Lately my babies are reminding me of a four-year-old poem.
My Feet
A poem by Magnolia Jane Hale, age 4 months
Translated by the mother
Oh twin devils of allure
You temptresses two
Slyly wiggling there, just
Beyond my grasp
You ten toes, so like sausages
Begging to slip between my lips
You pigs, you dogs, you mutton chops
How you tantalize, how you tease
I reach out, but you squirm away
And then almost…almost…closer still…
Ah-ha! I seize you at last and find
My hands are just strong enough
To hold you
To pull you to my chest
To let you dance on my open mouth
My newest friends
My bestest toys
With you in my hands, I become
A happy rolling ball of
Baby
Love it.
They are adorable and growing so fast.
Posted by: Jena | February 03, 2011 at 12:03 PM
It just doesn't get cuter than that!
Posted by: Cheri | February 03, 2011 at 12:04 PM
I'm glad that wasn't about what I thought it was from your tweet! (Sorry, I have three boys of my own.)
Your babies are adorable.
Posted by: Darsa | February 03, 2011 at 12:06 PM
I love the poem. Your girls are so cute. So perfect. I loved when my babies were at that stage. Now they're all big, which is fun too but there's nothing like the adorable kissable squishiness of babydom.
Posted by: megwrites | February 03, 2011 at 12:06 PM
They're so cute! I love it when they start holding onto their feet. Even better when they can pull them up into their mouth. Cuz really, can we do that?!
Posted by: Jaclyn Weist | February 03, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Oh, geez... That is just the cutest thing I've ever seen! :D
Posted by: Christen | February 03, 2011 at 12:15 PM
Delightful!!! Such cute babies. :)
Posted by: Stephanie Abney | February 03, 2011 at 12:19 PM
So CUTE!! Love.
Posted by: Jeni | February 03, 2011 at 12:25 PM
This is just the kind of cute I needed to finish out a Thursday! They have the best smiles!
Posted by: Annie | February 03, 2011 at 12:37 PM
Awwww, they're gorgeous :)
Posted by: Sam | February 03, 2011 at 12:41 PM
So awesome!
Posted by: Jennifer | February 03, 2011 at 12:44 PM
great poem! and adorable little girls! you lucky woman, you.
Posted by: Anna P | February 03, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Shannon! Your babies are so so sooooo irresistible! You are so blessed to have two happy and healthy little souls! I LOVE that poem, too! It is great to see a picture!
Posted by: JenJackman | February 03, 2011 at 01:04 PM
You could make a book with translated poems in them! I would buy it! :D
Posted by: MelissaPete | February 03, 2011 at 01:16 PM
This is so sweet! My baby girl, just about a week younger than your two, has recently discovered the joy of her feet as well. I love the poem.
Your girls are gorgeous!
Posted by: Allison | February 03, 2011 at 01:31 PM
Thank you for sharing the cuteness of your beautiful daughters with us!
Posted by: Elenatintil | February 03, 2011 at 02:16 PM
Aaah! (Brain implodes from cute overload.)
Posted by: Sarah | February 03, 2011 at 02:39 PM
::Happiness::
That just made my day. And your -- er, Magnolia's -- poetry is hilarious.
Posted by: tanita | February 03, 2011 at 02:54 PM
Your girls are growing up, Ms. Hale! They are so so so so so so so so CUTE!!!
Posted by: Madeleine | February 03, 2011 at 03:25 PM
I remember that poem! Thanks for posting pictures of your twins. They're beautiful.
Posted by: Myrna Foster | February 03, 2011 at 03:29 PM
Your babies are so so cute. They look a lot like your husband.
That poem is way cute, too!
Posted by: Jenni Elyse | February 03, 2011 at 03:34 PM
Absolutley beautiful children. Thanks for translating the poem. It was sure fun to read. Thanks for being such a good mom. We need more of those out there.
Posted by: Julia King | February 03, 2011 at 03:48 PM
Man. Maggles is something of a wunderkind. I know a guy who can publish some stuff (best let me handle it, this whole book selling business is probably too much for the likes of you or Dean), if she's put out anything more recently.
Let em know, 'cause I could probably get you a good 85/15 split.
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius | February 03, 2011 at 04:19 PM
Those are very nice. I want a pair.
Posted by: Je Reve | February 03, 2011 at 04:37 PM
Awww... there's only one thing that can describe it -adorable, cute, wonderful, delightful, beautiful, great, happy, awesome, and most of all, CUTE!
Posted by: Kelly C. | February 03, 2011 at 05:44 PM
All too often we take our mobility and flexibility for granted. Thank you for some cute reminders of the wonders of the human body as exemplified by the sport of baby toe grabbing.
Posted by: Jean | February 03, 2011 at 05:52 PM
Little Hale muffins!!!! How irresistable!
