EMILIE JOHNSON

I am pleased to report that work/baby has gone surprisingly well. Maybe it is just her age but she seems to transition between people flawlessly. I feed her before I leave - she gazes up at me and throws her head back with her wide open smile (her mouth forming a bottom heavy half-moon) wishing me a good day. I return and it is the same thing – that half-moon is there advertising that she and Claire flourish together. Claire – our nanny – is a wonder. Her smile is as wide as Colette’s and her songs are in Malagasy (she is from Madagascar) as she lulls Colette to sleep or carries her up and down the stairs of the house or pushes her along the streets of Harlem. She is a narrator – clucking to Colette in French what is happening around, little details in English. Lucky Colette – she is getting a mixture of three languages all day long. When Xavier takes over – same thing – except maybe Colette’s smile gets even deeper. She seems to think he is the funniest person in existence (his noises have really won her over). I am delighted that Colette is happy and loved; with humility I realize that I am not the only person who can do that for her (seems blatantly obvious, but it wasn’t to me).

When I return in the evening (and blessedly, I have been able to break away pretty early almost every day) we take long walks together to catch the Hudson in its best light.