growing up and growing fast

my little girls are growing so fast. my just barely one year old has become a toddler and my two and a half year old has become a teenager.

Ladybug is talking more and more. She has been saying "daddy", "no", "whoa" and "mama" for several weeks now. But lately she has also added these to her vocabulary: up, book, bottle, milk, cup, eat, thank you, away (as in "put away"), night night, bye, hello, wow, go and (as of last night) popcorn. She signs about half of them when she says it but my favorite is that she blows a kiss with every "thank you". She also signs "more" and sometimes "please" but doesn't say it. Another sign of her growing up: her walk has changed. About a month ago, I noticed that her feet have changed from soft baby feet to have more definition and muscle (an obvious result of walking). It was of course inevitable, but something I noticed as my baby becomes more sure-footed and instead of an adorable toddler wobble walk, its a confident and strong run. (usually away from her sister when she's stolen a toy). Her hair is long enough now that she has wipsy, gentle curls in the back. It's texture is not nearly as curly or thick as her sister's but soft, fine and mostly straight. She still has no interest in t.v. (sometimes she will watch about ten minutes of a baby einstein but that's about her limit) but plays great by herself. She will pick up a toy and play quietly for up to an hour without having to have guidance or interaction from anyone. Her older sister always insisted on that interaction and never played by herself so this has been a huge contrast in their personalities to me.

Butterfly is growing fast as well. We've entered the age of opinions, an occasional tantrum and just a little bit of sass. Probably every mom says this, but I really do think my girls are exceptional and are usually really well behaved and are very polite. But every once in a while, Butterfly gives me a little bit of attitude, as if to test her boundaries. She has perfected the typical teenager "I don't know mom" response with each syllable drawn out and dripping with irritation (curbing that one quickly). And last week I caught her pretending to be a sassy rock star with her hip jutted out so far it looked dislocated. She loves movies and knows exactly which one she wants to watch. She insists on picking it out but will sit and watch the entire movie without getting bored or getting down to play (kind of a couch potato actually). She always wants her hair to be cute and picks out a bow or clip for me to put in it. She wants to pick out her own clothes and help me cook. She insists on following the boys around when hubband has the scouts over to our house and calls all of them "her boyfriends". But at the same time, she's still my baby that wants to cuddle and be carried. She still insists on sleeping with her dolly and her tiger tucked under her arm. Her imagination is soaring as she plays more and more with her dolly, acting out meals, bedtimes, chores, etc. She loves to invite friends over to her house and have playdates. But she also occasional talks to an imaginary friend, sometimes using the name of whatever friends she recently got to play with and sometimes calling the imagined friend "Lilo".

Their personalities are so different. Butterfly is so outgoing and energetic. She jumps in with both feet into every activity and plays fast and hard. She's more prone to emotion and so interactive. Ladybug is more content, she's able to play by herself and likes to observe before trying something new. But they're both my little angels. Happy, beautiful girls, each with a mischievous streak and a great imagination. They are sweet and wonderful and such amazing blessings in my life.