I Forgive You For Thinking They Might Be Angels

It is the bike that is the give-away. They look peaches-and-cream, butter wouldn't melt, innocent as vanilla ice cream, etc. and so forth. But the bike tells the real story.

And the story of the bike is this: Octavia inherited it from a friend. It was beech with a red seat and blue wheels. She rode it until we finally had to hide it in the attic last year. For the re-gifting, we tricked it out as the Sparky Mobile. Flames up from the wheels, shiny blue. Sparky for a couple reasons. 1. The new rider is Aodh, born in front of the fire and named 'fiery one'. 2. The guy is obsessed with lamps and how they work with outlets. I am constantly peeling him off the frosted glass lamps at the bedside. Here in N.I., electricians are called 'sparks'. Is that the same in the good, old USA? I don't know since I didn't really hang out at building sites or have to have anything re-wired.

That's What One Looks Like

Flashbacks

Noah is now taller than me as you can see from this photo taken at point-blank range. He seems not to have noticed and I'm doing my best to keep it that way. All reprimands and commands are given from afar. I try to speak to him when he is sitting down to keep him in the dark as to my apparent shrinkage.

The height difference adds a peculiar challenge to the family santa photo and the elves at C___court are perhaps not graduates of the same training programme as David Sidaris. They do nothing to try to make the photo for which the parent has coughed up cash a good one. I suppose, since it is pre-paid, they don't care if you stomp off in a huff. At any rate, the Skunk Family Christmas (S and I have not called it this to the kids) is a cute look.

Dancer and Grumpy

Today was the big (dread?) day of the winter...off to see Santa at Castlecourt. If you get awe-struck at the name don't read the next sentence. A city centre/centre shopping mall thronged with people in the throws of consuming and stress of making the season more than it ought to be and less than it could be. But none of that puts little dancer off the beat.

Mr. Zero soon to be 1 didn't like it so much. There was a nice skunk under one of the fake trees that caught his eye. Perhaps because, what with this year's colour theme, he thought it was another sibling. The wait wasn't
worth it from a parental point of view. In about 20 photos there is not one where all of the children are looking the same direction, all visible, all smiling. Shots for later laughter, yes, but not for the mantle piece.

Now I must dash away to bake sweet potatoe crescent rolls like I did the night before Aodh was born. This time I will be able to enjoy them with breakfast.