Jaden - Tsega

More hair, more kicks, more fame and we have twins. I am just a wee bit infatuated with Will Smith's son in that motherly way. He is, after all, almost as cute as Tsega.

Call me a sucker for a cute kid with grace and flexibility, but I liked Karate Kid.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Birthday Birthday ! ! !

Since I cannot fathom they have aged so rapidly (four!, wait, they were just months old like yesterday!), since two were naked this morning before work, since one was still in the pink dress he slept in, and since we all suffered severe bed-head, I can only post baby pictures. Besides, we're keeping it on the down low until Saturday so we can spend the whole day eating cake, riding new scooters, running through sprinklers, and basking in birthday glow. Four, wow, the gateway age to becoming men.




Don't you wish you were like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five?

"I am a Tralfamadorian, seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is."

"If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice."

What I wouldn't give to flit in and out of the past and smell and see all that I remember. I will always cherish the smell of sweat mixed with sour milk.

Happy Birthday, beautiful babies.

The Babas

Tsega (crying): Baba did it, the One in the Cow.




He means Sira.

Tsega has lived with Bereket-Sira (the identical twins of the triplets) for almost 4 years. He lived in utero with them, although separated by membranes, for up to 9 months. He sleeps in the same room and spends most waking moments wrapped up in Bereket-Sira. Yet to him, they are usually, collectively, Baba. He usually does not care to distinguish them, or can't. He can say their names, but he gets it wrong all the time. It was only in the last 9 months or so that the boys started calling each other by name. They are funny this way.




This was something the speech therapist worked on last school year, naming brothers. But, I told her, this is a bit tricky for Tsega since he can't tell Bereket-Sira apart. To me they look incredibly different neck-up, but neck-down they are genuine clones, except for a few little skin blemishes, even sharing the same funky toenail.

The cow. Sira, until lately because of hot weather, was wearing his mouse costume daily. But the tail ripped off so he switched to the cow costume. They love tails. Then the cow's tail ripped off too. They also like pulling tails. I have some mending to do. . . . Anyway, you should see him in either costume. I have little matching masks and he wears those like headbands. He looks so damn cute with his hair pulled back all dressed up. Then he scampers around on all fours.



Some boys dress up like mice and cows, others prefer skirts and dresses. But we won't touch that today. My Babas. But if you call Tsega 'Baba' he will correct you. No, not Baba. Tsega. But Tsega, you are so Baba. BTW, that is acually Bereket in the cow up there at the tail end on winter.

*Post-script: I said something to Tsega over last weekend about his Babas and he corrected me, twice. No not Baba, Dira. No no, no Baba, Bereket. In fact, he loves chanting Bereket! instead of Dira! all over the yard as they weave around trees screeching. And sometimes, it really is Bereket.

Nearly three at four

A garage in repair (barn, shed, whatever it goes by) holds a boy's attention.



I love the intensity with which Sira eats desserts.



Only a few more days of three at three. On day twenty three less than three twenty-fours, my three turn four.

Shhh, but the three no longer three are getting three of these (mini scooters for little dudes):



All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out—
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.
--Alice in Wonderland, The Introduction
(cut out of context to suit my context)

De Man

He is like Obama. He walks on water. He's Super Dad to the Super Triplets. He is named one of this year's National Geographic Emerging Explorers. He's all mine ladies.