A Day with Baby Hesed
Friday, August 12, 2011
In which Puck plays with his favorite baby and storms befall the lands…
The morning began with Puck reviewing his colors in Spanish, snuggling in bed next to his daddy. Then he expounded on his dreams…
“I had bad dreams about killing carrots. They ran away.”
On the way to the house, Collette identified her son’s accent as being somewhat Marylandian/Pennsylvanian.
Hesed arrived shortly after they did. Puck hurried out to greet them and to tell Evangeline that he was going to teach Hesed his letters. And almost immediately, the munchies were broken out.
As the morning commenced, Linnea reviewed the story of how she and Cherry had mistakenly brushed Hesed’s teeth with diaper rash cream while they were in the Carolinas…
“Judah was laughing so hard when he found out, that he had to leave the room,” she said.
Meanwhile, Francis, who had just returned from his Friday breakfast with Henri and the boys, had been officially hired by the YMCA and would begin orientation on Monday.
Joe had called from Colorado Springs, already climbing The Garden of the Gods, having driven himself straight through the night. And giving Mom and Dad a wave-off on the highway as they passed each other at the 180-mile marker.
“Yeah,” said Rose. “They were driving down the street with Wally’s entire wardrobe still sitting on the top of the car. They didn’t think to bring water… As they were leaving Rose told them, ‘While you’re gone, at least one of you is required to turn your brains on.’”
Sometimes it was still difficult to remember that this generation was no longer in early high school…
“Yeah, apparently Wally has a curfew,” said Carrie. “He can’t be out after dark.”
Goofballs.
In still other news…
Rose’s car was on a train somewhere.
And Lucia had just had an interview at Nordstrom’s.
Then Carrie explained the reflexology she had experimented on Rose the previous night, who was less-than excited about the ordeal. Francis eventually became embarrassed enough watching the lecture accompanying the foot massage that he left for some ‘man time’ with Earnest on the front porch to watch the sun set.
Hesed went down for a long morning nap…
“Be quiet going up and down to the basement,” Mom advised.
“Well, I usually hire a band and parade up the stairs,” said Carrie.
While Hesed slept, Puck learned to write his first, albeit crooked, ‘a’.
Outdoors later…
Carrie sunning herself with turmeric, looking like an Indian paint-festival upon completion.
“Mom’s teaching Hesed how to throw dirt,” said Dad, looking out the window.
Lunch…
Out came the lentils, homemade coleslaw salad, and roasted vegetables… and the groans from Francis.
“Oh! Can I see what Evangeline packed Hesed?” Linnea asked enthusiastically. “Last time she packed him this stuff that was like astronaut ice cream, but it was yogurt.”
She gloated a little over the salmon, rice, and cherries.
“You tricked me!” Carrie laughed at Hesed. “You little punk. Offered me a cherry, then put it in his mouth.”
Dad was also finding complaints about the meal selection…
“Dad, you chose your own menu,” Carrie said, with no sympathy.
“I didn’t chose lentils.”
Carrie wouldn’t budge.
A box of tea arrived in the mail.
Into the afternoon…
Linnea leaving for spontaneous volleyball practice. Three times a week already…
Groceries. On the way out, Puck wanted to know if God had eyelashes.
As they exited the second store, the storm was mounting in the southwest. And as they drove back to the house… rain, thunder. The whole shebang.
As they drove up to the house, Francis had been sitting on the porch with Hesed for some time, watching the rain fall.
Back at the house…
“Uh oh. The foreigners are trying to jump a car… in the rain…”
The Incredibles for the little boys.
Carrie prepared dinner.
“Turtle food,” Dad noted, as Carrie dressed two plates in greens.
“What do I get?” Francis asked, with his signature grin.
“Go away, Francis.”
Carrie pulled the salmon from the oven and placed them on the salad greens.
“Want some snake skin?” Dad asked, tearing the panel of silver scales from the fish.
“So, are you going to move night?” Mom asked Carrie from the dining room.
“Are you and Dad gonna go hog wild on a run for the border like you did last time I was gone?” Carrie asked.
“That’s right,” Mom replied. “We’re gonna make a run for the ice cream shop, Lefty. You go right, and…”
“Mom. Just stop.”
Then Judah arrived to pick up Hesed. Collette had decided that he must be about the easiest baby she had ever seen…
And as they prepared to leave for the evening with the girls, Linnea and Puck practiced the piano together…
“Have you ever saw a sad skeleton riding on a spider?” Puck asked seriously.
The ride home was gold light and cool wind. A little bit gorgeous.
Movie night.
OLeif, Collette, Carrie-Bri, Magnus, and Rose.
A Letter to Three Wives. Their traditional Mysterious-Science-Theater reflections.
And a splurge of pizza, Stax potato chips, Cheez-Its, and the evil Irish butter fudge… so evil. Even Magnus and Rose, who claimed a great deal of self-control, succumbed to two large pieces each, which OLeif may, or may not, have dropped in their laps.
Collette: “Sigh… alas. I can only hold out so long against the combined forces of [OLeif] + Voracious Viking Hunger.”
OLeif: “This is true. I am a violent beast of consumption.”
— IM conversation