3 1/2 years and 15 months

The girls are growing up so fast.  The milestones are passing by almost before we can notice them.  Emeline just hit 3 1/2 and Kate is now 15 months.  Here are a few things about each of them in this season I would love to remember.

I really wanted to make Emeline a half birthday cake.  I remember as a kid feeling like my half birthday was super important.  A fun and important midway marker between years.  I didn't get around to it, mostly because I'm so low on energy, but also because Emeline and sweets make for a rather devastating combination.  She loves sweets, and thoroughly enjoys them, but they are followed by and energy burst and then crash that leads to some pretty nasty tantrums, often resulting in very delayed sleep for everyone.  So alas, the half birthday cake will have to wait for another year.

Emeline is in a season of why's and negotiation I did not expect quite yet.  Most of my requests are met with some kind of challenge, delay, or negotiation.  She is a smart one, and she is using it for her advantage.  We try to set clear boundaries, but it's hard to be putting up walls for her all the time.  She is a girl who wants her freedom.  She asks questions about everything, and she is really learning a lot about her world.  The other day she was looking at the stop lights as we were driving and she said "Mommy, the light turns green just like the light in my room".  She has a clock in her room that turns green when she can get out of bed, and she made the connection to the green light on the stop light.  It's really fun to watch her learn.

Even though Emeline is a little less enthusiastic about helping than she was a few months ago, her ability to help has drastically improved.  Just today she helped me fold the cloth wipes, and she actually folded them well enough that I didn't have to do it again afterward.  She has also learned to make her bed, clean up her room, put away books, toys, and clothes, and help clear her dishes at the table. She is really becoming much more independent and capable and we really appreciate her learning to do chores around the house.

Emeline is slowly getting interested in writing.  She can recognize most letters and say what sounds they make, but she's only really good at writing E's and M's.  I've been shocked by how many classmates she has that can write their names already, or close, but she is still much of a gross motor function girl than sitting down for fine motor tasks.  She enjoys painting and art more than she used to, but she'd still rather be running around.  She's getting good at kicking a soccer ball, loves riding her balance bike (we may try her on an actual bike soon), climbing, and running.

The other thing Emeline loves right now is dressing up.  She wants to wear a dress or a skirt almost every day, and she really likes to put on princess dresses or anything sparkly or fun.

At 15 months, Kate is just becoming more and more of a toddler than a baby.  She is an excellent walker now, and likes to climb and ride on things.  She's just figured out how to start pushing herself forward on ride on toys.  She would be on a tricycle if she was big enough.

Kate seems to have started pretend play already, but it's hard to tell if she's just imitating her older sister.  It's so cute to watch her try to "cook" us food and come feed us samples.  She also is pretty happy to play by herself.  She really enjoys stacking blocks & rings and  learning the shape sorter.  She also loves to wear things: hats/helmets/buckets, glasses, bracelets, shoes...she is always trying to put things on.

She is quite a talker, but so far mostly in Kate-speak.  Her main words are still 'no', 'all done', and 'ma' for more/mas.  Sometimes she says something that sounds like 'me/my' and I think I've heard her say 'baby/bebe' and 'go'.  We haven't hit any word explosions though, but that doesn't stop her from chatting up a storm all the time.

When she's tired, Kate is very sweet and cuddly.  She will bring books to you and sit in your lap to read, or she will reach up to be held and cuddle on your shoulder.  People are always surprised at how quickly she will do this to someone she has just met.  Everyone gets to enjoy cuddly Kate.

It's really fun to watch her learn too.  You can see her studying Emeline as she plays.  She will watch her carefully, and then quickly try to do the same thing.  She loves to try to help too, although unloading clean dishes is much more helpful than unloading the dirty ones.  All in good time though.

We love these girls.  They are such a light to us!