Independence

The girls are becoming more and more independent right before our very eyes!  They amaze me constantly and crack me up often too.  It is the most mind blowing experience to see your children try new things for the very first time with no fear.  Like most 2 year olds, the girls are very excited about doing "it" themselves, and accomplishing "big girl" tasks.  I find myself having so many moments that I just want to freeze in time, often the thought of "can we just stay right here, right now, forever".  I am proud and my heart breaks at the same time when I realize they will never be here, like this, ever again; that with each day they are growing and getting smarter and CHANGING, constantly changing. 

The other day we were finishing up dinner, and Alexa said "all done" and waved her hands in the air showing me the sign for all done.  So she started to climb out of her chair, and I said "we need to wash your hands", so off we went to the bathroom, and together we were singing and washing, and washing and drying, and when we were all finished and came out of the powder room, there Izzy stood next to the CLEARED kitchen table.  My first thought, was oh crap, what did she do with the plates, and more importantly the food that was left on them!  So I started looking around and hunting for the "mess", looking in the family room (it has carpet!), and on the couch, or behind the chair, and nothing, can't find anything.  So I turn around and head for the play room, maybe she brought it in there, and was using her toddler table and chairs to eat or pretend.  Nope, not in there either.  So finally, I think, maybe she just threw EVERYTHING in the garbage?!?!  I make my way over to the garbage can, pop the lid open, and all I see is food.  No plates, no cups, not a utensil to be found.  I am stumped, can't  imagine what might have happened to the dishes...and then I looked in the sink.  My little Isabel had gotten up from the table, brought her plate over to the garbage and dumped her uneaten food into the garbage, then closed the lid and brought her plate over to the sink and dropped it in.  She then cleared Lexa's plate the same way and followed that by putting all the utensils and cups, and even through away the used napkins ALL BY HERSELF!  I was completely thrown, and so proud of her.  If it has taught me anything, it is that these girls can do WAY more than I think they are capable of. 

A few of the other new accomplishment for the girls include:  zipping and unzipping anything with a zipper!  Full, correct pronunciations, for example, saying Bobbie, instead of BaBa, when referring to Grandma Bobbie or saying Mommy, instead of Mama.  The other day Lexi concentrated really hard and actually made the "z" sound when saying Izzy!  Prior to that it had always sounded like "didy".  Using the side to side motion while brushing their own teeth, still working on this but they are starting to get it.  Shapes and Colors.  The most often correct ones are Oval (weird!), and blue, pink, and purple. 

They are enjoying reading more than ever, and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE flash cards.  We are working on some art projects too, finger painting, playdoh, crayons, markers and stickers so far.  Keep an eye out, you might get a masterpiece sent to you in the mail!!  :)

With all of these milestones and amazing things happening in the girls, and our lives, I again found myself wanting to freeze time.  Since I haven't mastered that yet, I did the next best thing and asked my friend Jenni to come over and take some pictures of me and the girls on our property.  I wished Doug could be there, but duty called!  Here are a few of the pictures we took that day, I am so happy with how they turned out, and might be a little biased, but these girls are precious: