back home after a wander

We're back home after a jaunt around southern California. Nathaniel met his great-grandmother and uncle for the first time, as well as two members of the baby explosion.*

Nathaniel was uninterested in the older babies (one four months, the other six). His interests these days still primarily center around Lefty and Righty, though he smiles a lot at the face that hovers above Lefty and Righty and that other face that seems to be around a lot but that's attached to the useless and nonproductive chest.

The older babies, though, both girls, were fascinated with him. The younger one was discomfited when she saw her mother holding Nathaniel and spent the rest of the evening glaring at him suspiciously. The older one, having reached the stage where all new objects warrant tasting, stealthily licked his hand when they were lying next to each other.

I tried to explain to Nathaniel that in a few short years, he'd go through a lot of teen angst for that much attention from older women, particularly the mouthy one, but he completely ignored them. Maybe it's for the best. I've heard that whole hard-to-get shindig works wonders.

We had a great trip, but it's nice to be home. The dog was happy to see us. The cats, well, who knows. I think they were happy, but maybe they were just lobbying for food.

* In the past six months, the following have all produced offspring: my kindergarten seatmate, my freshman year college roommate, a friend from college who briefly dated an ex-boyfriend, two former managers from my programming days, a law school buddy, and a former housemate. Plus Julia Roberts and any other people I might have forgotten. And I'm not even getting into those who are pregnant.