Three little ducks all in a row...

As of Monday Mary Elizabeth and two others from her room in daycare moved up to "The Ducks." This is something we've been aspiring to all summer, due to Mary Elizabeth's fondness for the rubber duckey (she and Ernie). At any rate, she began walking the first week of August and is now walking well enough to move up with the rest of the toddlers to the Duck room. Naturally, her mother is much more excited about this milestone than she is. She doesn't seem to understand why we get all excited when she shows off a new achievement, it's kind of like -- ..."so what, I can find my head, what's the big deal? Do you need me to show you where your head is, too?" She is, of course, more than happy to help you find your belly, but that involves hiking your shirt all the way up to your chin, so we try to avoid that in public.

On the one hand, I get just as excited as her older siblings when she accomplishes something new, and on the other hand with each passing day and new accomplishment she is less and less a baby and more and more a very independent little puss.

We savor the time when they are babies, we enjoy the new discovery of things when they are children, we endure the pre-teen years and I'm finding that we gray with the teenage years (Jason will be old enough to drive next year) and it is amazing to think it all happens in the blink of an eye.