First Public Appearance
The twins achieved another milestone yesterday when Ellie took them into public for the first time. Here, “public” means “the doctor,” so it’s not like we did anything crazy like going shopping, eating in a restaurant, or spending the holidays with our families after a three-hour drive. Still, Ellie took them to the pediatrician in the hospital where she works, giving several friends and dozens of quasi-strangers the chance to ogle them.
While Ellie took them to the doctor, I stayed home. I was sick with a stomach bug, and life is easier when Abbie can stay home. Since I was too sick to eat and Abbie needed supervision, I spent my time without the twins doing the only thing I could think of: Vacuuming the floors.
Ellie discovered many things on her trip to the hospital. First, the twins are in great health. They’re adding weight at a rate that should put them into size 1 diapers long before they use all of the newborn size diapers I stockpiled for them. They detected no health problems, and they’re grasping fingers at a proficiency level expected in children twice their age.
Second, there are no more quick trips into public. She left just before 9am with milk in hand ready to feed them in the doctor’s waiting area. She returned just before noon with two hungry babies ready to eat again. She was gone for so long that I had time to rest, vacuum, rest, vacuum the bedrooms, rest, wash the dishes, rest, finish washing the dishes, and rest again.
Third, while most people are aware of the axiom “never wake a sleeping baby,” they also believe that it has an appendage “unless you can hand that now awake and screaming baby back to its parents and leave the room.” Ellie had the twins sleeping while strapped into the double stroller, and somehow countless passers-by took that as an invitation to try to wake them. I guess they wanted to see what they do when they’re awake.* Fortunately that lead to another discovery, which is:
Fourth, despite their deepest cuddling desires, most people will not remove a baby from his stroller. That may have been the only thing saving Ellie from having two awake and hungry babies on her hands that were very frustrated people keep waking them as soon as they doze off.
Fifth, everybody loves hearing that you have twins. Even the people who see you enough to know that you work at the hospital, but aren’t quite of your department. Maybe it’s internal medicine; maybe it’s in maintenance. Either way, they want to know about your twins. Also, no matter how many people you told about the twins before the delivery, there’s always someone who didn’t know.
Sixth, even though all adults in the house are too sick to eat, those three minors still produce a significant number of dirty dishes.
* They open their eyes, check that nothing important involving diapers or milk is happening, and go back to sleep, or maybe they just cry.
While Ellie took them to the doctor, I stayed home. I was sick with a stomach bug, and life is easier when Abbie can stay home. Since I was too sick to eat and Abbie needed supervision, I spent my time without the twins doing the only thing I could think of: Vacuuming the floors.
Ellie discovered many things on her trip to the hospital. First, the twins are in great health. They’re adding weight at a rate that should put them into size 1 diapers long before they use all of the newborn size diapers I stockpiled for them. They detected no health problems, and they’re grasping fingers at a proficiency level expected in children twice their age.
Second, there are no more quick trips into public. She left just before 9am with milk in hand ready to feed them in the doctor’s waiting area. She returned just before noon with two hungry babies ready to eat again. She was gone for so long that I had time to rest, vacuum, rest, vacuum the bedrooms, rest, wash the dishes, rest, finish washing the dishes, and rest again.
Third, while most people are aware of the axiom “never wake a sleeping baby,” they also believe that it has an appendage “unless you can hand that now awake and screaming baby back to its parents and leave the room.” Ellie had the twins sleeping while strapped into the double stroller, and somehow countless passers-by took that as an invitation to try to wake them. I guess they wanted to see what they do when they’re awake.* Fortunately that lead to another discovery, which is:
Fourth, despite their deepest cuddling desires, most people will not remove a baby from his stroller. That may have been the only thing saving Ellie from having two awake and hungry babies on her hands that were very frustrated people keep waking them as soon as they doze off.
Fifth, everybody loves hearing that you have twins. Even the people who see you enough to know that you work at the hospital, but aren’t quite of your department. Maybe it’s internal medicine; maybe it’s in maintenance. Either way, they want to know about your twins. Also, no matter how many people you told about the twins before the delivery, there’s always someone who didn’t know.
Sixth, even though all adults in the house are too sick to eat, those three minors still produce a significant number of dirty dishes.
* They open their eyes, check that nothing important involving diapers or milk is happening, and go back to sleep, or maybe they just cry.
posted by Matt at
11:24 PM
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