My Big Girls and How I Wish They Would Stop

Recently I've been ruminating on the passage of time. Mostly because my tiny, chubby baby Lucia just had her first birthday last week. I'm still pretty much in denial. I just don't how it could've happened. I mean, hell, I feel like I was just pregnant yesterday. The other reason is that Callie seems to be aging at an alarming rate. Especially when I look at this picture.

I mean, look at that face! Look at that sassy girl! Where is my baby? She gets so annoyed when I call her my baby too. She always retorts "I'm not a baby mama. I'm a big girl! Lucia is a baby." And she is completely correct. She is a big girl. She is potty trained now (for the most part). She is communicating and repeating new words and ideas at such a fast pace it is mind boggling. Yesterday I sneezed and she said "Bless -- Gesundheit Mama." I'm pretty sure I got whiplash when I tried to look and see who said that from the backseat. Last week she walked into the living room and told Bill "This is real. This is the present." Is she some sort of pint sized existential philosopher? We are in serious trouble with my little wild child turned thinker. She has recently started taking gymnastics classes, which she loves and I find great joy in watching her experiment with new things. She is fearless, which we always knew. But she is so strong and determined with these new physical feats. She has also recently become obsessed with the idea of taking dance classes. So we start soon! 

We recently went to the Monterey Aquarium 

and she has now found new things to like and talk about. It used to just be the animals or exhibits that we would talk about but she loves the otters, the octopus ("We saw it breathing." I couldn't tell you how long we stayed at that tank watching the octopus' lungs fill up with air) but especially the sharks. 

Lucia, since her ear tubes surgery is becoming a non stop talker. Well, she kind of always has been, but to hear her "talk" is amazing. Whatever she is saying, she is very serious about it and wants to convey something very important to us! She is already far more verbal than Callie was at her age. Callie was much more mobile and physical. They are so different from each other but they are finding places in common to enjoy. It is such a beautiful thing. Sisters. 

Of course there are fights and hair pulling and scratching and pushing but there are moments of pure bliss and love. Sometimes I laugh when I think about how scared I was when I was pregnant with Lucia; that I was inflicting this person on Callie and how unfair it would be to our relationship. But it is the opposite. Our hearts just get bigger and bigger. Callie is so proud of Lucia and how good she is getting at walking. She likes to walk slowly alongside of her. 

I find myself wishing my girls would just slow down for a while. I am really enjoying their personalities and vitality and excitement. It makes me so thankful that I have been able to be a stay at home mom with them. I haven't missed a thing with my girls and it is so special. Seeing Lucia take her first steps last week was amazing and to see Callie get just as excited as I was created a gorgeous moment that I will treasure forever. I know they are going to grow up and stop calling me mama and hanging on my every word and hug. And I'm sure I will lament the growth of my babies, as I am already starting to, but that just means there are new adventures around the corner! That is the curse of the mother I suppose. That they grow up just when you start enjoying them! 

Look at my big girl!