"I do it!"

My girl is a crowd pleaser. No matter where we go, she waves, smiles, and says hi to everyone she sees. Taking her shopping is pretty fun, because she charms all in her path. I never see as many faces light up in one place as I do when I've got Miss Personality with me. It's actually a great lesson in not judging others because she doesn't discriminate -- everyone gets a greeting. I've witnessed some of the most creepy, angry-looking people transform into grinning fools after an encounter with my Evie.

Because of all her hamming, people ask about her a lot. Mostly, how old she is, then usually followed by a comment on how well she talks at her age. But the thing is, I keep answering with "18 months." She was 18 months nearly three months ago...and all of a sudden we're looking at just a few months until she's two years old. TWO.

(I know. I'll give you a minute.)

She's picking out her own outfits these days. I gotta admit, I love her style.

Seriously. Fashionista!

This almost 21-month-old is amazing. She can basically communicate whatever she wants. She says so many words, I couldn't come close to keeping track. She says new words by the minute, by just listening to us and repeating to herself and remembering for future use. She's been stringing two and three words together already and making some impressive sentences. "More please, Mama" and "Me go Mimi's house" were two I heard this weekend.

When she trying new words, she's very patient while we try to work out what she's saying and politely shakes her head no while we guess and gets all excited when we finally get it.

"Are you saying 'brother'?"

"nope..."

"outside?"

"nope..."

"potty?"

"Yeah! Pah-yay, pah-yay!" (She's so fancy, her word for potty sounds French. Le Pahyay.)

Speaking of potty, I can't tell you the last time I changed a stinky diaper. She goes in the potty almost all the time (not pee yet) and last time as we were waving bye-bye to her poopy (What? Don't act like you don't do the same thing.) she got all sentimental, leaned down, and blew a kiss into the toilet as her pride and joy was whisked away. Such a lover, that one.

She's now entered the "I do it!" stage. And do it she does. Yesterday she watched brother dress himself and demanded that she do it herself when it was her turn. She pulled up her own pull-up very well.

Julian is also doing everything "ALL by MYself!" these days. (Huh, I wonder what I do with all of my time if my kids are so self-reliant...) He is growing up so fast. He's dressing himself, riding his big boy bike like a pro, reading tons of words, and communicating so well. It's fun when he comes over to tell you what's on his mind...

"Hey Mama, I think I have a good idea. I wish if we could go to the zoo today. Does that sound like a good plan?" (I love his new turn of phrase "I wish if I could...")

Crossing items off his chore chart. Shhh, he thinks chores are fun!

Cutting all by himself, of course.

He knows his left and right, his address, and more about the plumbing in our house than I do. (I think his research stemmed from an interest in where the potty went, but either way, he's made a study of which pipes go where and what they do.) He is generally sweet and kind with Evie and has learned that if he hugs her and asks if she's okay, he can make her stop crying the fastest of any of us. He's also figured out that means he can save himself from getting in trouble when he's too rough with her. Whatever works, I guess.

He says the funniest things and is always on the prowl for new funny and/or gross things to say. (Un)fortunately, his Daddy is always up to the challenge. I hear them cracking up in bed at night when Daddy just goes in to "cuddle" (aka: rough house, tickle, fart, and laugh). They have contests of who stinks more and describe in detail what stinky things the other one smells like. Ah, boys.

But that's not to leave Evie out. She hangs with the boys quite well. (That's another one of her favorite words: "boyssss") In fact, I think she'll be giving them a run for their money as she grows up -- she loves to rough house with Daddy and Julian and doesn't take much flak from the tag team of Big Brother & Cousin Cam these days.

So while my kids are growing up so fast and doing everything all by themselves, I'm practicing my patience and letting them. Even if it takes twice as long. And is wrong.

Because I know one day, they really will do it all themselves and suddenly I'll be begging them to let me baby them again.

Happy Easter (A Month Ago)

We had a fun dinner and an egg hunt at Peggy & Bob's on Easter Saturday -- complete with live surprises in the eggs! Of course, I had to be the one to discover that ants had found some of the eggs with treats inside before the kids did. Surprise! An egg full of bugs! I only freaked out a little.

And lots of bubbles too!

As always, the slot machine made a great babysitter. ;)

As did Bob, who patiently "played pool" with the kids.

Uncle Deej gave J a REAL bowling pin!

Easter morning at our house included hunting for baskets, church, and after-church peep s'mores. (S'meeps, if you will.)

After nap we headed over for a delicious dinner with Mimi and Uncle Deej. Julian got a kite in his basket from Mom and everyone thought they had superior kite-flying skillz. Daddy and Mimi barely got it off the ground (but looked cute trying!) and it turns out DJ is a natural. (Although he did get it stuck in a tree.)

Our very own Easter parade!