b Papa Dog's Blog: Babypalooza

Papa Dog's Blog

A Thing Wherein I Infrequently Write Some Stuff

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Babypalooza

The Pirates hosted what was meant to be a brunch but ended up as a sort of brunper for our little circle of new parents. For what I believe was the very first time, we had Baby Dog, Baby Pirate, Baby Whippet, and Baby Kenilu all in the same room at the same time. Of course, Babies Whippet and Kenilu aren’t even sitting up yet, so the drama was somewhat limited, but it was still fun to have them all together.

The timing was tricky, because a midday event cuts a swatch through everyone’s nap times. Baby Dog usually goes down for her nap somewhere between eleven-thirty and one at the latest, so we would have preferred to go earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon. As it happened, we went on the early side, around 11:30, and were the first ones there. The Pirates were trying to get Baby Pirate down for her nap then, but it didn’t take. Both Baby Dog and Baby Pirate looked tired, but refused to be lulled. Too much activity, I suppose, and too many other babies. At one point Baby Dog was so clearly sleepy that I took her into Baby Pirate’s room to rock her to sleep, but she became stubbornly alert and active in the process, sampling each and every one of Baby Pirate’s stuffed animals in turn. An excess of novelty makes sleep unlikely. That, and the light on the iguana’s cage is kind of bright. Baby Dog’s used to going to sleep in a darker room. I took her back out to join the party. She rummaged through Baby Pirate’s book collection (and Papa Pirate’s complete set of Patrick O’Brien novels). Later, we went out in the yard to visit Kitty Pirate. Living as she does in the house of a known cat killer,* Baby Dog so rarely gets to see a cat up close and personal. She’s read quite a lot about them and is very curious. Kitty Pirate, a gentle and affectionate animal, was obliging. She pulled herself up from her bed of leaves and came over to roll in the dirt next to us, showing her white belly. “Tail!” Baby Dog observed, pointing at the correct appendage. We’re so careful about keeping her out of reach of Doggy Dog that I guess she’s a little shy around animals, but I held her hand and showed her how to stroke Kitty Pirate’s belly. I think it was the highlight of her visit. She kept saying “Meow” and “Kittycat” and Kitty Pirate’s name for the rest of the visit and for the first bit of our ride home.

When we left it was 2 p.m. and our little girl was beyond tired. We were scarcely two blocks from the Pirates’ front door when I looked back and saw she was asleep in the car seat. Nothing like the drone of a familiar automobile when you’re up an hour past the outside edge of naptime.

Oh, and P.S. – Charmingly correctly identified the source of my previous post title. Sure wouldn’t have predicted she’d know that one.
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*Meaning Doggy Dog, not me.

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