A rambling post of 93% truthiness.

Everything about this kid screams "Jen"...except that she dances like I do.

Ugghhh...you know what's coming, right? I wish I could help myself. I'm sorry, it's another counting anecdote. But this one is really cute! And it's Lily instead of Abby!!!

On the way back from the Midtown Global Market:

Lily: "fiiiive.....seeeesss....twoooooo....coooowww..."
Us: "Um, was that a cow in there Lily?"
Lily: "niiinnnneee...coooowwwwww...mooo...cooowww...mooooooo"

It's clear to me that this shows an improvisational skill that is well above average. She dropped a 'cow' in the middle of her counting, but rather than ignore it or try to backpedal, she added the flourishing 'moooo'. That shows on the ball thinking. She's awesome.

Friday night is family night at the midtown global market. All other nights of the week they run families out with pitchforks and torches flaming (kidding), but Friday we are welcomed with open arms. At 5:30, kids and parents alike descend upon the main commons, where tonight we danced like savages to three women singing goofy kid-friendly tunes.

Lily's dancing is absurd and it's vital that it is caught on tape. I kept a keen eye out tonight, watching the other kids, and came to this conclusion: nobody dances like her. Nobody. This is either very thrilling or very dismaying. Her signature move is to just stomp (or stamp?) her right foot (always the right) very arhythmically and ogre-like. She looks strikingly like the town drunk at a hoe-down, from the foot stamping up to the goofball guffawing.

Despite what the photos may insinuate, Abby quite enjoyed the festivities. She was kinda entranced by these women singing harmonies with lovely vocals and through amplification equipment. She looked like she was watching intensely most of the time; then, at the end, she did loosen up and get out and even dance a bit.

After at least an hour of this, interrupted only by dinner, they were right tuckered when we got home. We sang them "Twinkle twinkle little star" in their room once; when finished, Lily said, "Mooore?" We sang it again. At the end of the second time, she basically threw herself backward...a clear indication she wanted bed. I laid her down, she curled her legs up under her, grabbed her froggy, and had all but closed her eyes by the time we left.

Abby on the other hand sat up reading a book in her crib, which she's started doing almost nightly now. I love that she reads a book before falling asleep. My favorite part is that we hear her babbling on the monitor, but she never cries or complains. Good monkey.

Day two hundred and twenty eight.

More dancing fool.

Abby: timid but interested.

They gave out balloons. She loved her balloon.