YECK ECK

Yeck eck"" say the babies who one by one -- first Agift, then Albert, Sunshine and Moonbeam -- are left in Tana's care, and for a little girl who adores babies more than anything they are an impossible dream come true. For her taxi driver Dad they are merely a strain on the household's milk and cookie bill and finally Tana's collection of ""outstanding babies"" become part of kindly Mr. Doowell's adopted brood. Don't ask too many questions -- Tana is merely a surrogate for all little girls who think that bathing, feeding and toting around real toddlers is more fun than playing with dolls, and she has the time of her life while it lasts. Meanwhile the wizened, yeck-ecking foundlings in Ness' contemporary, marbled close-ups convince us that Tana is truly blinded by love and infuse the whole escapade with a distinctively lean and scrappy waggishness.