So I step away from a while and one of my kids turns 4, while the other manages to sneak in a first kiss. No joke.
I'll start with the natural progression; I'm a sucker for mushy retrospectives. My amazing and wonderful first-born has turned four. This takes her securely out of the realm of toddler and into the realm of "kid." And it fits her well. Like many young girls, she is "four going on twenty-four." In the past year she has gone from an adorable but tantrum-prone toddler into a precocious, smart young lady. Although she has always had a personality, it is becoming refined into a real sense of self. Mac is cool and fun to hang out with. She has insight. She has a sense of humor. She can still throw a wicked tantrum, and I wouldn't exactly label her as "mature," but I can say that I would like her even if she wasn't my kid. And since she is my kid, I think that she is just about the best thing ever.
Oliver, meanwhile, has continued to mature along his own path. While we are still waiting for his first words, he managed to sneak in his first kiss* the other day. I took the kids to a local restaurant to pick up a gift certificate. While we were waiting for the owner to come back with the gift card, I let Oliver and Mac play on the ground with a few other kids hanging out up front. It was three little girls; all of them came crowding around Oliver, trying to touch him and saying things like "look at the cute baby." Mac played the role of the proud sister, kind of waving her hand around him like he was a prize in the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right. One of the kids was the adorable little girl of the owner. I guess she is probably around two years old. She bent down right in front of Oliver. I looked away for a second, and when I looked back, Oliver was giving her his little hen-peck kisses on the lips! What a little player! I don't know who initiated the interaction, but I do know that he shared his first kiss with an "older woman" named Sophia.
And so my little ones continue to grow up at an alarming speed. I guess the time always goes by too quickly.
* Oliver's first kiss was really with mommy. He gives cute little kisses where he stretches his neck forward and pecks at your face like a little hen. Sometimes he puckers, and sometimes he just opens his mouth and kind of sucks on your cheek. He gives out lots of kisses. But this was his first kiss with a stranger of the opposite sex.
