Belle
Belle has become such an interesting young girl, who always has something new to talk about. She tells me about her school, what the neighbor kids are doing, funny things her cat does, quizzes me on random trivia (like information about the white crocodile she saw at the zoo), what happened at her last dance recital, and so on. I love having conversations with her and I am totally enjoying watching her grow up.
We took her to the aquarium last year for her birthday. As soon as we got inside, she asked us what time the place closed. We told her we had about an hour to walk around before they closed. She then rocketed through the aquarium, spending a brief time at each tank--enough time to glance over everything inside--and then moving on to the next one. She made sure that she saw everything there was to see (and with ten minutes to spare)!
She has the pretend voice--that everyone does when they are a kid--down perfectly. "Pretend that I'm the momma cat and you're the baby cat...and pretend that I hurt my leg...and then you said 'What happened to your leg?!'...and then I limped around like this...and then you fell asleep...and when you woke up I was gone..." I love that voice, it totally gives me flashbacks to my own pretend stories.
And I love that she does the same crazy-eyes-picture-face that I do.
Lizzy
Lizzy hardly ever stops moving. She is always bouncing around, cheerfully doing flips and somersaults and dancing. She takes everything as a compliment and always replies with a very sweet, "thank you!" to whatever you said to her. Because she is so mobile and animated, she often runs over (or into, or bonks heads with, or smashes fingers of) Belle, who, if it hurts enough, starts to cry. Lizzy then tries to repair the damage before her parents can arrive at the scene, "Sorry, sorry sorry! You're okay! You're okay! Sorry, you're okay!", while at the same time smothering Belle with hugs.
I watched Lizzy at a swimming lesson recently. She was terrified to be away from her mother and in the water with the teacher. She cried most of the time, only stopping to close her mouth when she went under the water. As the lesson continued, so did Lizzy's attempts to get out of the water. "I'm so hungry!" "I need to go do the rings on the steps!" (Once on the steps she would run away.) "I'm thirsty!" "I'm freezing!" "I'm getting a sunburn!"
When Brett and I stayed in a timeshare condo with them, we slept in the living room on a couch bed. Every morning Lizzy (and Belle) would wake Brett up with tickles. They would start at his feet, giggling and giggling, and always ended up jumping on the bed and tickling him all over.
Colette
Colette is so amazing to me. She is bull-headed like her dad, and beautiful--with golden angel hair and big blue eyes--like her aunt Amy, and supremely bossy like me.
When she arrives at Gramma's house and realizes that Brett and I are there, she shrieks with delight and runs over to us laughing and saying our names so that you can't separate the giggles from the rest of it.
Nicolle posted a video awhile back of Colette demonstrating how similar we actually are. When things aren't going the way she wants them to, Colette brings her hand up close to her face with her index finger pointing directly at whomever she is bossing. She then proceeds to tell you how things should be. "You be nice to me, Mama." "Don't pull my dress!" "Bring me a cupcake!"
Nicolle arranged some neat animals to come to Colette's 3rd birthday party, including a boa constrictor (and a rabbit, a chinchilla, and a hedgehog). Colette had been talking about her party and the snake since her mama planned it for her, but once the snake arrived she told us she was afraid of it. She kept saying she was afraid of it as she pet the snake and followed the animal trainer around the room. As the trainer was getting ready to leave, she asked Colette which her favorite animal that she saw that day was and she promptly answered, "the snake!"
Johnathan
Johnathan is the sweetest boy I have ever met. The other day at Colette's birthday party, I was holding him and he would sigh and rest his head on my shoulder, and then just giggle. He snuggled his cute, very large head underneath my chin and giggle like it was the best thing in the whole world. And it totally was the best thing.
At a recent family reunion, John fell asleep on Amy's lap while a few different family members sang songs for the rest of us. When they finished a song, and we started clapping for them, Johnathan would startle awake, sit up, and start clapping. And then he would fall right back to sleep, leaning back against Amy. He did it several times over again after the next few songs.
When Rob was playing drums on Rockband at our house recently, Johnathan stood next to him, with his teeth firmly latched onto the red drum pad, keeping his balance by holding on only with his teeth.
I love that John recognizes me when he sees me now. If I come to a place and he sees me, he leans toward me with his chubby arms reaching until I pick him up. (He's even done this when his Dad is holding him!) Plus, he totally walked his very first steps to me!
My nieces and nephew are the greatest kids on the face of the planet. I'll never need to have any of my own!
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