In which I realize just how bad I am at updating . . .

Lydia is 4 months old. I had meant to update when she turned 3 months old. I had meant to update when Greta turned 2.5 years old . . . these things did not happen.

Moving on, I am amazed by how big my kids seem to be. Not necessarily in physical size, but in their behavior. Lydia is holding up her head like a champ, can sit and stand with support, and is very chatty in a "squawking" phase. She can roll onto her side from her back, but she can't roll all the way over yet. None of these things are unusual. I think Greta did the same at around the same age, but they still are wonderous to me. She laughs readily and her laughter is sweet and joyful and I just LOVE it. She also still loves baths, which amazes me. I think she has cried in the bath only one time -- ever. Most of the time when I put her in, she looks at me with a shocked expression for a moment, but then she starts smiling.

Lydia is still not a fan of bottles. I can get her to take maybe half an ounce at a time, but that's it. I wouldn't mind it at all if I weren't going back to work . . . but because I'm going back to work, it's a huge stressor.

Greta and I raised Monarchs last summer and she is pretty well obsessed with butterflies and nature. We play games that involve butterflies, and she enjoys telling me all about the life cycle of a Monarch. She often wants to see video of the transformations -- caterpillar to chrysalis, butterfly emerging from chrysalis. Unfortunately, we were out of the house both times our butterflies emerged, and the chrysalis transformations both happened when she was asleep. Bless you, YouTube, for providing me an easy way to share these experiences with my daughter even though our Monarchs didn't cooperate.

Greta is actually a big fan of nature all around. Her favorite book is one called Tracks, Scats and Signs (which she calls her "nature book"). She enjoys being outside and using her new binoculars. Quite frankly, she doesn't really need the binoculars, though, because she has killer vision. She can spot a bird or a nest or a pine cone at a great distance. She enjoys comparing different types of pine needles and examining mushrooms.

She enjoys using pens and scribbling on paper (and, ahem, sometimes other surfaces as well . . . we are working on this), but if you have an opportunity, she is even more eager to draw with someone -- usually instructing an adult to draw a heart and then fill it with the names of various people she knows. The other day, she asked me to draw a Coyote and I made my best attempt. She then asked me to draw its tracks and I hesitated, because I didn't know what they looked like. Seeing my hesitation, she said, "An oval with four toes and two claw points." Thanks, kid.

One of my favorite things about Greta is that, if you have the time to devote to doing things at her speed, she is pretty content to help you with just about anything. Sometimes she just wants to play with her toys, but most of the time, she prefers the company, even if that means helping to unload the dishwasher. Yesterday, we were unloading the dishwasher together when it became apparent that Lydia needed to nurse. I told Greta that we'd have to take a pause because I needed to nurse the baby. I picked up the baby and brought her into the other room to nurse, but Greta didn't follow and I could hear her quietly continuing to empty the dishwasher. This made me exceedingly nervous, but when I got Lydia settled and went back into the kitchen, I found that everything was okay. At first I thought that she had just been rattling things around and not actually attempting to empty it, but then I noticed that the sippy cup parts that had been in the dishwasher basket were gone and that she had placed them on the towel on the counter -- which is where they finish drying. I was impressed! Not only that she was able to unlatch the basket and get out the parts on her own, but also that she was able to reach the kitchen counter! This girl is growin'!

I'm just so happy to have these girls in my life.