Leaps and Bounds is the name of a catalog that sells children's toys, and it's a good name because our kids seem to develop by leaping - then holding still, watching, waiting - then leaping again. (And only occasionally crumpling to the floor in fits.)

All of a sudden, Tuck has taken on a lot more responsibility for his own little body, and it has led to / been intertwined with a lot of other good changes. Not only is he fully potty trained (they both are), but he picks his own clothes in the morning and sometimes even dresses himself. He has taken some jobs around the house like reminding me to feed the fish - this is very important because on a recent day when I forgot to feed them, Mr. Betta apparently ate two of the neon tetras, Spencer and Toni. SHHHH, the kids haven't noticed yet, since the tetras were prone to hiding in their castle. I am planning to replace them by stealth later today.

And Emi -- all of a sudden, Emi can draw. Now, she has long been able to hold a crayon or a marker and make marks on a piece of paper. But in the past she has focussed on filling the page completely with whatever color she is holding. While Tuck has been an innovative Jackson Pollock-like splasher of bold colors, Emi has approached drawing as something like house painting: you fill in all the space you have with the color you have in your hand.

Over Christmas one day she drew a sun to mimic one I had drawn, with a lumpy circle and long rays reaching out. But that was it. Then suddenly, last week, she announced, "I can draw a whole family now" and proceeded to do so. She draws herself with a big head and hair radiating out like the rays of the sun, and draws Tucker with a tiny head and very long legs. Everyone gets eyes with dots for pupils and even a bellybutton.



She moved on from there to drawing some more high level concepts, like our house surrounded by waves and wind (during the recent flood), and lots of people in the arms of a "nice octopus." Like I said, leaping and bounding.