Independence Day

She will be 4 years old in less than a month.

She has been dressing herself for quite some time. Right down to the choice of outfit. We've had a few days this summer where she came down in long sleeves, long pants, wooly socks, and so forth. Or days like today where things are on backwards - top and bottom! She insists that this was her plan...

and it isn't worth arguing.

Yay for Sunshine

We leave for our camping trip in like hour and a half. It has been raining all morning. The sun is just now coming out.

Presence

So Little C starts JK in September when she turns 4. Over night she is drawing pictures that resemble things. Mostly faces. It's amazing to watch. She is seeing faces in things - like in the fronts of cars. That car looks happy Mama - "oooh that car looks sad" and "that car looks angry." This must be a milestone thing/brain development thing. Faces and emotions. Almost 4 year olds are hard work sometimes. Such a mix. One minute she is happy and I love you and the next not so much. She shouted, "I want to be the grown-up!" the other day over something. This gives you an idea.

Baby E is 16 months old. She sings songs and chit-chats and is happy happy happy. She says, "NO!" In fact, she's been saying no often and earlier than her big sister ever did. I guess an example is set. She also has quite a large vocabulary (thanks to the example) and a few 2-word sentences.

Our girls are growing.

C and I walked to the park - she was running ahead of me. And I took a moment to take her in. Her muscles and skin and arms moving and legs striding and hair blowing, her physical-ness. Tears sprang to my eyes. I remembered the tiny helpless baby who had such trouble in the minutes, hours, days following birth. I remembered 4 summers before carrying her in my womb which was at this point 4 summers ago so stretched and full and heavy.

So cliched to wonder where that time went and I know where that time went because I have lived it with a presence that I did not give to my life before.

The week after next we take the girls on their very first camping trip. I am super excited to share camping with them.

If you are reading this, say Hi.

Much love.

One

I went back to work after 1 year plus several weeks 2 days before the little-est one had her first birthday.

One year. And 10 teeth. Still not a lot of hair. A few words. A sweet laugh. A jolly temperament. Still not sleeping through the night. And yesterday she took her first steps - baby steps, two or three, and that was it.

Work exhausts me.

I do love coming home to my family.

Spring is in the air!

Could hear the geese honkhonkhonking this morning as they flew in from the south.

10 Months, 2 Challenges, Any Strategies?

Our littlest one is 10 months old and I predict she will be walking by her first birthday! She is determined. She pulls up. She lets go and balances for a few seconds at a time. And she watches with envy in her eyes as her 3 year old sister runs/ dances/ skips around the room.

The big challenge right now... well, there are two challenges: toys and over zealousness on big sister's part.

Toys. Big sister can share at play group. But at home she will snatch and hoarde toys if necessary. Littlest one screeches when a toy is snatched. Yes, big sister has a few "sacred" toys that no one can touch, but the rest of the toys are fair game.

Over zealousness. Big sister wants to hug/squeeze/touch/be with the littlest one and she does it so roughly. She lunges for the littlest one, or she hugs her until she falls over, or she squeezes her tight until she screeches. Her intent is good. No matter what we say about gentle touch, etc. she is just not picking up what we are laying down most days.

So yeah... this is where we are.

That. And cabin fevered in the middle of the snow belt. Cold weather advisory these past few days. We are stuck in.

She is nearly 9 months.

E is 8 months, nearly 9 months. Yesterday for the first time she pushed herself up to sitting. She has been mobile for a few weeks - not exactly crawling, but scooting and pulling herself around.

She is pulling up - or trying to. In the past few days she has brought several things down - like a bin of toys - and she's knocked a few things over as well. She looks for me and howls when stuff comes down.

She has 4 teeth. She is smiley and joyful. Still turns her head to one side when she is smiling at someone she likes/loves.

Eating fingers foods more and more - even though the whole food thing is a slow process.

It's as though she has always been a part of our family. And I can and can't remember life before her. And the past 8 1/2 - 9 months have flown by. I have vividly colourful memory snippets here and there, but the days weeks months are a blur.