The other day, we were out walking in the woods on Eastern Neck Island. As he often does, Kato asked if he could ride on my shoulders, and I said sure. Then, as she often does, Alden asked if she could ride on my shoulders, too.

Usually, I explain that my shoulders are full and that she will have to wait her turn. But then I thought about it for a minute and realized that I do, in fact, have two shoulders.

So I told her I’d give it a try.

This probably wouldn’t be possible if these two were even average-sized, but given that they both still dwell in the farthest depths of the growth curve, it worked just fine.

Alden and Kato soon discovered that one of the extra benefits of the double-shoulder approach is constant access to prime hugging position.

The question, of course, is what happens when August comes of shoulder-riding age. If there’s a way to accommodate all three, I can’t imagine what it might be. But we’ll see.

The answers to the pressing mysteries of parenthood keep revealing themselves, one at a time, most often just when I need them to.