Out of the Woodwork

The upside of old houses is supposed to be character. I have to say that most of the character I could very easily do without. However, our wacky little farmhouse does have certain very charming features, and among my favorites are the knots in the wood. We pick out shapes in the floor planks and beams like we sometimes do with clouds. As a toddler, Henry identified one knot in the hallway as an airplane. Coco has recently discovered a rabbit in one of the exposed beams above her changing table. She kept talking about a bunny, and I thought she was referring to one of her toys. Then I finally looked up and saw the light. A dark spot became an eye and a groove became an ear. Amazing.


It’s also giving me a much needed upper arm workout since my 30 pounder insists on touching the rabbit’s eye and/or ear (usually several times) as soon as she wakes up in the morning, before nap and before bed…

I so often use this space to vent about the anxieties and frustrations of parenthood, but the joys really do abound. Like hearing Co’s little voice as she discovers the wonders of the English language. She’s rocking the complete sentences now as in, “Little duck is smiling.” And the little hopping dance she does around the house is impossibly cute. Hank is heading toward 5 with all kinds of really sweet Christopher Robin-y questions and observations. Very sincere, mostly, but he’s also making goofy jokes and playing with words. One of my cousins likes to say that God makes kids cute so we won’t kill them. I remember reading Natalie Angier’s piece a few years ago on the role of cuteness in evolution. The gist is basically the same…