The toddler days appear to have come to a close, sooner than anyone anticipated. This is a bona-fide kid now. She doesn't even walk the same, all of a sudden. She has that posture where she pivots her shoulders back and forth, letting her arms swing freely, like a kid who is deep in thought. This girl is always thinking, and always listening. Her capacity for complex, abstract thought expands exponentially every time I see her. We are fast approaching the stage where I will struggle to keep up with her agile, flexible mind.
I invited the kids over for dinner, in lieu of the usual game night. I discovered my usual recipe for chili translates well into a vegetarian version, and it makes a heck of a Frito pie. (One of my trade secrets: a sprinkle of cocoa powder for a deep note of earthiness.) Val was the star of the show all night, accompanied by Kitty and an assortment of bath toys. When she played piano, she lined everyone up on the bench to play along with her. She sat quietly and watched while Kitty went first.
When we go places, like the trip on Sunday to Rocky Mountain National Park or today's Target run, she is obviously fascinated by other very young people. She greeted a girl who was closer to three years old, on the trail down from the peak in the park, like she was a celebrity. Today she stared intently at families with toddlers and babies when we went past (especially the two little ones in the special shopping cart with front-facing bucket seats). She is so happy to be around her mommy and daddy, and she feels so very special. I hope next week when baby sibling arrives, she understands that the capacity for love in her family is magnified, not taken the spotlight away from her.
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