AND ZOEY MAKES THREE


Last Friday Vanessa, Keenan and I drove down to L.A. to see Nicole and Zoey with the plan to bring them back up to our house. Plans changed a little. Nicole couldn't make it this trip and she and I chatted for awhile about things, both of us concluding that it would be in Zoey's best interest to come stay with us for a long time - weeks, maybe all summer.


So, we had a lovely time with Nicole, then packed up the kids and Zoey's bike with training wheels, and headed north. As I was driving, with three crying then eventually sleeping kids in the back, all I could think was,

I AM THE LUCKIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET.

Basically, Zoey blends seamlessly from our extended family to our nuclear family. Vanessa couldn't be happier! Keenan is positively gleeful thanks to all the big sister antics. The pets have never had so much attention. Daddio and I have plenty to talk about. It is good.

In other news, I got to meet Keenan's birth father Keaton. It was really, really exciting for me. He was friendly, humble, handsome, and quite clearly the source of Keenan's man-build. Keaton is 5' 9" and has a lot of, um, shoulders. He's manly.

Keaton said he could dunk the basketball in 9th grade, but he stopped all sports about that time because he broke his femur. (He also made sure to tell me he and his other children have bad allergies, which might explain why Keenan has had a "cold" since August 15th.) Nicole said Keaton rarely smiles, but I felt like he was smiling the whole time. (Baby Keenan cried here because we gave him a bottle, then took it out of his mouth for this shot.)

Also speaking of Keenan, he's officially walking - just baby steps - but he will be 9 months old at the end of April, so this is sort of early. Jack saw him take his first step just at the end of 7 months, but now it's official. He still bear crawls, but after I let him hold my finger so he could walk along where ever he wanted to go, he's newly determined to be like one of his big sisters.

On Saturday, Daddio took Vanessa and Zoey to track practice. He packed up Nanners' trike and Zo's bike, the sand pails and shovels, a pack of sandwiches, a change of clothes, the camera and some band-aids. The girls had a blast biking the track, digging in the long jump pit, walking the steeples like balance beams and practicing pole vault (i.e., being thrown high into the air and landing in the pole vault pit).

AJ came over and the three girls played for hours in the back yard, with costumes, notes, hiding places, livestock, swimming, watermelons, Barbies, and the play house. AJ was the mom, Vanessa was the baby and Zoey was the big sister. We adults rested. For an only child, AJ does darn well managing the group dynamics.

Monday Zoey and I made cupcakes - her first time - and she was euphoric about getting to lick the bowl. We made white cupcakes for strawberry shortcake while Vanessa was at school.

I took the three kids to Costco. That was a blast. Zoey wore one of Vanessa's black velvet dresses and her red cowboy boots. Vanessa wore Zoey's black velvet leotard and her black flats.

They rode in the cart and I wore Keenan in the Baby Bjorn. He wore bunny ears. We were a chattering mass of a family, moving very slowly through Costco, thanks to me pushing a cart laden with two kids and a load of loot, not to mention me being somewhat tired with a mini stud on my chest. My best trip to Costco *ever*.

Too bad I didn't get a video of us in Costco, but I took these videos of Daddio jamming with Keenan in the living room. Enjoy.

We've been playing around a lot. Gosh it's fun having a house full of children! And, if you're wondering, Vanessa and Zoey are thoughtful and polite with each other a lot of the time. Zoey is well behaved and Vanessa gets into trouble. She can't resist following that monster will of hers, I guess.

Today, between feeding the goats at the farm, petting the kitties at the Humane Society and going to gymnastics, Vanessa had a triple time out - 9 whole minutes. You see, she walked across a puddle as I was saying, "Don't walk in that puddle please," then, while I was holding her hand, she bolted across the parking lot in front of an on-coming car, and when I retrieved her and clutched her hand she flopped in the mud next to the car as I was opening the car door, Keenan in hand. All this in the span of 3 minutes. When I finally buckled her into the car seat I said, "That scared me. No more shenanigans!" and Zoey looked on with amazement. I have no problem disciplining Zoey, but there has been no need.

Zo-Zo loves us ("You all are my best friends!"), but at night she misses her mom. We call Nicole on the phone and Zoey bursts into tears, then, a minute later, someone says, "Wanna hold Chica on your head?" and Zoey is off, laughing and having a grand time. Tonight I told her about summer camp. where kids go away for the whole summer, and about boarding school, where they go away for the school year.

Daddio pushed the two twin beds together so Zoey and Vanessa can sleep in the same room. We tell them to lie very still and be completely silent and we'll bring Milo and Max to them, which we do. Milo sleeps on Zoey's bed and Max sleeps on Vanessa's. They say, "Shut the door!" so the pets won't leave. We dutifully oblige. Everyone is happy.