The best age

It used to be a running joke in our family that every age of our kids was my favorite age. Then, Izzy outgrew her naps. Then, I got pregnant with our third. No age was my favorite during that season. I had wonderful moments, but overall, I was in a hurry to get them a little bigger and a little bit more independent.

We're back in "the best age" again, I think. We've increasingly had more moments, even hours, where things looked like I imagined they would before I had kids. They play happily together, romping around the yard or pretending to read books to each other. We can now have "family movie night", sort of...Evie's not quite there yet.

Evie is 15 1/2 months old. Korban is 2 3/4 years old, and Izzy is 4 1/4. These are my favorite ages.

Evie is getting big enough to for her little personality to really shine. She has no idea that she's a toddler, she thinks she's as big as her sister and brother. She thinks she can talk and tells jokes a lot. Her best friend is her baby doll, named "baby". That doll is over half her size, but we lug it all over the house and, occasionally, when I'm feeling generous, on errands with us. She (Evie, not the doll) is big enough to express her feelings a little more clearly, and she's saying quite a few words.

Korban is just starting to really speak clearly. He tells jokes, and they're funny simply because he says they are. His best friend is a stuffed puppy that was actually Evie's, I believe. She doesn't mind because, as I said, she has "baby". He loves puzzles and figuring out how things go together. He's about halfway through learning his alphabet, but he tries not to let anyone know he knows so much. I have no idea why. His superhero name is "Danger Zod", and he loves knives. He doesn't actually get to handle real ones, so he pretends random objects are knives, like a plastic drumstick. He runs around stabbing it into furniture shouting "DANGER....ZOD!!!" Just too presh. He also only lets his Daddy bathe him, brush his teeth, and buckle him into his carseat. Score.

Isabella is turning into a young lady, and it's so much fun. Yesterday, she was telling me about Martin Luther King, Jr., and today she was teaching me about temperature. One degrees is very cold, she says. The day before MLK was about where corn comes from. She's going to a montessori preschool, and I think that may have been the best decision our family has made in a while. She and Korban are enjoying the space from each other, and they actually miss each other. Mommy and Daddy are getting a little bit of a breather because 2 kids are 1,000 times easier than three kids. Not sure why, it's quantum physics or something. Anyways, Izzy also loves to walk around singing like she's a princess in a movie, and it's preshy. She loves coffee and sweets. She told us the other day that she has her eye on four boys to marry at preschool. I was worried at first, but then I decided that she's not trying to date them, and we must be setting a good example at home if she's wanting to get married.

I just hope it's not for another 20 years or so.