stuff that's going on here

Will is taking a nap and Ryan and I are taking some pictures.

I call this one BABYSNOT.


And I call this one "Baby just ripped the space bar off of my keyboard."


And I call this one BIGGERBETTERBABYSNOT, or "Baby is now sitting in booster seat eating Puffs and not touching my computer."

The more general, less immediate stuff going on around here is that I am almost done with week three of work and the boys are done with week three of daycare ("school," as we call it for Will). I love working and being a part of a physics department again, and the boys are adjusting pretty well to daycare. Will said yesterday that he'd rather stay home and play with me, but then he didn't cry at all when I dropped him off (a first!) or at all when I picked him up. Ryan still cries a lot of the time when we drop him off and pick him up, but at least now he's taking a bottle, more or less. He doesn't nap nearly enough at daycare, but I can see how it would be hard. The cribs are separated from the play area only by a partial wall, and he's accustomed to sleeping in his own crib in his own quiet room. So far I'm not overwhelmingly impressed by the infant care at this place (I don't think it's bad, but I liked the place that Will went to in Alexandria better), but I like what I hear from Will about the stuff that he does. He does lots of projects and they learn all sorts of things and read books and sing songs and overall I think he has a good time. It's still a long day for a kid who has been home with mom for the last year and a half, but I'm very proud of how nicely he is doing.

Meanwhile Ryan is doing all sorts of neat new things. He's very vocal when he wants something. He leans toward it with his whole body, points, and says, "That!" It comes out "dat!" but it's pretty clear what he's saying. And on Tuesday I was reading a book about owls to him and he pointed to an owl and said, "kitty cat." He's been saying that for a long time so that didn't surprise me in itself, but I was impressed that he associated the word with a fuzzy animal. Nonetheless, I explained to him that it was an owl, not a kitty cat, but that it was a very fine guess to make. He got all mad and started pushing the book away and saying, "kitty cat! kitty cat!" And finally I realized that he wanted to read his kitty cat book (a wonderful Christmas present from the Sedgewicks) and not the stupid old owl book that I was trying to push on him. So we went downstairs and of course I couldn't find the kitten book, but eventually located it hidden behind one of the end tables in the living room and he was all happy. That was by far the most sophisticated verbal exchange of information to date between Ryan and me.

And, what else... Matt and I watched season 1 of Heroes and loved it and am disappointed that everybody on the planet says that the next two seasons are notably inferior. That's OK--I don't think I'll have time for TV again until spring break.