Godzilla Kisses

One of my daughters likes country music (old-school, plz, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and cowboy songs mostly, so far). The other one appears to be partial to Latin jazz. (The better to shake a maraca to.) I'll let you guess which is which.

I can feel April's first tooth!

The babies' favorite toy is now a red maraca they accidentally stole from the music gathering they go to every Friday morning.

Unfortunately, there is only one maraca -- and it's the new favorite toy of *both* babies.

And it needs to go back next Friday anyway.

I see a shopping expedition in my future.

I seem to have caused a little controversy at WisCon when I offered up five minutes of baby holding for the Tiptree Award benefit auction. (I did what?! Yes, I did.)

I would just like to point out:

* While there are many things potentially problematic with what I did (and I think I was aware of most of them), issues of body autonomy, babies' boundaries, consent, and stranger anxiety are low on the list, actually.

* I (and the auctioneer) did not auction off anyone's "affection." I/we auctioned off time and access only. (The auction item card read: "5 minutes of twin holding." The rest is called "patter.")

* Those five minutes happened in full view of several hundred people including two of their three parents.

* I know these particular babies well enough to know that they would be OK with it. Different babies, or a different age, would be a different story. Different parents, likewise.

* No, I didn't know the winner. (It was not, therefore, an in-joke among a circle of friends that should have maybe been kept private. For more on that, see below.) I didn't know the woman who offered to hold April on the plane out, either. Yes, that's right, I have been known to let strangers hold my babies. I am a repeat offender.

* It's OK to be disturbed, made uncomfortable, or just downright creeped out by the idea. I was, in fact, kinda going for "funny and wrong (and ultimately harmless)." You wanna argue the last point, you can, but you won't convince me, so please don't do it here. Nonetheless, I am aware that there's an edge there that will be too sharp for some people. Your feelings are your feelings and you have a right to them, and that portion I will respect.

* However, I have been in the leatherdyke community long enough to have no truck with arguments about how we should refrain from certain forms of behavior because of what other people might think, and/or that it's triggery. Take care of your own triggers, please. There are many forms of feminism at WisCon; the kind that says "it disturbs me because of its surface similarity to oppressive stuff; therefore it should never be done in public" is not mine. I simplify a bit for the sake of a short blog post, and for that I apologize, but nor do I want to re-hash the Sex Wars over an auction performance in this space. Kthx.

Overall, I have to say, the hot mustard I fed to Simone on Monday night was probably way more traumatic, and my not tasting it beforehand more worthy of a "bad parent" rap. Fortunately, formula soothes the burn quickly.

P.S. Hi, I'm back!

I'm the one with the almost-8-month-old twins in tow :)

They look like this:



I look like this:



With combed hair, though.

Someone requested pics:



The fauxhawk.



The new haircut.

Random friendly stranger: "One of those babies has been getting a lot more sun than the other one."

Me: "No, actually, that's just her color."

RFS: "Oh, is that right? Well, they're both adorable."

Since the twins have not had any bad reactions to anything I have fed them, at all (the most minorest of exceptions being gagging, spitting up, and really entertaining facial expressions) -- not even citrus, as evidenced by the tangerine they licked on Saturday and the orange peel they gummed happily on Tuesday [citrus allergies run in my family] -- I have totally gone off any sense of pacing and am now feeding them whatever I feel like.

They are also up to three meals a day. And, by the by, yesterday and today are the clean-out-the-fridge day. So today's lunch consisted of many small tastes of:

- guacamole from my lunch
- sardines
- prunes
- baba ganoush
- tahini sauce

Most meals are more orderly and involve a lot of yogurt, fruit, and either a vegetable or a protein. Sardines weren't really a big hit either time, and tofu is too hard keep around, so I'm mostly sticking to beans for a while.

Admit it. You missed them.

The twins are no longer vegetarians. Giving them their first bites of flesh (pureed sardines from a can, in this case) felt a little like spoon-feeding them original sin. Just a little. But definitely an odd feeling for an agnostic omnivore like me.

Last night was Greek Night: spinach, yogurt, and sardines (OK, the sardines were Spanish. Sue me). Tonight was Tropical Night: Avocado and mango. Tomorrow, California Hippie: Spinach, carrot, and tofu (which makes a very good stir-fry, let me tell you).

Also, Simone has decided she is Too Good for plain baby cereal and will only eat it with fruit about half the time. I can't say I blame her, really -- the stuff is pretty bland.

They go to three solid-food meals a day starting next week. Also, I am starting to mix foods, and using seasonings too.