Posted by: Shannon Morris | February 03, 2011 at 05:58 PM
Awww! So cute! Perfectly describes the plight of the poor baby and the final triumph of getting those toes in her mouth.
Posted by: Abby Minard | February 03, 2011 at 06:18 PM
Wow! They are growing so fast. What a great poem.
Posted by: Juli | February 03, 2011 at 07:02 PM
They look so happy! I just want to cuddle them. So cute! They're growing so fast!
Posted by: Bonnie | February 03, 2011 at 07:25 PM
Maggie takes after her writer mom ;).
Posted by: Dassie | February 03, 2011 at 07:42 PM
The one in pink looks so happ,the one yellow is cute two. And your daughter is a born writer,no lie.
Posted by: Princess Luna | February 03, 2011 at 08:18 PM
Oh how I adore baby feet! I always mourn when they thicken and harden during toddlerhood ...
Posted by: Hannah | February 03, 2011 at 08:22 PM
i just want to be there to hold them. what cuties!
Posted by: superCa | February 04, 2011 at 06:43 AM
AWWWWWWWW how cute are they?!
Posted by: Sierra | February 04, 2011 at 08:29 AM
Those are the CUTEST, most ADORABLE babies I have ever seen! Love!
Posted by: Raindrops | February 04, 2011 at 09:00 AM
so so so so so beautiful! May I ask, which one is Dinah, and which one is Wren?
Posted by: Madeleine | February 04, 2011 at 11:48 AM
Awww. They're so cute, it makes me wish they were triplets.
Or quadruplets.
Posted by: Laura Z M | February 04, 2011 at 01:23 PM
All I can say is AAAWWW!
Posted by: Erin | February 04, 2011 at 07:48 PM
they are so so so cute! awww!
Posted by: Rebecca | February 04, 2011 at 09:00 PM
dropping by for the first time...
just finished Forest Born. Somehow I missed the middle two books of the series, but The Goose Girl and Forest Born were such great reads!! I'm on a Shannon Hale kick. (also just read Book of a Thousand Days and Princess Acadamy. love.)
So now I'm going to go check the rest out one at a time and escape into your world a little longer.
Thanks for sharing your talent!
xo
Brittany
Posted by: brittany | February 05, 2011 at 05:09 AM
awwwwwww..... Happy little baby balls! That is so cute!!! When another poem cones... can you please translate it.
Also, I just finished reading Princess Academy for the 5th time. Your books are sssssssooooooooooooo good!!!
Posted by: yakx | February 05, 2011 at 06:45 AM
Soooo cute! Oh my goodness, so, so cute. My baby (17 mos. now) would play with her toes for SO much longer than any toy. I loved that stage--I could put her on the bed right behind my computer and she'd lie there sucking on her toes for a solid 20 minutes. I remember once typing in an e-mail to friend, 'this e-mail brought to you by the fascinating power of TOES'.
Posted by: Anna Elliott | February 05, 2011 at 07:19 AM
I love it!! Our baby is almost a year old, and she still loves her toes. Who needs expensive toys when you have toes?
Posted by: Caryn | February 05, 2011 at 02:00 PM
You are obviously a very literate family, :D
Posted by: PrincessLoucida | February 05, 2011 at 02:25 PM
Ooooooohhh!!! :) :P :D They are ADORABLE!!
Shannon, you would make a very good poet.
Posted by: gracie | February 07, 2011 at 02:25 PM
They are so freakin adorable. Love it. :)
Posted by: Dr. Sallie N. Cheinsteen | February 07, 2011 at 04:35 PM
I just read Book of a Thousand days for the first time two days ago. I had been waiting for it from my library for over a year so I decided to order it from another library and got it in two days! Long story short: I loved it and the poem you wrote to your editor in the front. They were both well written and a joy to read. This poem is adorably cute, almost as much as your babies...:)
Posted by: Gwen | February 08, 2011 at 02:12 PM
Those pictures make me smile and soooo make me want to kiss their little toes!
Posted by: Sondy | February 15, 2011 at 12:15 PM
After getting used to the surreal news that I am pregnant (Yes! Yes! Finally!), today I learned that I am pregnant with twins. Whaaaaat? Unbelievable. Somebody could say, "Guess what? You're having an alien!" and it would actually seem equally as plausible. This sort of news is too good to be good true to such a degree, that it borders on being terrible (Um, what exactly does having twins entail?). The only thing I know about twins is what Shannon Hale writes about them in her blog. Before today I viewed these posts as something of a wildlife documentary (fascinating...yet irrelevant) but suddenly those posts seem very relevant. They seem CRITICALLY important. So thank you for them Shannon, and for proving that no matter what happens, it's best handled with lots of humor and love and grace, and of course, lots and lots of stories.
Posted by: Baby Mama | February 16, 2011 at 02:27 PM