'Me loves you'

 That's how Camryn says 'I love you' ... and it's usually followed by the person's name which just makes it that much cuter. And heart melting. 'Me loves you Mommy' brightens my day everyday. It means that much more when your name is added in. And at 2am when she says it as she is kicking me for the umpteen millionith time it causes me to sigh rather than drop kick her across the room. I guess that makes her cute AND smart.

 But boy, is she getting big. She talks NONSTOP. We have to limit her stories at dinner so we can find out what happened in the lives of our other three children. She does everything 'by myself!' and with an attitude, but remains my sweetheart of a little girl. She is still so loving and snuggly. I know it's not going to last forever so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Even at 2am. She has even stopped wearing diapers at night. I have friends ask me how I have done this, and I hate to say it, but I have done nothing. I don't know why my kids seem to get out of diapers so fast. They have all gone from potty training during the day to diaper free at night pretty quickly. I wish I had some good advice, I could write a book on the subject, but truthfully I don't 'do' anything. They seem to know what to do and when to do it and I just follow along. But it sure is nice. Except when she wakes me up to take her pee at 3am.

 Speaking of getting big, Will has been blowing our minds lately. The boy is reading. And writing. And spelling. It is amazing. The picture above is him writing Camryn's name for her. He sounded out Grace and spelled it G-r-a-s ... but then realized that was 'grass' so then he asked me what makes the 's' sound in Grace if it's not an 's'.  Will is smart, don't get me wrong, but I think his new found talent has way more to do with exposure than anything else. He sees (and hears and lives) Ben and Katie reading, writing and spelling and, well, he just is doing what they do. Neither Ben or Kate were anywhere near this point at 4 years old. But they didn't have much exposure to it either. How often to do kids see their parents sit down and write or practice spelling or sound out words they are having trouble reading? Will has been a part of Ben and Katie's 'schooling' since he can remember. To him, it's just what kids do. They sound out words, try to read them and then spell them. It's amazing to watch. And so much fun, too. Even Camryn points out the letters C and Y when she sees them. I guess kids really are sponges.

And the best news of all? Spring has sprung! Maybe not officially, but I am making the call right here and now. We have had a string of beautiful warm weather (thank you Liza!) that is supposed to continue for quite some time. We are getting ready to hit mid 70s this weekend. WOOHOO! You know what that means? T-shirts and lots and lots of lizards thanks to Katie and her ability to catch every living creature on Earth. But I'm ready. I got my sunglasses and buckets!

(PS My spell check is not working on here so excuse any typos or misspellings. I don't have time to go back and look over every word. I hardly even reread what I write. I'm such a rebel that way.)