Amazing Girls

Both these little girls astound me with their amazingness. :)

This one manages, if it were possible, to become more and more adorable each and every day! She is really starting to take on an appearance of her own now and seems less and less like a clone of her big sister... though they still look very much alike, as the picture below, taken when Carolyn was a couple weeks older than Nora is now, demonstrates. The older Nora gets the more I can see some subtle differences, but there's certainly no doubt that they are sisters!

I've had front-row seats to the amazing growth process of a little baby before, but it still catches me by surprise sometimes how incredibly fast Nora changes! She learns new things every single day- one day she won't be able to do something and then the next day, she can. Her hands are becoming more and more interesting and useful to her. Today she was very deliberately using them to bang a rattle on the floor, and was very pleased with herself for making so much noise. :) Amazing. 

And I am just astounded at some of the things Carolyn can do now. She has really begun to master the skill of dressing and undressing herself (this goes right along with the I CAN DO IT MYSELF mentality that seems to be part of everything she does lately!) Tonight I was feeding Nora and asked Carolyn get dressed for bed. 

Would you believe that this child went to the dresser, picked out MATCHING PJ's and got them on all by herself?! 

She can even do the buttons all by herself- something she struggled with just a week ago, and somehow now she can do it! I can't believe she is so big that she hardly even needs me to help her get dressed anymore- except maybe for some motivation; although she looks lovely in her clothes, she would be just as happy running around in nothing but her Cinderella shoes, as she was doing earlier this afternoon (I made her get dressed when it was time to leave the house!) :)

Oh, and by the way, Carolyn's new hair cut has really grown on me. I was kind of unsure at first, but I have seen how HAPPY she is about it for the past few days, and I know I made the right choice. It really suits her personality and developmental stage right now. I love that this is one battle I no longer have to fight with her. I love that she can see without anything holding her hair back. I love that she no longer gets food or snot in her hair that I have to brush out. And I love that she loves it, and that is really enough. Someday, I hope she will grow it out and let it be beautiful and long again. But for today, this is perfect.