A Big Ball of Biology

Kinley's a bear.  You gotta watch out around her because she'll ferociously attack you. Your arm, your neck, your pride. She doesn't care, she'll take it. But that's today, cuz yesterday she was more of a giraffe, just hangin out, eating. Everyone had the zoo-noculars, pitchin a quarter to watch her eat. She didn't care. She actually changes every day. It's crazy. She only barely looks like she did when she was born. Because of this, we call her "the chameleon." Though that doesn't sound very cool, so I call her "El Diablo," which I've been told means "beautiful enchantress that changes by season." Seems appropriate. Either way, she doesn't care.

Seriously, Kinley has earned several nicknames. The squeek is strong in this one, but I am resisting the urge to point this out. Instead, she goes by Kinley B. I don't know what the B stands for. Bear, Beauty, Balthazar. Sienna calls her The Baby.

What's she like? She's quick to smile and laugh. I've seen far more smiles from her than I ever did with sienna. Like sienna, she is also very engaged. She likes looking around, pays particular attention to people (I remember sienna really liking white walls), and isn't too particular with who holds her. She is very displeased with wet diapers (sienna never cared), and these days is voraciously hungry. She probably has a nipple in her mouth 20 hrs a day (thus she has many dirty diapers). This is good, because she was initially slow to grow. Now she's fine. She is much more inconsolable when she's upset. I remember w sienna I could have her asleep within two songs. Kinley has yet to fall asleep in my arms. I thought I had a ringer with the elliptical, because that calmed her right down (and was a good way to get daddy working out), but she gets bored of it after several minutes, deciding she'd much rather have  a boob. This makes me feel a little inadequate, but that's okay because it's just me coming to terms w reality.

We feel bad that kinley doesn't get all the nakey time sienna got (who was born when it was like a thousand degrees), but instead is all bundled up all day and night. We have a space heater to let her air out, but alas, they aren't the most energy friendly things. What I can tell you, though, is that Kinley has very long legs, very long arms, long fingers, long toes. Very lanky. If you'll recall, sienna was, and is, stout. She has actually gotten even more stout in the last month. Kinley, however, is more like a spider monkey. Like a spider monkey, she is deceptively strong. The pediatrician was very impressed, as she was able to keep her arms flexed while being lifted by them, while also controlling her head on the lift. I can also do that, but the pediatrician seemed uninterested and refused to lift me up off the ground.  Her eyes have the same patterns that mama's and sienna's do, but it's too early to tell color, of course. Her ears are wonderfully round, and even taper a little at the top, making her elf-like. One of them is slightly fused between the helix and the scapha. Don't know if that'll stay. She has a very expressive mouth, and I think shares her mother's expressive brow. Her movements are different than sienna's. If you'll recall, sienna did the duck dance, and was always kicking her legs and poking her arms in sharp quick movements. Kinley's movements are slower, perhaps more deliberate. It's like she's doing an interpretive dance, which if I were to interpret it I would say that she was expressing the woes of the Daikon Radish.

Don't worry. The tree at the two foot level is stacked with ornaments.