A Smooth Road

"A smooth road to London town

A smooth road to London town

The road goes up

The road goes down

A smooth road to London town

But...

By and by we come to a dell

Where the roads are not so swell

A bumpy road, a bumpy road

A bumpy road to London town..."

--Smooth Road to London Town (Children's Song)

Our life right now probably won't seem very interesting to most outsiders.  We're in one of the in-betweens;  waiting for the results of the last set of the appointments as we wait for the start of the next round.  It's an odd place to be, this in-between.  We're not quite anywhere, but rather on the way somewhere.  We're also not sure where this trip is taking us, but we are inside, out of the elements and content to let the sway of the carriage lull us to sleep.  There may be brigands and cut-throats and all manner of wylde beasties lurking outside, but for now we are content to curl up and have a conversation.  Occasionally one of us will look out a window and remark on one landmark or another, but for the most part we are pleased with passing the time together.

We've rumbled by a few milestones with Wyatt in the last little while.  He got his first tooth the other day;  after months of sore red cheeks and gums, it finally broke through.  The one next to it should be arriving in a few days.  In case you are following along:  Quinn has two adult teeth and just lost another, Zoe has seven and Wyatt has one and is working on his second.  He has been able to "chew" food for some time now;  adding teeth to the mix just ensures I can increase the texture of things a little bit more.  Thursday,  for example, I made a whole batch of toddler meatballs for the twins.  They are so very easy to make and all my kids have loved eating them.  Zoe was a little hesitant at first, looking from the meatball on her tray to her father, back to the meatball and then to her father again, as if to say "WTF is this?!".  Wy didn't hesitate and popped two into his mouth.  One thing that we really have to be careful with him with is choking;  not because his swallowing is sub-par, but because he is prone to stuffing too much food in his mouth at once.  He also tends to get a stash going in his high palate and if we're not paying attention, can still be eating/possibly choking several minutes after we think he's finished.

There has also been the first (confirmed) "Dada" out of Wyatt.  Both babies have been babbling "dadadada" and the like for months, but Zoe has been calling Sean "Dah-dih" for some time now.  We're both pretty convinced that Wyatt's "Dada" was intentional as a)  it came out singular (no repeating dadadada over and over like he usually does) and b) he reached for Sean as he said it.  I'm not sure about Dada himself, but I was a little teary eyed.  It will probably be a long time before either twin says "Mama" though... If they are anything like their older brother it will be next year some time.  Quinn's first words, in order, were "Dada", "Kitty" and "Guitar".  Shortly after that, he started calling me "Lady".  It was months down the road before he finally called me "Mommy".  Now I'm "Mom" (or "MaaaAAAWWWmmm") most of the time, which makes me a little wistful, actually.

Wyatt's reaching and overall movement has increased lately too.  We sing with all the kids, but we have played a little game with Wyatt since he was able to sit up (supported) on our knee.  One of the action songs from Mother Goose called "Smooth Road to London Town" is his favourite.  Sean has modified it slightly to emphasize the part where "the road goes up", so he can make a point of lifting Wyatt's arms up in time.  This is followed immediately by "and the road goes down" where Sean lowers his arms and leans him forward (he used to flop forward on our tummies before he could sit up).  I hadn't sung it to him for a while and was pleasantly surprised by his progress recently.  He was balancing himself nicely on my knee and was holding my two index fingers gently when we started.  When we got to "the road goes up" part, he got a big smile on his face and lifted his arms and my fingers up by himself and then started to lower them for "the road goes down"... and patiently waited for me to continue with the more bouncier parts of the song.  I was astounded.  I remember him a few months ago anticipating "the road goes down" by nodding his head forward and tugging slightly on our hands (as they held his), but this was awesome!  Zoe, by this point, was strutting around the room with her arms up over her head and shouting as if she was announcing a touchdown, but Wyatt was as pleased with himself as I was and we continued on with two more quick trips to London Town (well, in song, anyway). 

Our OT visit was cancelled this week so we found ourselves with a morning off.  By "off" I mean "slightly unscheduled", as we still had things to do.  However, we were able to take it easy and sit around for a couple hours while the babies played and we talked.  It was a rare treat, to be honest... to feel as if we didn't have to rush off or do something.  We also got to complete a whole conversation (how long has it been since that has happened?).  The time passed quickly, as all stolen time does, but it was refreshing.  It gave us a nice little pause in what would turn out to be a very busy and draining week.  Our appointment was rescheduled for Tuesday, so I am sure we will pick up there where we left off. 

This little leg of our journey together may not be the most spectacular or the most in depth, but sometimes you need to just keep going and see where you end up.  For now, we are content to count teeth and sing songs and marvel at our children as they grow and develop.  It's not a trip for everyone, but it suits us just fine.  I'm sure the scenery will eventually change and bumpier roads are indeed ahead.  For now, however, no matter how up and down, it's still a pretty smooth road to London Town.