Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I Love You Forever

So tonight before bed I was reading I Love You Forever to Clementine. This book was a gift from Betty to Ryan, and it's so sweet, about a woman who holds her baby and sings "I love you forever, I love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." And then she holds her toddler. Then he grows to a little boy, a teenager and even a young man and she comes into his bedroom while he sleeps and rocks him. Until she's too old, and he comes and rocks his mom, and then goes home and rocks his own baby.

WELL. No one can read this book with a dry eye. I cannot read it without sobbing like a heartbroken teenager. Seriously. Sobbing. So I'm trying to struggle through the last few pages while not having a complete breakdown in front of her when Ryan came in with Calliope. Clementine said, "Momma, maybe you should go away. Go calm down and let Daddy finish reading it." I swear. Word for word. My 2-year-old told me to go calm down. Oh, she's adorable.

On the other front, Calliope really started signing last week. She had 'all done' first (well, 'bah' was first, but we didn't count it because she doesn't know what it means), 'book', 'milk', 'water' and a vague 'banana'. 'Book' always refers to the same book, Sabuda's pop-up Narnia. And she is always, always, always, always asking for the book. She is also walking more. And she's an amazing nose-blower! I mean, she can blow her nose like a pro. Clementine wasn't doing this until after she turned 2. That was such an amazing milestone I blogged about it. This makes me happy because I feel like Calliope is a naturally physical child and isn't just physical and not verbal because we treat her differently. Oh, and did I mention how freakin' cute she is? She and Clementine take turns pushing each other around the house in Clementine's doll stroller. Calliope just pushed her sister for the first time yesterday. She was so proud of herself.

They're just so wonderful! Now if only we could sleep past 6am...