It goes so fast.

So. I was prepared for the whole newborn phase to go by in a blink. Not a problem. In fact it's a damn good thing it goes so quickly b/c there's only so much sleep deprivation anyone can take.

Pictured: A child who sleeps through the night in his own bed.  AKA Not a newborn anymore, thank God.

And I tried to prepare myself for the thing everyone told me would happen with my first born. That she would instantly transform into this ginormous kid the second I laid eyes on the newborn. That I wouldn't have patience for how big she was and that she would seem so, SO different.

Those last few weeks I tried to force myself to remember her being small, remember her being a baby, before she wasn't. But you know what? That didn't really happen. She was still a little toddler and I really didn't know what everyone was talking about.

If anything it was the newborn that was odd. Impossibly tiny and fragile. He was the one I didn't know and didn't understand yet.

And then over the next few weeks she Grew Up.

No really. Somehow while I was distracted and sleep deprived she turned into this kid:

She has 5 new teeth since he was born. Including her molars (yeah that was fun).



She's measurably taller and her 2T stuff finally fits.

She's potty trained.

She no longer has her own little language. Yeah there are still some things I have to translate but not really.  Pretty much anyone can chat with he now.

Chatting and coloring with her buddy.

She speaks in whole sentences that make sense. Subject Verb Object type sentences. And uses pronouns correctly (most of the time.) It's no longer NEEEAH It's I and You and We.


We have whole conversations now. To the point where she *might* not speak in all caps anymore.  For example it's no longer just JUICE.it's "I have Juice Please?"

MORE AGAIN SPARKLER

 And she really taken to the role of Big Sister. She took it seriously from the very beginning:

Helping him get dressed to go home.  In the outfit she bought for him.

Leaving the hospital.  I thought she would want to ride with me.  Nope.  She wanted to help push b/c she?  Is a Big Girl.

Always with the helping.

But now it's all the time. "I help you. I help mommy."  "No. I do it." Or the phrase that she's been wanting to say since she was born:

"I do it myself."


And she just... looks like a kid. Her face has lost that baby roundness.

I'm not the type of mom who freaks out about my kid growing up  To be sad that the next phase is starting or any of that.  But when you take a step back and look at the big picture of what can happen in just a few weeks.  Let alone a few months.  Or a few years:

May 2009.  Same age as her brother is now.

It's pretty damn amazing.