Someone stole my babies

One of my babies is 4 and quickly approaching 14 or 15. Ellie is so grown up it makes me teary. She totally gets jokes now and word play rarely goes over her head. We really have to watch what we say around her. And she NEVER forgets anything. Just today she brought something up from months ago that was completely random and obscure. She constantly asks me what words mean and can recognize all her letters and write most of them. She can even tell you what sounds they make and what words begin with each letter. I will not be able to spell words like "p-a-r-k" out loud much longer to keep secrets from her. Tomorrow is her last day of 3 year-old pre-school and I am afraid I will have a hard time keeping her busy this summer. She loves to play baby dolls and anything that she can role-play with. She also loves to read, color and draw. She's already a better artist than me, but that's not saying much. She is very sweet to Ann Marie and helps me a lot. I am so proud of what a good big sister she has been. She has never been ugly to AM, even when she was a little jealous. Mostly she took it out on me :)



And speaking of that little one....she loves big sister right back. Her eyes light up when Ellie walks in and Ellie was one of the first ones that could get her to laugh. However, she is no longer interested in being a baby. All she wants to do is stand up. And NOT sleep during the day. The only time she wants to act like a baby is during the night when she wants to wake up and eat all night long. :) She is not "crawling" really, but she somehow gets from one place to another. If you put her down next to the couch, she'll be 5 feet away before you know it. And if there is anything in her path, watch out....it's going in her mouth. Paper, shoes, toys, you name it. This past weekend she figured out how to clap. I've been trying to get a video of it, but everytime I turn the camera on to tape her, she stops. Typical.



I do miss my babies, but these girls are a lot of fun too. I am looking forward to watching them grow up together. Hopefully they will still get along once AM starts walking/ destroying everything in her path. Ellie is pretty territorial when it comes to her stuff. I forsee her installing locks and/or motion detection alarms in her room.