No!

No! No! No! No! has arrived, first in Lucas then minutes later by Eliot and they cannot put it down.  It is sweet in a way that they can answer me, and useful when I am trying to decipher their desires, but often no matter what they want I get a steady stream of No’s to any question.   Oh, and they’ve decided that they have an opinion on when bedtime is and their opinion is “No.”  But be sure, I am still the master of all things and bedtime is Yes.  Eliot finds saying no to be devious and funny and empowering, Lucas finds it to be a great tool and he is very sure of himself with every utterance.

With “No” has come a stream of other words too.  Lucas is recently facinated with “Up” and “Down.”  We go up and down in the elevator, on the stairs, at the park, and he says both words every time.  It seems like when we have some big event, like moving or a vacation, they suddenly make all this progress, like the stimulation propels them forward.  So much growth has occured in just the short time we’ve been here, it’s amazing.  We adapted a new routine and that helps us all a lot.  The nanny didn’t work out so well, she wasn’t prepared for twins, but no harm done.  I stayed here with them all for two mornings and I saw that it wasn’t a good fit, so I decided not to rush things and to give the boys my all for now, sans aide.

Bien installés

It has not been a smooth transition but things are turning around now.  We are still waiting eagerly for our stuff to arrive and will feel much more at ease when it does.  Leaving New York almost didn’t happen, I had the flu, my passport was lost an hour before our taxi arrived to pick us up from the hotel, we drove to the wrong airport with little time to spare and then spent too much time in the business lounge before realizing that our flight had closed.  Everything was last minute and I couldn’t even find the energy that morning to re-pack my suitcase let alone push two babies around the city and run to a departing flight.  I actually don’t know how we made it.  My passport was found to have been left at the Hastings library several days prior, while being photocopied by my darling dear, and was taken by taxi to tour hotel in the city.  It arrived 10 mintues before our taxi to the airport.   Bertram told the driver Newark and then later realized it was JFK.  woops!  Thank God we made it because we wouldn’t have had anywhere to go.  I think we were both trying to stay a little longer unconsciously.

I recoverd from the flu a day or two after getting here and then the babies got it.  They had 103 fevers and were pretty sick but it passed within two days and then the sun finally came out.  This weekend has been beautiful and we have been spending it outside.  We live right next to Place des Voges and it’s a perfect park for the babies.  There are two giant sandboxes, play equiptment and pigeons!!  Eliot loves chasing them and screaming.  The pictures above are from there this morning.  Our neighborhood is the greatest, it is the best place by far that we have lived here and it really makes me happy.  It is clean and exciting, full of life and amazing food.  Our apartment is a little noisy but it is big and bright and on a quiet street.  It’s just an old parisian building and here you live with your building mates, there is very little insulation and every noise is everyone else’s business.   Not a big deal, we have our trusty white noise machine for the babies’ room, and I am not so easily bothered.

We have a new nanny starting Monday so that I can have half days to attend my language classes again, this time at the Alliance Francaise instead of the Sorbonne.  I think the format will suit me better.  I also hope to work here and am keeping my eyes and ears out for something exciting.  The boys will start at a Halte Garderie in September, it is a public preschool and it is just around the corner.  We visitied it last week and it was full of smiling kids, french nursery songs, toys and natural light.  It is publicly funded and will cost us about 3 dollars/hour!  Thank you my socialist France.  They will be there four days per week from 8:30-1.  Until then, they’ll have a french speaking nanny to prepare them for the language at the nursery school.