The first thing you notice upon entering the house of a family with 14 children is — not surprisingly — the presence of 14 children. There was Jonah, jiggling around delightedly in his Deluxe ExerSaucer, staring up at me with big brown eyes and smiling with a cleft lip. Nariyah squirmed languidly in a second ExerSaucer next to the fake fireplace, drowsily listing to one side. Makai, Noah and Jeremiah were conked out on the carpet, like little sacks of beans. Maliyah, Josiah and Isaiah lay on the couch in varying states of gassy snuffling.
Cinéma Vérité A shot that sounded like a good idea — reclining mother and her placid, adoring children — didn't end up as imagined.
Scattered beyond them, into the living room and backyard of the famed Suleman residence outside Los Angeles, in La Habra, Calif., the octuplets’ six elder siblings pursued age-appropriate vocations. Blue-eyed, 2-year-old Caleb smashed a toy truck into a wall. Calyssa, his twin, mooned around with an otherworldly smile. Aidan, 4, who is autistic, chanted, “Dooga dooga dooga dooga dooga dooga di,” while playing with a magnifying glass. Amerah, 7, the oldest daughter, mercurial and precocious, flirted with the grown-ups. “What’s your name?” I asked her. She jerked her head away and said, “You don’t have to know everything.”
But of course, when it comes to Amerah and her 13 siblings, I, along with millions of people around the world, already know a considerable amount about her, her family and, most of all, her mother, Nadya Suleman, otherwise known as the Octomom.
Much, much moreNadya Suleman got her wish, despite--or because--of all of the outcry over her situation.
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