15 minutes

boo, mama, originally uploaded by Kristy and Eva.

below is a transcript of sorts of the very start of our day today. i'm including it not because it is noteworthy, but rather because it's highly representative of our mornings in general. larry was sleeping downstairs because he was up late working or whatever, and when that happens, eva and i have our little routine upstairs before we venture down to find papa. (she consents to about 15 -- maybe 20 -- minutes before she needs to go find out what papa is up to. (all day long, it's "papa doing? mama doing? mama doing? more on that later.)

anyway, below is the basic level of chatter one can expect these days around eva. for the sake of clarity (and not driving myself/you insane), i omitted my acknowledgement of basically everything out of her mouth, as in: milk. okay, we'll have milk. mama potty. yeah, mama's going to go potty, too. boo, belly. yup, there's your belly. and on and on...

mom told me not so very many months ago not to worry about when she would start talking, because it would come soon enough, and then i'd wonder if she'd ever *stop* talking. i believed her, but i thought that point would come *later*...(not that i'm complaining, i'm just surprised by the constant constant banter that goes on. but enough preamble:

hi mama! (i open my eyes to a little face about four inches from my nose)
milk? (so we have milk, then after a bit: )
side of milk! (her new way to request the other side, the old way was more like "eh eh eh, milk!" this is better, even if it does sound like the equivalent of mashed potatoes or braised carrots.)
(sounding urgent) potty! potty! (i airlift to potty while still half asleep, deftly avoiding tripping over the bed rail, remove diaper)
mama off. bye bye diaper!
sit potty. liam potty (her upstairs potty came from our friend liam, three weeks later she continues to point this out to me daily.)
mama sit potty? mama peepee potty. (self explanatory stage directions there)
belly, boo belly. belly button (spying her belly, a daily game.)
teeth? teeth? teeth? (she always wants her toothbrush, i am generally successful in delaying this until *after* we finish on the potty.)
(standing up) all done. mama wipe.
papa? (i explain that papa is sleeping downstairs.)
papa night night, shhhh! (i'm trying to teach her to be quiet when papa is sleeping, as opposed to hitting him on the head with books or poking him in the eyes which causes the eyes to open.)
teeth teeth! (i comply, but we flop back onto the bed with the toothbrush -- sans paste. she's not pleased for 5 seconds, thinking we might instead go straight downstairs. mama wants to claim her remaining 7 minutes of being horizontal if not asleep)
mama night night (me: "yeah, mama is sleeping..." sure, sort of)
lemma bark. lemma loud!
milk?
side of milk (as before)
haha, boo mama belly. tap tap. (someone taught her to tap bellies.)
(still nursing, she starts to sing to herself "hmm hmm hmmmm" in a rythmic pattern, followed by pauses. my job is to echo her in the space of the pauses. we sing to each other like this for a minute or so.)
night night. night night milk (tugging my shirt back down, thanks that's very helpful.)
(rolls over to "sleep", but then immediately starts to crawl off the bed)
down. down. bye bye.
aaaah, foot stuck! (i help free her foot from the tangled sheets)
foot stuck. mama fix.
hi lemma. book. (as a departure from the usual arangement, lemma is nested in a spare blanket next to the bed, because i've kicked her off the bed one too many times this week. eva is seeking out her tiny copy of "peter rabbit")
mama night night! ("yeah, mama's sleeping. that's right.)
book. book. book. (to herself)
ahh fwa na sha sha bah na nu nu dee (pretending to read, pausing to turn a page in no particular order when she wants to look at a new picture)
haha, hi bunny! baby bunny baby bunny baby bunny (chanting, probably 15-20 times)
shoo nee a boo nee baa baa ah doo vlah vlah (more reading)
book, mama book? mama night night. mama eye. close.
(i wake up, she points to the book)
color! color! (pointing at the printing)
(me: "yeah, those are words. remember mama said that kind of coloring is called "words"?)
word. haha. (turn page) word! haha (repeat.)
(pointing out the page number at the "top" of the upside-down page)
hahaha! (turn page, more pointing out page numbers and laughing)
milk?
(me: "um, let's go see papa now")
papa! bye bye teeth. bye bye lemma. (when she's excited about transitioning to the newly suggested activity, she starts "signing off" to all the current toys, books, and people in the area.)

then we were ready to start our morning. i failed to mention up front that i (stupidly) was awake until 3 in the morning, and like usual my sleep -- this time, all 5 hours -- is broken into approximately two hour chunks. but, i really don't mind that since i'm so used to it. if i minded, i'd change it. i have a feeling i'll start minding in a couple of months.

she just woke up, so off i go (it's 1:30 a.m., up late again, oops!). off to repeat this pattern again in about 6 hours. and thus is the pattern of our days. pretty nice.