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Halloween

Mia and Taj came over on Halloween, which is also their 1st birthday (happy birthday twins!) You can see they are seasonally dressed, and all three babies are playing very nicely together. Sure, Taj is eating Roan's hammer, but that's actually highly civilized if you consider the full spectrum of typical baby behavior.

Mia and Roan have always had this connection. They seem to have a lot in common.

We always find them playing together, while Taj is otherwise occupied.
This is an amazing moment - all three babies are focused on the same toy, yet are not fighting over it.

Then, the twins put their costumes on. Taj is a monkey and Mia is a kitten. All hints of civil behavior are gone. They turn into wild animals.

And the Robot, well, turns into a Robot. He becomes singleminded in a way that only robots are. His mission is to eat an entire hot dog bun. He does it without distraction.

The rear view. Not pictured: a lateral powder compact.

Group photo #1. Taj looks like he's escaped from the set of Where the Wild Things Are. Robot remains focused on his hot dog bun mission. Mia gives a thumbs up?

Group photo #2. Robot is malfunctioning. Mia considers a cat nap. Taj, as usual, is unaffected.
The babies didn't last long in their costumes - 10 minutes tops. Cheap thrills.

Robot Costume

More Halloween photos to come, but I wanted to share this one right away.

Cousin Julia

Here are some miscellaneous photos from last weekend, when Andrew, Cindy, and Julia came to visit us. I'm hoping that Cindy has better photos than these - (hint hint, we are waiting...) - but in the meantime, here are some moments I managed to capture.

Roan shows Julia around the house

Roan "pushing" Julia

Roan: possibly disillusioned with all the pushing that Julia requires.

Julia: quite pleased.

On the slide

In matching T-shirts with Cindy

Julia gives Roan a hug

You can see that the T-shirts have lion heads on stems, making them literal dandelions. Get it? Dandy-Lyons?

I *love* these shirts. Thanks to Andrew and Cindy!

Roan looks a bit like Java the Hutt in this shot.

Yes, Roan is about to slobber all over Julia's toe. What's even stranger is that Julia seems totally comfortable with having people kiss her feet...

Great moments not pictured: Julia pushing Roan in his stroller, carving pumpkins in their underwear/diaper, Roan putting all his toys inside the pumpkins, evening ticklefests.

Little Chef

smelling garlic salt

Wednesday

I took my camera out today because Roan is wearing a really cool sweatshirt I bought at a consignment store in Queens. If you look closely you will see that among other things, the sweatshirt says "Robot" and has pictures of upside-down robots.

Here you can see his community spirit.

Baby Trap #1

Roan finds a wheel that turns. It's kind of crazy how these wheels are in every park. Attaching a steering wheel to a fence might not seem like a recipe for unlimited fun, but it is.

Roan's first ride on a rocking horse.

Baby Trap #2

Did you know if you put a baby in a pile of leaves, he can't escape? It's like his feet are stuck in quicksand. I won't lie, I was tempted to leave him there and go take a bubble bath.

The Robot receives a message from God.

In any Mormon church there is a portrait of Joseph Smith out in the woods, praying about which church he should join, and God appearing in a shaft of light to say, "the truth is that they all suck." I've looked at that portrait a lot, which is to say that I know what kind of face you make when God is telling you something.

I really hope it has to do with sleeping past 6AM...

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