Favorites: yogurt (+++), mangoes, applesauce, sweet potatoes. But they're pretty easy. Even broccoli is OK now if mixed with yogurt (broccoli is now out of season anyway). No sensitivities so far, either. Hooray!

In reference to my previous post, I came up with my soon-to-be-canonical response:

"No, actually, she was born that way."

Which will confuse some people, and will prompt more questions from others, but I will be in a better position by then to field the reactions.

Bystander [to Simone]: "Oh, you're's adorable! And you've got quite a tan going there too!"

Me: "..."

Me [thinking]: "I have to come up with a suitable response to this soon."

Miss April is feeling much more chipper this morning, by the way, and she slept well all night.

It's been just a bit of a rough evening with the twins. April is teething, I'm sure; she may also have a touch of cold. Whatever it is, it's making her miserable. All she wanted to do, for hours, was cuddle and cry and nap in my arms. She hardly ate, though I got some spoonfuls of cold yogurt and mango into her. I know this is nothing, in the long-term scheme of things, but it's so hard to watch her suffer. Brought me to tears, even. Poor baby. Think thoughts of ice cubes and numb gums and sweet cold fruit for her, would you?

I promised some Eastery photos of twins, so here they are.





The full set is here.

We have our first difference! April looves (goat) yogurt, but Simone does not.

Both, however, absolutely despise broccoli. Sorry, kids. Especially for laughing.

Some things I have learned about baby fashion in the past six months, plus some decisions:

1. Baby leg warmers (cf. BabyLegs) are not only cute and cool and trendy, they are the smartest innovation in baby clothing since I was born. Seriously. Pants on babies = pain in the ass diaper changes. Skirts/dresses/sacks on babies = cold legs. The solution? Leg warmers! My babies wear them every day.

2. Spit-up is extra gross on velour.

3. The only apparel that I have needed to buy for babies: socks, outerwear, and the abovementioned leggings. The rest I have gotten either as hand-me-downs, or as gifts. This could well last until they are a year old. Even the cheap, tiny undershirts I bought for the first few weeks were unnecessary.

4. Things I didn't know have gender continue to have gender. Like ladybugs (bugs are for boys! *Lady*bugs are for girls!). And sailboats. Puppies, I guess I kind of knew about, but still.

5. Gender neutral animals include but are not limited to: chicks, bunnies, elephants, frogs, fish.

6. There is way too much jungle and zoo-themed stuff out there. I haven't decided how I feel about "rainforest"-coded stuff yet. And I bend around certain things, because no child of mine should be without big cats or elephants, I guess.

7. My fashion choices for the twins confuse people as to their gender even when I am not particularly trying to. Also, because the ladies do not look alike yet are clearly twins, they are most often read as one girl, one boy. Who is the boy varies and sometimes seems completely arbitrary. Flip a coin!

8. Thus, they have already inherited my propensity for genderfuck. This will continue at least until they can dress themselves, and will sometimes be a deliberate choice. (Sometimes it will be what's available in the closet.)

9. This means, too, that there will be pink items in play. Especially if the item of clothing in question features baby penguins or kangaroos. Blue will also be an option, as will sailboats, cars, dinosaurs, ladybugs, dragonflies, puppies, kittens, penguins, elephants, lions and tigers and bears, and taxis.

10. I will avoid, however, the girlified (usually with a pink bow) version of anything that has a perfectly serviceable should-be-gender-neutral counterpart, like, say, skull-and-crossbone legwarmers. I have my limits.

When April caught sight of the balloons that I got from the orthodontist, she yelled and reached for them not unlike how the cats beg for toys that I've put up on a shelf.

I promised her balloons for her first birthday party. (Yes, I am thinking ahead.)

Yes, I am hippie enough (and, more importantly, frugal enough) to 'make my own baby food.' At this stage, homemade baby food just consists of pureeing ripe fruit or steamed veggies, so no big deal.

Next week, though, according to the pediatrician's outline, we can start introducing meat into their diet.

Pureed meat?

Ew.

So I think that the twins are going to be temporary vegetarians for a while. And I'm going to substitute beans and tofu in the meantime.

Other food that the twins have tried, but not "officially" consumed:

* Mayonnaise from a chicken salad sandwich (yum)
* Banana vanilla yogurt (yum)
* Hummus (yum)
* Very, *very* garlicky mashed potatoes (violent projectile rejection)

The most successful solid food so far?

Mango.

(Also tried: mixed cereal, avocado, applesauce. Next week: orange vegetables, maybe oatmeal.)