Questions

"Are we on Old County Road?"
"yes, Raelin, we're on Old County Road."
Where is New County Road?
I don't know sweetie... somewhere in Rockland
Where in Rockland?
In some other part of town.
Are we in a part of town?
yes, we are.
Which part of town?
Um, the Old County part of town
Are we still on Old County Road?
Yes...

(pause)
Are we on Old County Road?
yes, we'll be on Old County Road until we turn.
Is we on LakeNew Terrace yet?
have we turned yet?
No.
Then we're still on Old County Road.
*When* will we be on LakeNew Terrace?
When we turn.

(pause)

Are we on Old County Road?

_____________________________

Wecome to my world...The littany of questions that spread over our hours like thick frosting...always sweet, but too much gives you a headache.

When our midwives met Raelin and her chatter for the first time, Donna said to me, "kelly, I bet you were one of those mums who talked to Raelin constantly when she was a baby...'Look Raelin, mummy is getting ready to do the dishes. lets' put you in your bouncy seat up on the counter so you can see... look here's the soap! now the sponge! Bubbles!'

I sheepishly grinned.

At another appointment, Donna remarked, 'Wow, her voice is at a really interesting decible... it really cuts through all the other conversation and noise in the room, huh?' She observed this with a knowing smile as Kevin and I agreed.
She went on, "Your baby is going to come out and hear Raelin's voice and look up at her and think, "Mommy!!"

This is probably true. No doubt our soon-to-be-named Nutkin will be far more drawn to Raelin's voice than my own, if for no other reason than it has been hearing her voice easily double or triple than mine.

Ahhhh... this is where having a second one becomes easier than the first! Built in entertainment, non-stop action and verbage at our fingertips. This is a lucky baby. Not only does it's big sister know how to ask a question, she can make up stories, sing songs, bring soap suds to life and she makes some mean muffins from baking powder, nutmeg, and beads.

(short tanget story... when we're out in the kitchen before 6:30- and it's often before 6- the routine is that i get raelin some toast, and then i hit the futon to snooze for an hour or so. she is usually pretty good at keeping herself busy and allowing me to rest until she can't stand it any longer. or, she has poop on her finger... but that's another story. anyway, this past friday morning from my recline on the couch i could hear her getting into the drawer where we keep the spices. I decided to stay put and deal with the damage later. About 45 minutes later, i woke up to a baking powder, nutmeg, dill concoction- aka muffin batter- which she continued to busy herself with for another 15 minutes or so. long enough for me to make coffee and my own toast, so i just let her carry on. 45 minutes or so later, it was time to make some real muffins to bring to our knitting playgroup. As we measured the now nutmeg-flavored baking powder into the measuring spoon, i noticed some decidedly un-baking powder like chunks. A probe with my finger determined them to be fimo beads. A stir in the tin proved that in addition to nutmeg, the baking powder was now chunky with many, many beads.

ah well... i emptied the measuring spoon into a larger measuring cup and fished out the beads before allowing her to add the bp to the batter. i thought we got all of them. until later that afternoon i looked down into my half-eaten muffin to find a small red bead nestled quite innnocently next to a blueberry.)

But back to Raelin and her chattering...at the end of the day, when i am often all questions and listened and answered out, i sit on the couch and check up on email and other internet related tasks while Kevin does the bath with Raelin. The other night, their voices drifted through the door, singing one of Raelin's favorite songs, "The Hammerhead Shark." Their voices wove together, that unique decible of her voice trying to keep up with Kevin and the melody. I paused from my computer tasks and listened, thinking that it's amazing how one thing that can seem so draining at one point, can in another moment, be so fufilling.

What a lucky baby.