Growing up is something you can measure*.....

The past few weeks have been a lot better than the past couple of months have been. Audia's streak of tyranny seems to be pretty much over (for now, anyways) and it's been such a joy to be able to enjoy my sweet, helpful, silly, curious, and crazy-smart little girl again. It has not only been a reminder that so many things kids go through are just phases, but also has been an eye opener to how each of those phases is an integral part of growing up. It has also reiterated what I already know about her: that she is, at her core, a compassionate, passionate, determined, emotive and inquisitive person. I have to remind myself fairly frequently that she is only 3 because she seems so mature for her age in so many ways. Where she's been making up songs basically since she could talk, just recently these songs have started to rhyme. She can do simple addition and subtraction in her head without even thinking about it (just this morning she said "I had five big bites of cereal, mom." To which I replied "Ok, take three more bites," and she said "but that's 8 big bites, mom! That's a lot.") And she is amazingly in tune with her brother's needs. If I ever am not sure why Callen is being fussy, I can ask her why she thinks he isn't happy and she is right 99% of the time. She is growing up so fast, sometimes it actually hurts to think about. But at the same time that my heart aches in knowing that she'll be a teenager before we know it, it swells with pride at the incredible person that she is and is becoming.

Callen is also growing like a weed. Not just physically (he's in 12 month sized clothing already!!!) but developmentally as well. We've had to set up baby gates around the 'safe area' in our living room/play room because he's gotten so quick with his army crawl. He can now get from lying down to sitting up all on his own. And his personality is shining through more as the days go on. He definitely has the same silly side as his sister (and mom and dad!); He will crawl up to a person and grab their foot, looking up them with a smile on his face before biting their big toe (which is only funny until he actually bites down....his 6 teeth don't feel so great on the tootsies!) He'll crawl towards something he knows he's not supposed to touch and look back at you to see if you notice. If you say "Callen, you can't have that," he'll giggle and then start crawling faster towards it so that you have to chase him, and when you finally grab him he'll laugh even harder. He grabs both sides of my face and pulls my chin to his mouth, giggling the whole time as if to say "I'm gonna eat choo!" And he LOVES playing peek-a-boo with his sister; I don't think anyone can make him laugh as hard as she can! He is also incredibly sweet. He loves to snuggle and he gives the best hugs, wrapping both little arms around my neck and pulling my whole face into his belly in a tight little squeeze. He loves making noise; banging toys together and slapping my hand or the hard wood floor at my parents' house.

I wish there were a way, beyond photography and videography and blogging, to capture the essence of who my kids are at different stages in their lives. Hopefully by the time I'm old and decrepit there will be a way to tap into and relive your memories. One can hope :-)

*These are lyrics from a song that's in the second Care Bears movie. Audia is beyond obsessed and we find ourselves singing this song way more than anyone ever should.....