheless unecessarily operated upon, and died of cardiac arrest:

"The reality is that today more baby boys die from circumcision surgery each year in the United States than from choking, from auto accidents, from suffocation, from SIDS, and from the (newly recalled) sleep positioners. Do not allow your child to suffer or be taken from you for senseless cosmetic amputation surgery upon his perfectly formed penis."






But let's remember good things, too. Richmond Folk Festival! Tomorrow! OH YES.

Toilet humor, and some unrelated issues.

More tabs I don't want to part with, which I shall save by sharing here. Lucky you.

Top Ten Toilets*

Best Flush Toilet Ever

But really, flush toilets need to go.**
       A note on this article: I am of the opinion that a person should be aware of the definitions of the words that he or she chooses to use. I'm sure I've made mistakes of this genre before, but really: infinitesimally?
Observe:
"And in some Indian villages, simple latrines have been built that separate waste and use it to produce compost and fertilizer at a per capita cost infinitesimally lower than any waste management budget in the West."

 Infinitesimally lower? Really? So what you're saying here is that despite their lack of capital and the fact that they don't flush with water and use their waste to produce substances which are actually useful, their per capita waste-management cost is pretty much the same as ours here in the U.S. Well that's good to know. Guess we can just stick with our good old "throwing money down the toilet" system we've got going on now. What a relief.



And the unrelated:
The ongoing battle of rights vs safety, and whether more rights equals more safety, and what constitutes reckless endangerment, and how many hairs can we split in trying to get our way?































*Has anyone here seen Trainspotting? I have not. I know nothing about it. What's the deal?

**I have too much self respect to give*** solid form to the pun that's dangling right here.

***But not too much to write that unforgivable footnote.

Yes, I am creepy. But you're missing the point.

Does this image work? It's a comic from mama-is.com--someone was asking about buying a co-sleeper for their baby. The author says no--just put mattresses across the entire room. More space, more happiness! SO TRUE. I have honestly been thinking this for years and years and years. In my dream house I have long planned for there to be a room consisting entirely of mattresses. Oh yes. So bouncy.

More on our origins--

From an article called "Birth And The Origins of Violence:

"...Psychologist Andrew Feldmar encountered four adolescents who were repeatedly attempting suicide at the same time each year. When he had put all the facts together, he learned from their mothers that their suicidal compulsion was occurring each year around the time their mothers had tried to abort them - something the adolescent children had never consciously known. [Bold font mine.]
The same fetal sensitivity shown by these self-destructive youth is put to positive use in programs of prenatal stimulation. In every program which has been empirically tested, the efforts of parents to communicate love and welcome to their babies in the womb has been crowned with success. A prominent benefit has been the creation of strong mutual maternal infant bonding.
Security and peace are the natural products of communication and love."

I wonder how many times my mind can take being blown before I completely flip out.

Chloe quote of today:
"It will be a great learning experience, and a humbling experience, when I realize that I'm not the center of the universe."


I am extremely interested lately in humanity--in the way we work, in who and what we are as individuals, as a species, as a community, in the way we are designed to feel and think and interact, the way our minds perceive, the way our bodies operate, the way our bodies and minds affect one another. At the moment and for the past several weeks this interest has manifested itself in a desire to know everything about mothers and babies and families, particularly living in natural patterns--that is, trying to mother in ways that resemble the ways our distant ancestors would have, in the ways that our bodies and minds have evolved to mother and be mothered. I don't particularly want one (a family, a baby) of my own right now, but I am fascinated by the whole thing--the loving, expanding, growing, learning, togetherness. I'm not sure exactly what attracts me, or what I'm seeing there that I didn't before. I just know that I'm voraciously interested.

Anyway, Chloe says it freaks her out.

Leaving those beautiful babies is really hard.

edit:
To elaborate, obviously they're lovely, but mainly I keep thinking of how they'll be so much bigger next time I see them, and how they'll have learned so many things. They'll be walking, for one. They'll probably be talking. Will they recognize me? Will I see in them the babies that I grew to love over the past few days? How will their personalities have changed, and how will they have remained the same? How am I going to find a way to be a real presence in their lives? In Ian's life? What if he stops liking me? How does one be a godparent? What and how should I try to teach him? Reach him? What if Lindsey and I have different ideas of what he needs to know? How will I fit into her family and group of friends? After Sunday, a part of who I am has changed, irrevocably, forever. I guess it seems like I'm making a much bigger deal of this whole thing than I need to, but then, that's part of what I'm wondering. How big a deal is it? I suppose I'm using both Lorraine (Chloe's godmother) and my own godmother Susan as examples, and those are some big shoes to fill.

I love Lindsey's babies so much that I am having a hard time accepting that, technically, I will only have Ian as a godchild. Adrienne is pretty freaking awesome too. I think I'm going to adopt her, as well. No one has to know, right?

I bought them a two-pack of Veggie Tales dvds, and Adrienne started smiling and geeking out as soon as she saw the pictures on the cover, despite the fact that neither of them has ever seen VT. I take that as a good sign. She spent the next hour chewing on the dvd case.

I think my favorite thing about these babies, other than the fact that they're usually happy and good natured and lovey adorable awesome, is that when they get tired they both put their fingers in their mouths and grab their ears. Ian sucks on the first two fingers of his right hand, and then grabs his ear with his left. Adrienne sucks on her left thumb, and grabs her ear with her right hand. Sitting in their car seats they're almost like mirror images of each other. Iloveit.

In other news, last night after the twins were in bed Lindsey and I went out, as I had decided that I owed her a pedicure. (I took her to get one before the babies were born, and she went and payed for hers before I was finished with mine. Wtf.) So I bought us each a spa pedicure and she bought us each a French manicure, and it is awesome. I have decided that I love French manicures. My stubby little fingernails have never looked prettier. Pretty nails, ftw. ^_^

ALSO I'm staying at Pete's (Lindsey's manfriend's) apartment as there is no room at Lindsey's house, and he has an army cot which I am getting to sleep on, and it is great. I love army cots. I also love Pete's cat, Juliet. She thinks she's a dog.