So many good things are going on here that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s see how random this stream of consciousness is. Here we go…bath time! But first, why do you need a bath? Because you had some MEAT ON THE BONE!!!! That’s right, tonight was bbq chicken night, the little wolves’ favorite. In fact, Maia was practically howling it before I brought it in, “Meat on the booooooooooone!”. And both girls really dug Sarah’s dino-kale-mushroom-concoction which always gives us hope for vegetable’s future with these carnivores. #3, The Final Episode, is baking well. SHE is about 25 weeks I think, and starting to really rock and roll in there. Though she does seem a little shy, she gave me a few good kicks last night before retreating, but Sarah definitely feels her all the time. I really should start recording people’s voices when they find out we’re having a third girl. In my head I can imagine this loop of the same phrase and tune, in different keys. “Ohhhh, another girl! What do you think about that?!” with each part of the phrase trailing up slightly as if it were a leading non-question filled with the sayer’s idea of what that means. We’re excited. It’s something we have no control of, obviously, and we have made some pretty ridiculously awesome girls so far, so I expect a trifecta of course. I’ve always said our children will be smart, funny, beautiful, and fast, so there you go. Did I also mention sassy? I should have. I’m still loving how Maia runs from just about every point A to every point B, and when she walks, that girl plants each foot like she’s on the moon. She and Keana continue to play really well together and I love hearing their squeals of delight and laughter streaming through the house. Of course squeals of pain are happening too, and both are really learning peace-making. It’s not uncommon for us to walk into a room and see Keana curled in a ball, hands over head, screaming, “Maia’s hurting me!!!” And of course Maia has a fierce samurai scowl on, hard plastic baby in hand, being wielded like a battle club. She punctuates her violence with a raspberry toward her sister. Short time outs have been necessary and are working quite well in cooling everyone off and allowing each girl to contemplate their actions. The other day though, Maia accidentally backed into the corner of the piano and started to cry, and Keana came over, put her arms around her, and said, “Oh, I hate it when that happens.” Really sweet. It’s easy to say we are more in awe of our kids than not, that is for sure. And then there’s Keana’s humor. That girls is definitely our drop of sunshine. No matter what time it is, what’s going on, or how tired she is, Keana is ready for some fun and games. Tonight when we put her to bed, as she hugged Sarah, she gave her a big “zerbert” on her neck, laughing with delight, her eyes flashing such pure joy at her talent. She’s growing growing growing, and eager to try out her new physical prowess in games of chase and wrestling. There’s no denying she’s growing up, fast, and we’re already feeling kindergarten creeping in. She’ll be attending a magnet school called Alexander Hamilton K-8, and their theme is global discoveries through the arts, the first year focusing on each kid’s origins. Seems pretty cool. Her thirst for knowledge is really beginning in preparation for this. Yesterday she and I sat down at the piano and I began to formally teach her. “Look for the two black keys, then go down. There. That’s C.” I tell her. We count and play up from there to eight, then back down. Then patterns. 123. Repeat. 123. Repeat. 321. Repeat. 321. 132. Repeat. 132. Repeat. 1321111. Repeat. And on. Singing along with it as we play. Her ear is quite good and she can sing simple phrases back easily. We also did a little rhythm exercise in 3/4, emphasizing 1 in the count, which Keana handled with ease. That’s my girl! She was so excited she didn’t want to stop, and as I prepared dinner she sang patterns back to me. Good pitches, not lined up with the right numbers, but still really fun. For a first lesson, she was a smash hit. So there it is, some of it. A small picture of the last month. Oh. And we’ve really gotten into a story just for Maia too before bed. She’s quite inquisitive of everything, so we have to pick short ones so we have time to get to all her questions, but she really enjoys that time. And while Sarah sings her to sleep/calmness, Keana and I have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia. We’ve already finished them and are rereading her favorites, starting with Prince Caspian. Her comprehension is insane, and she even remembers the titles of random chapters. Sometimes I swear she must be reading it. Anyway, time to wrap it up for some decompression time with the Mrs. More sooner than later.