mom genes

i've got babies on the brain, not because i want one right now (no worries, dear s) but because there have been cute babies galore popping into my life: my cousin just gave birth to a precious child, one of my ex-coworkers brought her adorably fat infant in to visit, and many of the blogs i follow keep posting pictures of their (super cute) pregnant mama bellies or too-sweet toddlers (i'm looking at you, clark kent.) plus there was this really funny little baby on the train this morning in a front-carrier who looked like a little man trapped in a parachute. he was gripping the straps around his shoulders and had a very worried look on his face. the girl sitting opposite me couldn't stop smiling at him. i love observing people's secret baby smiles, half at the baby and half to themselves. it's one of the cutest things you can catch a person doing (especially a boy--swoon), and everyone near me couldn't stop grinning at the nervous little guy.

we've been watching a lot of episodes of the wire recently, and it has made me desperately want to adopt everyone last one of those corner boys and take them home and bake them cookies and give them back some innocence. (call them my angelina jolie mom-to-the-world genes.) it also reminded me that i really miss volunteering with kids, and i want to volunteer. i am going to re-apply at 826nyc and look into becoming a big sister. i love this city, but i just move through it, and i want to have an impact while i am here, even if it's just on one or two people.