Denial

I've been in denial that my kids are getting bigger...I guess i mean denial that they're getting older. (I can't be in denial that my 12-year-old's feet are growing on what seems to be a daily basis. I've bought the shoes, after all.) I tend to still think of myself as the parent of young children, but when Darren and I are driving away somewhere on our own (gleefully, I might add), I'm faced with the realization that they really aren't that young anymore. Most of the time, I'm happy about that. I don't miss diapers and toilet training, continuous nose wiping and the bone weary tiredness that comes with looking after very small children. But sometimes I miss the other stuff. My kids were SO CUTE as babies and toddlers, they really were. They were such funny little people. I look at my little nephew, who's almost 2, and I can still totally remember mine at that age.

Will was completely a real person at 2. That sounds bizarre, but it's true. You could have a whole conversation with him, because he'd been talking in full sentences since well before his 2nd birthday. We thought that this was fairly standard for a baby that age, and were always a little confused when people would say "WOW! He talks so well! How old is he?". Then we had Lauren. She talked pretty well too, but she wasn't as clear. In fact, Lauren sounded like she was from Brooklyn. She had this funny, deep voice (and later a voice change after the removal of enormous tonsils and adenoids at age 6), and she would say the most hilarious things. Even now, no one makes Will laugh more than Lauren.

Poor Lauren. When you watch our home videos from when Emma was born (and Lauren was not quite 3), you will hear two things over and over again. You will hear Lauren in her deep, New Yorker accent saying "PITCHUR AT ME, MOMMY...PITCHUR AT ME!!" while she sticks her head into the lens of the video camera. Then you will hear my snarky voice (while trying to videotape a relatively vegetative Emma in her car seat) "Well, I'm sure we'd be able to see Emma a lot better if Lauren would move HER BIG HEAD out of the way". I mean, she did have kind of a big head, but still. Fortunately, she has forgiven me for being such a hag.

Emma was a pretty good talker too. She talked in funny little choppy sentences, like "Where shoes Emma?" (translation: where are my shoes). One of my personal favourites was when she was struggling to put on said shoes and I heard "OH MAN...what HECK?!". Emma still says some funny things, though. Recently she was telling me that she had had a lice check at school, and when i asked whether they'd found anything, she said "Nope. But they did tell me that I have a dry skulp". Ahh...of course. Skull + scalp = skulp. I think she's word efficient. She still says things like vengetables for vegetables (picture scary, out-for justice broccoli), or choomorrow for tomorrow, but Will and Lauren tend to correct her now, so pretty soon she'll just conform and say everything the way the rest of us do. Sigh.

Ah, well. Life with older kids is great, too. Everyone can wipe themselves (fore and aft), and there definitely is more time for other things...like reading, sewing, a minor Facebook obsession and even blogging, apparently. I guess we'll see!