Mommy can't compete.

with the Wiggles, that is.

Yes, me, the woman who made sure to tell Big Man no less than 1,000 times while I was pregnant with Dani that the American Academy of Pediatrics says no television until a baby is 2, and made him promise not to let her watch TV.

I must confess, I know most of their songs. I rather like them, particularly the hunky blue Wiggle. The Wiggles have helped me to manage two babies, so Dani doesn't get too upset when Tori needs to be fed and held, etc.

She's so verbal now, that everything is an attempted sing-a-long, or she is shouting out colors and letters and numbers or counting. It's a blast.

She's also reached a point where her moods change like the wind. It must be her way. Now. Or there will be crying and fussing. Fortunately, she is easily distracted, and never fusses for more than a minute or three or four.

Cutest thing though is that when she's upset, she yells for "Boo Bunny", which is the little plastic ice cube in the freezer that you put inside a bunny for when she gets a boo boo. She apparently equates emotional pain with physical. Similarly, when she's upset, she will say "home" even if she's, well, home. And, if we are out, she will often wave and say "hi" to strangers. But, if someone approaches her and says hello, she will put her hand up and say "bye bye". It's such an interesting thing to watch how that little brain works.

So these are shots of Dani tonight--I needed to feed Tori, but had just gotten home from work, and Dani wanted my attention too. Enter the Wiggles.

She was being so adorable on the couch--but it was hard to get good candid shots because she couldn't decide whether she loved the Wiggles or the camera more. So she kept climbing off the couch and heading toward me when I picked up the camera. But I got a few good ones.

As you can see, there's not a lot of mommy-Dani eye contact going on, because I'm way less interesting than Jeff, Dani's favorite Wiggle. He's the purple one. (If anyone from the religious right is reading this, then clearly have determined that the purple Wiggle is clearly gay like Pat Robertson's purple teletubby, and that my child is a clearly a product of some left wing conspiracy to indocrinate toddlers into tolerance and love.)

I can't complain though. Dani can identify nearly every letter of the alphabet by sight. She even does things like flip a capital E and then tell me "M". She knows all the colors--even pink, and purple, and the hard ones like that. She can count to ten, identify the numbers by sight to ten, and what she knows, says and understands never ceases to amaze me.

And, that other kid, Tori. Superstar slept from 10:45pm last night to 7:00am this morning. When she woke up this morning I told her that she had achieved "most favored baby"status. She just smiled. She's so alert and interactive and darn cute. It's amazing how much more lovable a baby is when she isn't screaming.

But this whole thing is just hard. Being outnumbered. Two to my one. I love that Big Man and I are doing this basically solo--no structured day care or anything. And, I know that it's only going to get easier, but right now, it's downright hard. I miss my husband. Right now he's working 3 weeks of 6 days and then one week off--for the rest of the year. The week off is great--but the 6 days on--to the extent that they overlap with my 5 day week, are hard. We have about 20 minutes together in the morning, and less in the evening....I know it will only get easier. But I miss my loveable, snuggly Big Man. I miss seeing him play with the kids, because we are both playing, just at different times. I love that Dani's so advanced--and he's to thank for that, and she loves him so much. Seriously--she will run across the room to give daddy a kiss and when I practically beg for one she laughs and says no. I love that we are, for the most part (duly acknowledging help from local friends ad family) raising our kids all by ourselves, instead of needing formal care. So, I know we are doing the right thing for our children and our marriage, even if it's hard. And it's harder for Big Man, because on top of it all, he's soooo sleep deprived.

Hard or no, I wouldn't trade it.

I suppose that, if this is the hardest our lives will be (until they are teenagers!), then I have only to be thankful. I've been doing enough matrimonial and family court work to know that I'm extremely lucky.