Our Kids

Having these two little girls is such a treat, but every now and then you get some alone time with just one and it’s very special.

This morning Lela woke up around 6:30am or so and I finally dragged myself out of bed at 6:45 to get the morning going. I fixed up a couple cups of soy milk for the girls and made it to their room. When I went in, though, only Lela was awake and Piper was sound asleep on her pile of books, phones, stuffed animals, and blanket.

So I got Lela and we headed out to the family room. She wasn’t interested in gonig potty, so we sat in the chair together while she sucked down her soy milk and I closed my eyes, fooling myself into thinking I might grab a couple of winks. Lela finished her milk, and asked where Piper was and I said she was sleeping. She asked about Mommy, and then a few of our neighbors, I think just getting the lay of the land. She seemed satisifed with all my answers (lots of folks were ‘sleeping’), so she layed her head on my chest and we rocked for a while. Every now and then she’d pull her head up and point at the snowman on granny’s sweathshirt, and I’d assure her that yes, it was a snowman. One time she pointed at granny’s blanket, so I pulled it on us and we snuggled for a bit.

Of course that didn’t last long enough for me to get any sleep, so we were off doing the dishes. All this time, Lela was in such a good mood… laughing, smiling, grabbing dishes and jib-jabbering to me in Chinese.

Piper was still sleeping when Mystique came out, so I passed the baton to her and she started hanging out with Happy Lela. Same thing… lots of smiling, pointing, and laughing. Lela would pick up an Elmo toy and play with it for a while, then come see how I was doing in getting ready for work, etc… At one point I jokingly told her to go wake up Piper and she abruptly turned around and started heading out the door to do just that. Mystique called her back, though, so Piper’s sleep was uninterrupted.

Finally, around 8am or so, Piper awoke from her slumber. At first I think she was a little confused because Lela wasn’t there when she woke up, but she was right behind me when I got Piper, so all was good in the world. We came out just when our neighbor was coming over to not run with Mystique, so the five of us sat by the tree for a bit and talked about things. All in all, a great morning… two happy girls, and a wonderful wife, and a late start to work.

Priceless.