Things like...
...how Adelie is still my messiest eater. The table, chair, and floor around her seat are always covered in food. She inevitably ends up spilling her milk, getting food in her hair, and sporting a fair amount of food on her face after every meal. It's not uncommon for me to be wiping yogurt off her forehead or brushing pasta sauce out of her hair.
A typical Adelie breakfast
...how Staley is so ready to be more and more independent and grown up. She wants to play outside by herself and go into public restrooms without me and ride her bike further down the sidewalk and help me coach Adelie's soccer team and make meals by herself and use the hairdryer. She loves when I ask her to be in charge of her siblings while I shower. Some of it is so nice, and some of it I'm just not ready for.
...how Briggs can now get himself onto the potty. It's quite an ordeal. He will take off his pants and underwear, push the stepstool over to the toilet, and climb on. He will then proceed to use about half a roll of toilet paper, or as much as he can get done before I catch him and make him stop. The increasing independence is nice. The increasing toilet paper bill is not.
...how all three of my kids deal with disappointment in different ways. If I tell them 'no' to something they want to do (or when I tell them to do something they don't want to do), Staley will tirelessly argue with me and try to convince me to change my mind. Adelie will often cry, or she will put her hands on her hips, stomp her foot, and sassily say, "FINE!" Briggs will generally throw himself down in a screaming, crying fit. My favorite is when we get all 3 at the same time.
...how Adelie is now super-picky about not having her food touch on her plate at mealtimes. Sometimes she'll even put her fruit or part of her meal on the table instead of her plate to avoid them getting mixed together. (Probably doesn't help the neatness factor with her eating.)
...how Staley wants to go running with me. We've gone together several times and she can usually run for about a mile with only a few short walk breaks.
...how Briggs still has lots of cute little sayings. We always have pancakes after church on Sunday. We have pure maple syrup, regular syrup, and powdered sugar on the table with our pancakes. Briggs likes the pure maple syrup, but he calls it "powdered maple syrup." If I ask him something that he doesn't want to do, he will often take a page out of Adelie's book and sassily say, "Fine!" as he stomps off to do it.
...how right now Adelie thinks she wants to be a doctor when she grows up, Staley wants to be a movie star, and Briggs wants to be a fireman.
...how Briggs freaks out if his food is too hot (or even slightly more than warm). Screaming, crying, and repetitively demanding that I blow on his food is not my favorite part of a meal.
...how Adelie prefers to be barefoot, and takes off her sandals or shoes the first chance she gets including at the playground or in the car and always, always, always as soon as she walks in the door.
...how Staley is still picky about how her clothes feel. She now insists on wearing a cami under any shirt that has an applique or a zipper, or stitching that she can feel. Although the picking out clothes/getting dressed drama has decreased significantly, her sensitivity is still there.
...how Briggs still loves to carry around tiny things. He always has something in his hands wherever we go, whether it's a small car or stuffed animal or plastic dinosaur. One of his favorite activities is putting small puff balls from our craft supply box into any of his cars or vehicles that have doors or windows that they will fit in.
...how all 3 kids have so much fun playing together. Staley and Adelie love to play Barbies and figurines, playing together for hours at a time. Adelie and Briggs have a game called Mommy Poo, Baby Poo which involves Magna Tiles and cars/trucks and sometimes stuffed animals. I'm not really sure what the game entails, but they always have a great time together.
I know many of these little things are phases that will soon be gone. And although I won't miss all of them, I don't want to forget them either. It's the little things that make our days memorable.
