• Aria is now an active winker. I often wink at her when she’s wanting my attention, but not necessarily interaction, and I am occupied with something else. She has now begun winking back. At first she scrunched up the entire top half of her face, including her little nose, and closed her eyes to slits. She’s gaining more and more control over it, though, and sometimes she even gets one eye slightly more closed than the other. As of this week she has begun initiating winking, and we do it three or four times to one another while she giggles. It is so stinkin’ cute.
• Baby Dos is now a 16 weeker! He/she is growing nicely, I assume, as I am slowly but surely becoming more uncomfortable. My hips have already started to pop consistently, particularly if I’ve been in bed for a good length of time. I feel movement at least once a day at this point, but not often more than twice. I think the nausea might be fading. It’s been much more manageable this week, which has me hopeful. (That avocado is measured head to rump.)

• Aria is sleeping through the night EVERY night. Oh, bliss! The timing couldn’t be better, as my own sleep has gotten fitful and getting up and down at night would be awful at this point.
• Rehearsals start this weekend for our next concert of the season (The Phil Chorus). It’s our biggest performance this year, and I can’t say I’m awfully excited about it at this point. I’ve been listening to my recording of the piece (Belshazzar’s Feast by Sir William Walton – you’ve never heard of it? There’s a reason…), and it’s going to be hard. The choir is split in two, sometimes three, and the harmonies are unusual. It doesn’t often get performed, partially because of its difficulty level. We’ll pull it out, but it’s going to be hard work.
• Last night I started reading The Reading Promise by Alice Oczma. Ever heard of it? I’m loving it thus far.

9-year-old Alice and her father made a pact to try to read together for 1,000 consecutive nights (his idea to make a pact, her idea to make it soooo long). They ended up reading together every single day from the time she was nine until the day she moved to college. The memoir is an ode to her father, books, and the bonds they forged in the process of keeping their reading streak going. It’s charming and inspiring. Also, light and easy to read, which is just nice sometimes, you know?