Good Morning Everyone and Remember - Beware The Ides of March!
Reid promptly went on a reading binge, perusing every piece of literature he could locate on child development and rearing. And, he quickly realized that there is a huge difference between theory and reality. On one particularly trying morning early in his paternity leave, when both of the babies were busily having major meltdowns, he remembered what Eleanor DuValle had said about twins running in her family and called her for advice. To his surprise, she promptly dropped what she was doing and came right over.
When Ms. DuValle arrived, both babies were crying and fussing uncontrollably. As a stressed out Reid opened the front door, she brushed right past him, dropped her purse on the living room couch, and went directly into their room. After lowering the blinds, dimming the light in the room to a twilight level, she picked up Diana and began walking slowly around the room singing –
Good morning Starshine / The world says "Hello"
You twinkle above us / We twinkle below
Good morning Starshine / You lead us along
My love and me as we sing / Our early morning singin' song
Dubie Dop Dubie/ Ibbie Abba Dubie, La La Lo Lo
Reid had picked up David and was doing is best to imitate her walk. Amazingly, both babies soon quieted down.
"You recognize that song, don't you little one?" Ms. DuValle cooed to Diana, who rewarded her with a yawn.
"Why would she? Is there some meaning to that song?" Reid asked. "I mean, I know it's from the off-Broadway play 'Hair' – but?"
Ms. DuValle smiled at him sadly. "When we were in – that place - we used to sing it," she explained. "Christine would know when – that man – was going to be out on his routes. When she was certain he had left, she would start singing, and we would all join in. When we got to the nonsense syllables part, everyone would start arguing about what the syllables should be. It usually ended up with everyone laughing. As you can imagine, we didn't have a whole lot to laugh about while we were in there. I just assumed that Christine continued singing the song during the time she was 'missing', as well as singing it to the twins after they were born."
"And, you think they recognize the song?" Reid asked curiously.
"They would have recognized her voice as well," was the sad response.
"That's right," Reid exclaimed. "Research has proven that babies recognize their mother's voice, even minutes after birth! Just a minute – " he hurried off and quickly returned with an iPod.
"Christine made some recordings for me," he explained. "I just need to hook this up to the speakers."
During the ensuing months, Eleanor DuValle became Reid's go-to person for all situations concerning twins. As she explained to Reid, "Christine did her best to take care of us when we were locked up in that place. This is my way of thanking her."
She visited the twins often during their first few months, but began backing off when JJ became increasing hostile towards her. She and Reid continued to speak often, but she visited the twins only when JJ wasn't around.