Hayley said something tonight that sent me into her closet so I could stifle my snorting giggles.
She has inherited a handmade activity book that I had when I was a little girl. It teaches counting, telling time, buttoning, tying shoelaces, etc. She was playing with this book with Wade tonight at bedtime. Wade was feigning ignorance with the buttoning so Hayley could “show” him how to do it. She explained the process as she buttoned and when she finished, she said, “Wallah!” (as in “voila”) with a flourish. Wade caught my eye and we both nearly lost it. Wade somehow managed to keep his composure, but I had to run to the closet when I could no longer control myself. We’ve actually been cracking up a lot lately at different things Hayley says. As her vocabulary expands, she sometimes uses “big” words (correctly or incorrectly) that we find amusing.
As for our littlest one, lately she has been using a small ride-on car to “walk” around the house. She holds onto the bar at the back of the car and she can walk around the entire living room and kitchen, with a little steering help from Mommy or Sister. She keeps her balance really well as long as she’s holding on. I think she could probably stand for a few seconds by herself if she wanted, but I don’t think she’s brave enough yet. Sometimes I see her almost do it when she wants to go somewhere, but she thinks better of it and drops to the floor to crawl to her destination.
A few days ago, Kate climbed all the way up our stairs. Hayley was playing near the bottom of the stairs, Kate saw her, and headed over. I knew what she was going to do, so I stayed right behind her, but she climbed up all by herself. Good thing we have gates up!
Hayley loves books and being read to and “reading” to herself. I started reading to her when she was a baby in hopes that she would love books as Wade and I do. I started reading to Kate a few months ago and now Kate seems to love books too. She has a few downstairs that she will occasionally open and look at herself and then we have more upstairs that we read at bedtime. In fact, she gets mad at me when I won’t read to her first thing in the morning, before each nap, or basically whenever she sees the books.
I love to watch her with one of her board books. She takes her tiny fingers and pries apart the pages with such patience and concentration. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, getting dressed, eating, cleaning, etc., we don’t often take the time to notice the little things; we just take them for granted and before we know it, they’re gone. Hayley just completed a world map of the seven continents this week, but four years ago, she was just learning how to turn the pages of a board book with her baby fingers. I know I won’t be able to stop and memorize every little moment of their growing up, but I try to cherish as many as I can.