Helios Sings and Spells!

For your entertaining pleasure, Helios sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." The first 40 seconds or so are all Helios singing with interpretative hand dance (could he be following his uncle's footsteps and preparing for a career as a mime?). Afterward, Helios cheers himself a little bit, then sings again with mommy, and then finally concludes with "all done eating," at which time performance time is over.

Warm and Cuddly

Several months ago, Helios watched a Thomas & Friends story about Gordon the express engine who, when going too fast, crashed into some oil barrels. Since then, Helios has re-created that scene endlessly with toy trains, pieces of fruit leather, and glasses filled with water. Inevitably, he yells out, "don't crash, [train/fruit leather/water/etc.]! Be careful! Don't crash!" And then, of course, the crash occurs resulting in general disarray and the occasional reprimand from a parental unit.

Tonight, Helios wore for the first time his "footed" pajama set, a gift from his northeastern aunt and uncle. They're still a little too long for him, requiring him to walk around pulling the fabric up at the thigh as the feet trailed a little after him. In the same pleading voice he uses when engineering crashing disasters, he yelled out, "Don't fall off, pajamas! Be careful! Don't fall off my feet!"

In the end, he was able to caper around quite well, longish feet notwithstanding. After his efforts (and due to the late evening we had), he was a tired little guy. Here he is cuddled up with his stuffed frog (like Hesperos' monkey, a gift from his cousin from her Build-a-Bear birthday party) waiting to be taken to bed.

Guilty Pleasures

For all of their drooling and wallowing in unclean diapers, babies really do seem to love the soft and fluffy. The infant daughter of a good friend of mine enjoys lolling about on satin blankets. (Does her father realize just what he's in for as she grows into a high maintenance adolescent? I wonder.) Hesperos enjoys his satin, too, but even more than that, he enjoys the guilty pleasure of snacking on the nose of a silky soft stuffed monkey (a "party favor" from his cousin's birthday party at Build-a-Bear). In fact, whenever Hesperos sees his monkey, his face and eyes light up in a manner that reminds me of my pet cat of long ago (Generic) whenever she saw a mouse or feet moving underneath a blanket. Like a Pavlovian dog, Hesperos' saliva glands get going, he clutches for the monkey, and then (chomp) orally violates the monkey in ways that may be prohibited in 10 states.

Only slightly repetant, Hesperos later practices his Sunny Baudelaire impression for the benefit of the camera.

(Note: Before turning us into child protective services, please note that it is not our practice to leave the rail down on the crib nor to leave stuffed animals or toys in the crib. No monkeys, cribs, nor infants were harmed in the production of these photographs.)

Strike a Pose...Vogue!

There's no question that these kids are hams. In these pictures (which are a few months old, having been taken this past November), Helios and Hesperos are modeling outfits given to them by a good friend of mommy's who, probably needless to say, is an Ohio fan. Sadly, Ohio did not win but that surely had nothing to do with the models of such charming attire. Notice that the Ohio red and greys make for suitable daytime as well as evening attire.

Best Buddies

So, we all know that peace and childhood friendship lasts only as long as the tummies are full and the toys are plentiful. But for now, relative quiet is maintained with Hesperos adoring his older brother Helios, and Helios enjoying having a constant companion.

Above, Hesperos is giggling with joy at being curled up to brother Helios who is held in rapt attention by the trains gliding across the TV.

And now they're both held captive by Thomas the Tank Engine...or is it Bob the Builder...or Caillou? It really doesn't matter. We all know the lyrics to all of the songs...and we sing them all...the...time.

Hesperos Enjoys Squash

Truly, Hesperos really does enjoy squash. I mean, look at the size of this brute of a boy! There aren't many foods he doesn't like (although avocado is apparently one of them -- there went our attempt to make his first food something more lively than rice cereal!).

"Little" Hesperos is now just over 6 months old and weighs in at around 19.5 pounds. He sounds like a prize piglet at the county fair! However, he's really not that big. Relative to his age, he's only in the 60th percentile. That being said, when he was born, my sister claimed he'd be a basketball star because he was so long and skinny. Now, she thinks he'll be a line backer. We'll see.

The Thoughtful Spot

The Thoughtful Spot
This warm and sunny Spot
Belongs to Pooh
And here he wonders what
He's going to do.
Oh, bother, I forgot -
It's Piglet's too.
- A.A. Milne

Welcome to the blog for Helios and Hesperos, two little boys. Obviously, that's not their real names because not even I would be so cruel. But, those for whom this blog is intended will know who they are, and those who should not be seeing this blog don't need to know their names anyway.

The purpose of this blog is to post a few pictures, a few stories about the boys for their families and closest friends. You may also find a random poem about Pooh here and there...because we all love Pooh, and because Pooh and Piglet have a relationship much like Helios and Hesperos.

Welcome.