Toddlerhood

I may be jumping the gun a little on the whole "toddler" thing, except really, there's just so little similarity between these wild little people:

and the babies they were a year or so ago.

And we do have a tiny bit of actual toddling - Eleanor's taken a few steps here and there when she doesn't realize she's doing it. She's done it more in the last two days - I think we'll have a bona fide walker on our hands really soon.

She's a hilarious little acrobat - she'll climb anything, do backflips off laps, crawl under tables... Steven's slightly more cautious, but not by much. He's also an inch or so taller than her, so he's having to learn that occasionally she can stand up in a place he can't.

They're best buddies. Whenever we take them someplace separately, they have a hard time getting to sleep without their brother or sister to talk to.

They got a new water table for their birthday, and I think it's going to be the hit of the summer. They love to splash and pour and have all kinds of fun.

It's funny - they actually got "tables" from both sets of grandparents - Grandma Lindy and Grandpa Buz gave them a table for the play room, which is short enough now for them to stand at to eat breakfast or color or do puzzles, but has longer legs we can put on later so they can pull up their (adorable!) green and pink chairs.

Oh yeah, speaking of their first birthday, the party was so much fun! Aunt Sus went all out on the amazing cake:

which they went appropriately nuts with:

and there were fun and friends and family and presents and all the good things a birthday should be.

Now I guess it's officially time for toddlers!

525,600 Minutes

What a year!

A year of wonder.

A year of beauty.

A year of firsts.

A year of finallys.

A year of snuggles.

A year of naps.

A year of silliness.

A year of grandmas.

A year of little smiles.

A year of aunts.

A year of uncles.

A year of togetherness.

A year of serenity.

A year of appreciation.

A year of handsomeness.

A year of see-food.

A year of peace.

A year of gymnastics.

A year of goofballs.

A year of playing till we drop.

A year of holidays.

A year of reaching new heights.

A year of trying new things.

A year of emerging personalities.

A year of exploring what our bodies can do.

A year of reading.

A year of stories.

A year of laps.

A year of flexibility.

A year of cool.

A year of bonding.

A year of growing.

A year of laughter.

A year of love.