Right Now - Megan

Right now, you are teetering between worlds - sometimes you are still my little girl who plays Barbies and house and dress-up and sometimes you are so much more grown-up. We talk about friends and problems. We go to plays. I love the little girl side of you, but I am excited to get to know this older version as well. You still like me to snuggle you and sing to you, but you are starting to want to do more things with your friends and to be more independent.

Right now, you are full of nurturing. Kate thinks you are her second mommy. You take care of everyone. You have a natural talent with babies and little children. You see things that need to be done and you just quietly go about doing them.

Right now, you love hanging out with friends. You and Abby are singing in the Children's Christmas Choir together, and I think you love hanging out with her each week more than you love the music. You are always trying to arrange times to get together with your friends, and when you do get together, it's nonstop chatting and giggling.

Right now, you are getting much more interested in clothes. Every morning is an adventure as you try to put together outfits that express your personal style. But being modest is super important to you too, so you often bring me shirts that I know you love that are maybe a little too short or tight. I am grateful that you are paying attention and willing to monitor yourself.

Right Now - Kate

Right now, you are 18 months old and we all adore you.

Right now, you are having a language explosion. You are saying new words every day. A few of your favorites are: bubble, baby, mama, dadda, Megan (Muh), brother, birdy (anything that flies - birds, planes, bugs), bye-bye, hi, tutu, GO!, and bo (blow). You really understand a lot of what we say to you, and it is fun to see you learning more and more words.

Right now, you love to dress up. You wear the tutu I made you for Halloween all day, every day. You love to wear sunglasses. You bring me hats and headbands to help you with. You wrap blankets around you like capes. You put your shoes on over your footy-pajamas.

Right now, you wake up waaaaaay too early. I long for the days that my alarm wakes me up at 6:30. But you are so happy when you get up. You hit the ground running, ready to play.

Right now, you have so much energy! You love to climb on things. You climb up behind the couch and flip over the front and slide down. Over and over. You climb the entertainment center. Yesterday I took the knobs off the entertainment center cupboard doors because you open them and use the cupboards to give you a boost so you can climb up to the shelf where the TV is. You like to get up there to give the people on TV kisses, but I was afraid you would pull it down on top of yourself.

Right now, you are afraid of elevators. Your whole body tenses up, and you say "Bye-bye-bye-bye" because you want to get OFF!

Right now, you shower people with kisses and hugs. Me, daddy, Megan and Jared, people at church, and if we don't watch closely, random strangers. You have no stranger anxiety. You love to wave and jabber at people.

Right now, you think that you should kneel down, fold your arms, bow your head, and shriek at the top of your lungs during prayers.

Right Now - Jared

Right now, you are taking off with reading. You are so much more confident than you were at the beginning of the year. You love practicing your sight words and you remind me to read with you every day.

Right now, you are in to Harry Potter. You will get dad's chess set out and play "Wizard's Chess" for hours, using the pieces to battle back and forth. You turn everything (sticks, swords, silverware, etc) into wands and try to cast spells on your sisters.

Right now, your favorite show on TV is Phineas and Ferb. You love Agent P. You name things "inator". For example, the other day when Kate needed a diaper change, you called her a "Smelly-inator".

Right now, you love to tease your sisters. You are an expert at getting a rise out of both of them. It's kind of funny just how quickly you can make both of them mad (don't tell anyone I said so!).

Right now, you love to play football. I love that you want to be outside, running around with friends instead of inside watching TV or playing computer. As soon as your homework is done, you head outside to play, and only come in when I call you for dinner. You are loving the beautiful fall weather we are having.

Right now, you are losing the last of your "Jared-isms". I think the last funny things you say are "grow-niller bars" instead of granola bars and "Obrack Bam-oma" instead of Barack Obama. I will miss them when you stop, but I am constantly impressed with how well you express yourself.

Right now, you are growing faster than I can buy clothes for you. You outgrew your shoes I bought you in August, and most of your pants are too short. You are going to be taller than Megan is soon. And then you'll pass me up!