Bridget at 15 Months (and a little catch-up, too)

Are you ready to be bombarded by cuteness? Fifteen months is always my "Oh, wait, now I've fallen totally in love with you!" milestone. Do I have to reassure you that I love my babies prior to that point? No, you already know that. But fifteen months is when I fall IN LOVE, and it happened like clockwork again as Bridget's personality simply exploded and all her idiosyncrasies became intensely clear.

Here she is at thirteen, then fourteen, and now fifteen months:

Fourteen months, when she decided she was a climber and a daredevil, and when her hair became un-tameable:

We had to dismantle the music table because she climbed up and jumped off, bonking her head in the process.

Three crazy kids

The beginning of Bridget saying "Cheeeeeese" out loud when we turn a camera her way...a Noon for sure!

And these days, she's blossomed into our chatty chicky:

First pair of sneaks!

Her words to date include: Thank you, please (eeeeeze!--also means "more"), yummy-ummy, tickle-tickle, backpack (ba-pa), shoooooes, diaper, yessss (often a nod of the head without words), duh for done, this, cracker...and some others I'll think of as soon as I publish this post.

Next I have to get around to writing Bridget's birth story before she reaches the year and a half mark! And I will.

The Finn Man

I know it happens to all two-and-a-half-year-olds who somehow turn into almost-three-and-a-half-year-olds, but Finny has matured so much in such a seemingly short amount of time.

Here he was on the first day of his second year of Toddler Tots:

This last one is him holding hands with one of his BFFs, who I still call Lala (Finn's first name for her) even though everyone including Finn himself calls her Natalie.

And here's Finn today at his last day ever of this wonderful program, after two years of thriving there:

 With Lala (sorry, Natalie!), nine months later and nine YEARS older (to my eyes)!

Finn is so independent now, it boggles me daily. He scared my parents last week by climbing into their car, closing the door behind him, and then buckling himself in--all before they'd even noticed he'd left the front steps. "Too competent for his own good," my mom declared, and I couldn't agree more. Although, is there really such a thing as too competent? That independence is what drove him to walk early, to potty train himself, and it's what makes him determined these days to name all the numbers he sees and to write his letters with precision. Okay, so some of that might also be inspired by competition as well. Still, say what you will about Finn, the kid's got ambition.

Because he still talks in a bit of a baby voice, it's hard for me to remember that he's also matured verbally and become so expressive and imaginative. He'll tell me that he met some friendly bears when he was playing in the basement, and that they found a cheetah together and ate it. You know, as you do. We watched Madagascar 3 the other night and he only whimpered a couple of times, asking me "When is the tiger going to stop being so grumpy?" He's starting to realize that Will might be bigger and know more, but that he isn't always the last word--this means their relationship is a bit tougher, but also growing up and into something that works for both brothers.

And Finn as a big brother...ohhh, my heart.

Loving too hard 

There's a diaper around her neck--he said "Look, Mom, she's Superbaby!"

An accurate representation of how Bridget feels about Finn

While Rather Morbid, Still Quite Cute

Will, earlier this month:

"I'm going to tell you a secret that only my school friends and my plain old friends and you can hear. Okay? [Whispers] I'm going to have a party with my school friends at school for all the people that died to make them not sad anymore. And we're going to have a big cake and a puppet show! It's not that hard to make a puppet! You just stick your hand in there like this [puts his hand behind his stuffed dalmatian] and then...like I'm doing with Dukey!"

Me: "Okay, so you're having this party for the people who KNOW someone who died...or for the people who actually died?"

"For the people who died, so they're not sad anymore. Like Uncle Bill."

*****

And later that day: 

"Mom, did you know that once a bee stings you, it dies?"

"The bee dies? Yeah, I did know that."

"Yeah. Sad."

Easter 2013

Mom and Dad's Easter gifts are the first to arrive in this house.

Then we head to church, after which the kids go outside for the Easter egg hunt...

They also get to go to an ENORMOUS egg hunt at Nikki's every year (which gets more amazing and elaborate each year, of course, because it's Nikki's!), so their Easter bounty is plentiful.

We also brought Bridget to church (our rule of thumb is that our emerging toddlers only come to big holiday masses--on a weekly basis, she is hard to contain and distracting for the boys). She did a great job, and even when she needed to be removed to the "kid room" halfway through, she was pretty happy. (Although sometimes she needed to be chased down the hallway, since she's a kid who staggers away from her parents without looking back.) (God help us.)

We forgot to take an all-family picture, but it was a very fun weekend with a lot of eating! All around, a great holiday.

Bridget at 12 Months

 At twelve months old, Bridget discovered the fun of self-grooming, the joys of (lurching, and then) walking, and the truism that fake laughter often leads to REAL laughter.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Easy-to-read leprechaun clues for Will to decipher

Starting the treasure hunt together

At the end of the rainbow...a "Jake" book for each!

Recent Boy Quotes

On St. Patrick's Day, the boys were playing hockey downstairs when Will poked his head up to ask me something. "Mom, can you come play hockey with us? 'Cause we're two referees and [shakes head, rolls eyes] no players."

That night I told him it was time to get ready for bed and added, "No ifs, ands, or buts!"
"Mom," Will said, chuckling at me, "You're the craziest ever."

Finn on 3/18, as I'm helping him in the bathroom:
"Mom! You put me on the toilet and you DIDN'T put me gently!"

Later, I asked him if he wanted to get a haircut soon. He replied, "I want a haircut. I want it BALDED."

At the end of March, I asked the boys over dinner what they liked most about themselves.

"I love everything about me, because I love myself!" Will answered cheerfully.
"Okay, but what do you like the best about yourself?"
"Because I'm so nice all the time!" he concluded (somewhat mendaciously, I might add).
"What about you, Finny?"
Deadpan, Finn replied, "Because I'm so tiger-y."