It’s amazing how large they get so fast. My mother use to tell me a story about how I was in line at a store with my grandmother and I was freaking out. Mum was back a few people, and I was about 2. A woman was complaining to those around her about the kid a few people up, and couldn’t that lady keep her kid quiet. I was such a large 2 year old that I looked 4, but people didn’t know that. I hear that story and chuckle, but isn’t karma a bite in the ass?? Claire will be 3 in three weeks. She’s 40" tall and 36 pounds. Some of her clothes are 5T, and she can pass for a 4 year old.

We just met Claire’s second cousin, Sarah, yesterday who is 7 months old. Wow. What a difference! We have this baby who is just getting ready to walk and doesn’t even come up to my knees, and then we have Claire. Moreover, the contrast between the two kids makes me realize how quickly they grow up. Claire speaks very well, and she’s brilliant. And she’s so attentive to Sarah. She’s so excited to be here, and she’s been asking for 4 months when she’d come see her cousin and the ocean.

Yesterday driving over here, we stopped at a rest area. The same rest area we always stop at on the way to Los Angeles, and Claire announces, as we pull in, "There’s no hand towels here! Only blowers." Of course she was correct, but the last time she was here was last summer. The time before that she was only a couple of months old.

They grow up so quickly don’t they?