As we look forward to the newborn stage again, we’ve been marveling at how much difference a year or two makes!

Things we’ve observed raising toddlers

Remy a des mains marrons!

Toddlers notice everything and comment on it – in an astonished, nonjudgemental way. Remy does have brown hands. She mentioned this while reveling in the fact that her hands are PINK. The down side of developing observation skills? We’re moving into the “I want the blue one! No, the pink one! The blue one!” era. Sigh.

Tess Hamburger!

Mispronounciation is hilarious. Seriously. Please picture this being wielded in the tone I use when Tess is in big trouble. The upside? A lot of laughs and the ease of informing your little people that they’re simply mispronouncing any 4-letter words they may have picked up.

Mine! À moi!
As Tess and Remy add words like the above to their vocabulary and our conversations, we’re sometimes irritated (“NO, you cannot change your own diaper!”) but often impressed (“Mom, that’s Joy’s book. She showed it to me.”) We marveled at the verbal exploration that led to me/you/he understanding. It’s easy to picture the consolidated family vs other separating into single beings in their view as they sort those pronouns out.

As we approach the toddler birthdays, we look back on how little these two were; how much harder (no neck strength, colic) and easier (no back talk, total control) it was to parent infants. These two make us laugh and tear our hair out. That’s the goal, right? My parents would say that’s still true.