Shannon Phillips

Robin’s “family play date” at the Peter Pan Nursery School co-op is this Saturday. They also have a written application they want us to submit, and they’ve asked that we attach a photo so they’ll be able to remember who the kids are when they’re reviewing the applications. So I took a few new pictures of Robin. Here he is playing dress-up with a pair of his daddy’s glasses:

Here he is wincing away from the camera’s flash:

And here’s a perfectly straightforward photo that is probably the one I’ll give them:

I do kind of like that middle one, though.

So much of parenthood has been a process of discovering for myself all the things that are completely obvious and everybody else already knew.

Like, did you know that mothers really really love their babies? I mean really a lot? Did you know that? You probably knew that, huh? It’s not like all of human civilization isn’t built around an understanding of that fact.

And yet when I pick Davy up, and he’s warm against me and soft, then I have to give him a kiss, and then he chortles and beams at me, and then I love him so much I can barely stand it, and even though this is a thing that happens every day—and has happened every day since Robin was born three and a half years ago—there is still some little dumb piece of me that is surprised. On some level this experience is still just really amazing to me.

Probably both the boys’ favorite game right now is “Baby’s Gonna Get You,” an activity wherein somebody (usually Sam) chases Robin around the house while holding Davy out in a vaguely menacing fashion. Davy loves this and will wave his arms around wildly while chortling happily. Robin also loves it and will scream with glee while running away. In fact, they both love the game so much that they sometimes try to play it without Sam, although as you might imagine this involves quite a bit of cooperation on Robin’s part in order to make the “chase” even vaguely interesting. This is a picture of Davy winning the game:

Baby’s gonna get you!

Also: check out these chompers!

We got this bike for Robin a year too early. He’s just now getting comfortable with it:

Watching him scoot around on the bike reminds me of a poem that hit me hard when I first read it last year: “To A Daughter Leaving Home,” by Linda Pastan.

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

Owen’s dad called! Robin is going to have his very first playdate this weekend! I am all a-twitter.

In other news, Davy had sweet potato for dinner tonight and he liked it a lot:

This afternoon I discovered this little tableau, neatly lined up on a corner of the kitchen counter:

I think it works especially well with the somewhat murky water of the flower vase lending a prehistoric jungle vibe. I made up a funny little poem for Robin about it:

Dinosaurs on parade!
Dinosaurs on parade!
They’ve got it made
They want limeade
They’re dinosaurs on parade!

Brachiosaurus
He’ll implore us
Stegoceras [note: it’s Steg-OSS-erous, not a stegosaurus]
The boss of us
T-REX! T-REX!
Triceratops!
Goes clippety clop!
They’re dinosaurs on parade!

This will make no sense to those of you who are uninitiated into the ways of the PBS show “Blue’s Clues,” but Robin has really latched on to the polo shirt he received as a Christmas present from his Nonna and Pappy. He calls it his “Steve shirt” and he wants to wear it every single day:

Today he’s wearing his Steve shirt as usual, but he also got really excited about Davy’s outfit. Can you see why?

“The baby is a clue!” he shrieked. “The baby is a clue!”

The next Samuel L. Jackson vehicle?

My brother Bob took this photo in Fayetteville, when we were visiting last week. I love the way it shows off his starry eyes and long eyelashes. It also kind of looks like he’s playing a guitar!