constantly amazed

I am constantly amazed by three year olds...one minute they are the most precious little pumpkins who are eager to learn and follow instructions, the next they are like a bat out of Hades who act like little terrors on steroids. How do they have that much energy out of no where - which, by the way, doesn't always tell you they need to get out and run, but instead it could be that they're getting overtired. Today we went to Little Gym for Allie's class, which she loves, and on the way home she was telling me, "I love Lydia" (her 8 month old little sister). I thought to myself, man all that training on how she's the only sister you have, be nice to her, speak kind words that build up and not tear down, have gentle hands and feet, yada yada...is really paying off. Then, we get home and within the first 2 minutes she comes over to softly pet Lydia's head twice followed by a third definitely intentional BONK - back to square one. Is the whole 3rd year of life filled with "back to square one?" A good friend once passed on some great advice that you have to keep plugging away at teaching your three year old what you know to be good principles and training them in obedience and then in about a year you might begin to see some results in their attitude and actions. I pray that Allie's character will be molded and imprinted with patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control in the midst of this fun and lively season of her life. (I actually pray this for myself as well...it's the perfect prayer for us both right now.)

I am also constantly amazed at how much you, as a mom, can fall in love with your three year old. She can have the sweetest conversations with me, understanding most everything we talk about. Of course, if there's something she doesn't understand she's sure to ask about it for the next hour. She's becoming a beautiful, loving, thoughtful little girl. I pray our friendship continues to develop.

I love my three year old.

in the beginning...

So there I was trying to come up with an email to write to my friends in Princeton to update them on our recent transitions and I finally succumbed to the pressure to start a blog. I realized that I'd also need to update my friends in Texas as well, along with family and friends on the east coast and in California. With two little ones growing and changing fast, it seemed much easier to blog our happenings than mass emailing updates to friends. Hopefully, the personal emails will still continue. :) I'm hoping to capture special moments in the girls' lives as well as thoughts, ideas, memories, and stories along the way. We'll see how it goes.