The Way She Does

Baby likes to turn the pages of the books we read. Sometimes she turns the cardboard pages at a leisurely pace, listening to the story with complete absorption. More often, she reaches her finger for the bottom right corner of the right-hand page and begins to turn just over a second since turning the previous page. Sometimes, I speed-read to keep up. Sometimes, I edit – heavily. And sometimes I don’t say a word and just watch the images go by, the way she does.

Miss Jo

I took baby on a leisurely stroll through the temporary neighborhood this evening. Though I’ve pushed her in her stroller a goodly amount, for some reason lately I’ve wanted to hold her in my arms and that’s what I did tonight. We walked past the suburban homes of this corner of outer Austin, watching the last rays of the sun catch the treetops and feeling the day’s heat come back up at us from the earth. We said hi to a few neighbors, including the elderly Miss Jo, a lifelong Austinite. Carrying baby was tiring, occasionally awkward, and sweaty – but I won’t be able to do it forever and I’m glad it’s how we saw the neighborhood tonight. Miss Jo told me she thought it was a good idea, too.