Everything is new this week!

New car (almost), new hair, new pediatrician, new teeth, and a bit closer to standing. Tonight we begin enjoying a fabulous new maroon Honda Odyssey (2002), brought to us in part by the generous folks in grandparent-land, those noble supporters of our brood. It is fabulous; the girls can see well (according to daddy), and the thing handles like a car. Send me comments for suggestions for naming our new chariot, please.

Our new pediatrician, Dr. Mark Vonnegut (yes, son of), also rocks. Grandma M helped me take the girls early this morning (Auntie Merce graciously lent us her car). He showed the girls a picture of his puppy to calm the girls. While the girls are still a bit traumatized from our last pedi, Dr. V's not-cold stethoscope (why doesn't every doctor have one?), his awesome playroom/waiting room, his you-don't-have-to-strip-down scale policy, and his overall amiableness may just heal this babies. Plus he wasn't at all worried about their weights or potential anemia even though I'm breastfeeding and not adding vitamins. Woohoo! I wish I'd found him sooner!

Lena continues to work on her upper right tooth; you can still just barely see it. And Nico seems to be getting another top tooth. I gave her Motrin tonight and she's out (a near-record at 2 hours and counting) after a rough night last night.

And my hair is short again. I'll post a picture when my car-stress zits go away.

New with the babes:

• They are becoming excellent mimickers. I started talking into a box to make my voice sound funny, and they each also "talked" into the boxes. They keep doing it.
• Nico has started to sign "all done" at meals (though she is rarely all done); she raises her right hand and waves.
• Lena is very agile with the door on her peekablocks box, putting things in and getting them out. She's also begun nesting.
• The girls were shaking things before, but now it's like they're making music. In fact, in the car this morning, mom and I were singing and then stopped to talk, and Nico called out in a singsong voice, I think asking us to keep singing.
• I made a practice carrot cake for their birthday.