The Cuteness of my Kids, aka "That Makes Me Smile Every Time"

One of the things I do to relieve stress is sing songs with my kids.  Not the stuff that's on the radio or even oldies (although they do like a few oldies I'll list out later), but stuff that appears on Micky Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street, Team Umizoomi, etc.  I've also gotten to the point where I will interact with my kids in public as if other people aren't around, so many of the things that we end up doing may be embarrassing under normal circumstances.  Today, as we're leaving the hospital, the Smurfs started singing a song from Team Umizoomi.  Not one to be outdone, I started singing Elmo's Ducks with them.  Now, when we normally do it I sing Elmo's part and they do the duck noises/acting.  So imagine a grown man walking with two kids doing an Elmo voice while they're quacking like ducks.  We did this 3 times in a row while walking past visitors, doctors, nurses, volunteers, security, etc.  Although I was aware of people staring (and potentially commenting), I couldn't have cared less because they were happy and so was I.  We've also done public performances of We Make Music and Sing After Me, one time drawing applause from someone we walked by.  I like doing stuff like that because it reminds me that no matter how much stress i'm under, having fun with the Smurfs is a priority.

As I've noted before (and if you can't tell) I refer to my kids as The Smurfs.  It's now more of reflex to say it randomly, and they respond accordingly.  They have never seen the cartoon and have only seen Smurfs through a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion.  However, Smurf 2 likes to constantly ask when in the car "Are we there yet?"  Now she knows where we are going most often and when we will get there, but she likes to do it because I pretend it's irritating.  So whenever she asks I always go "Not yet my little Smurf" until after the 5th time I will go "NOOOOOOO!!!!!" in a goofy voice.  My inspiration? Here.

Misspoken Words of the Moment:
Taskifier. - "He has a Taskifier in his mouth."

Nipple.  "I have two Nipples dad.  Do you have any Nipples? Here [Smurf 2], you can have one of my Nipples so you can buy something at the store."

Meeting New People, Aka "Are They Twins?"

I am not a sociable person.  Rather, I prefer not to socialize with a lot of people.  Aside from my wife I don't have any true friends. I have people I associate with, joke with, and even talk about some personal things with, but overall I wouldn't consider any of them close.  Case in point, those who could be considered my "close friends" don't know that I write this blog and don't know my wife is in the hospital.  Hell, I think only one person knows that she's even pregnant, and that person isn't someone I normally associate with.  My wife is the same way and didn't tell her family she was pregnant until she went to hospital at 27 weeks; her family has visited at least once a month and never said a thing (although several claim they suspected).

I say all this because I am forced to be more sociable than normal because of the Smurfs.  I used to only be alone with them one day a week, and most of the time we did our own thing and ignored other people.  Now that we're together almost all the time, I end up taking them to many social activities and places (I don't want them to become fat, lazy, tv watching schlubs like some kids I know).  So now on a daily basis, whenever we're in public, I brace myself for uninvited conversation starters from others.  To be fair, the Smurfs are cute and even more so when I'm talking with them while walking or having them hold my hands or each others. *

*A side rant here: when I talk to my Smurfs, I speak to them as if they're intelligent enough to understand proper English.  I have never used baby speak with them or said anything in a sing-song voice (which one of my sisters-in-law does all the time).  If they don't understand what i'm saying, both will readily ask me "what does ---- mean" since both have been speaking in complete sentences since they were two.  So when we're walking and talking, they may sound smarter than kids who are still using one or two-word phrases at the same age.*

Anyway, the most common thing I am asked is if they are twins.  I used to answer "No, they are a little more than 11 months apart in age" but have stopped because that usually provokes additional questions such as who is older (how the hell can't you tell? One is bigger than the other), do they get along well, do they look like their mother, do they get their hair from their mother, are you going to grow their hair like yours (I have dreadlocks), etc.  Therefore I have modified my answer to "nope. 11 months."  It's not that I want to be rude, it's just that I don't want to talk to people.  Only the most die-hard of people will try to continue a line of questioning, so I continue to shorten my answers even more until I'm just looking at the Smurfs and saying something like "You guys ready to go?" which is my BIG hint that I am not going to answer any more questions.  And heaven help the people who just make comments; all they get is a grunt in recognition from me, and then I ignore them.  Luckily I have taught my kids better social skills than I show.