My big brave girl

Our twins will be three and a half years old in another two weeks. Today Catherine did something completely new.

Elisabeth had a cold last week and Catherine took great interest in recommending "medicine" for her. In the past Catherine has fought and gagged whenever we've tried to make her take any medicine orally. She watched quite intently this week when I forced Elisabeth to take some liquid Tylenol or cough syrup amid much screaming and carrying on.

Today, though, Catherine started sniffling from contracting the same cold and had a hard time getting to sleep. Her father asked her if she wanted some medicine. Much to his surprise, she said yes.

So he brings her out into the kitchen for Mean Mommy to administer the Tylenol with decongestant and cough medicine, which tastes absolutely awful. Catherine sat down and I said "The medicine is going to taste bad, but it will help you feel better. Do you still want some?"

She nodded.

So I gave her half of the dose in her mouth in a syringe. She blinked and swallowed it and I told her there was some more. She opened her mouth and accepted it willingly, and then came in and snuggled on the couch with us until she got sleepy.

I was astounded! She's always fought like a wildcat to keep from taking it in the past.

I was so impressed and proud of her!

Then the other night when the girls were supposed to be going to sleep I came in their bedroom to try to get Elisabeth to settle down and Catherine darted out the door and ran down the hall. I looked around the house for her. She had hidden in the living room in a cubbyhole behind the couch and underneath the TV. Her giggles gave her away, though, and she knew that the gig was up when I pulled her out and she willingly marched back to bed. That's the first time that I can recall her anticipating my movements and trying to look at things from my perspective in advance.

It's so neat to see them developing new capabilities every single day. My little girl is quickly becoming all grown up right before my eyes!

The girls still don't quite have the pedaling action down yet on the tricycle, however, partly because they're small and it's really too big for them. They need a professional bike fit! But we'll do a technique session tomorrow over in the big high school parking lot and see how they do.