Blame it on Harry Potter. It's appropriate.

Often when I am avoiding something I busy myself in reading, which has become increasingly harder as my children develop more needs that must be met.  In the last four weeks I have reread all but one of the Harry Potter books and now am working through The Tales of Beedle the Bard.  When I needed one to help complete the set, and the girls and I went to the library, Claire saw that I'd found another very large Harry Potter volume, and looked me squarely in the eye and said "Daddy is not going to be pleased to see you got that, Mommy."  Horrors!  How can she (or he) have turned into the book police while I wasn't even looking?  So just exactly why am I off the blog and in the books?  I think there is something I want to write about, and think about, and process, and I am self censoring.  But not for much longer, I think.  It might just come bursting out soon.  Stay tuned. 

In the meantime - Hannah has turned into someone who goes up and down some stairs without always holding onto something for support - which both delights and terrifies me.  She is also now someone with whom one has conversations.  Her words are still second child murky, and she doesn't have Claire's startling ability to communicate at a level years above her age, but she can be well understood - and often says things that are abstract, not related to things going on in her immediate environment, and uses words I didn't know she knew.  I wish her speech were more clear, but I am so enjoying talking with her these days.  She showed me a craft she'd made in preschool today - a spider made from a piece of an egg carton saying "looka mah 'pider!"  "Oh, I love it Hannah" I respond and she looks at me with total delight and says "(s)pooky!" 


And in other news, Claire's father told her of an idea he had for something and Claire looked at him with approval and said "that's appropriate."

My girls.  I love 'em.