Happy Birthday to You!

This past week was my daughter Nia's third birthday and as is tradition with me, it's the time that I finally get around to updating kids' pictures on the website. Okay, that's all a big lie. It's not a tradition. It should be, but it's not. I'm going to start it this year though, as soon as I make time tonight to transfer photos from the camera (the likelihood of this happening is about 32.7%, but telling myself that I'm going to do it makes me feel good... until the ADD kicks in). Moving right along to the next topic...

The least I can do is give you my most recent update on the kids and what they've been up to. Let's start with the birthday girl.

Nia is three in people years, but in Nia years, she was three at about 9 months, and is now pushing on 13. As soon as her vocabulary catches up with her, its over. She's got the numbers, letters, letter sounds, and colors down. I think she could actually begin learning how to read soon, and writing her letters, but oftentimes when we get home from daycare, she's much more interested in acrobatics. Our sofa has become an indoor trampoline for both the kids, and the other day after toiling away at the 9-5, sitting in traffic w/ the kids, then heating up some food for them, all daddy wanted to do was sit down for a few minutes. Wasn't happening. Nia and Jalen decided that they would take turns climbing to the second step and then cliff-diving into my lap. These jokers are fearless! Jay likes to slide off the sofa head-first. But this paragraph isn't about Jay, it's about Nia, who prefers to pull or push Jay off the sofa, depending on the angle.

Their play is all in fun though, even when it's rough, but they do occassionally have their moments. Both can get quite territorial about a toy or a snack, and both are very stubborn (they got that from they momma... okay, both of us). But at the end of the day -- literally and figuratively -- Nia's all about helping her little bro. If he's fussing at bed time, she'll tell him that it's okay, and that it's night night time. And even during the day she'll often act as his translator, proclaiming that "he wants another cracker." Crazy thing is, she's usually right.

Jalen's coming up on two years old in August and is holding his own. We were talking with some friends of ours yesterday who also have 2 kids, saying how the 2nd one always catches it b/c they're compared so much to the first. When Jay wasn't talking like Nia (who started very early), we got concerned. But as he and I have gotten to know more about each other, I've come to accept that Jay is Jay. He's meticulous about what he does -- playing with things until he understands how they work, inventing new games, testing new theories. And when he's not exploring, he's busy running in circles, seeking out the next experiment. And it always seems like he wants to skip a step. He didn't crawl much, but went straight for pulling up, and wanted to forgo walking for running. Now, with his speech, he jumped right over the basic words and has instead opted for phrases. Like two days ago, when daddy said, "owwwww," Jay asked, "What happened? You okay?"

"Yes, Jay, daddy's okay. It's just that you pushed your car off the counter onto daddy's foot again." I think he already knew that, he was just being courteous. There's a lot Jay already knows. Nia too. They are some slicksters, through and through. I could tell you all some more stories, but that will be for another day.