This week, so far, we've been to the beach twice, the water park once, and out to eat twice. Igh! I'm worn out! I've been running around doing that, then Trey and I have been going to the chiropractor, which has been helping greatly, but running up quite a bill. I rarely find time to sleep much anymore with all this and work! I thought summer was when you slowed down and took some time off or something!

So Taryn worries me a little, but excites me at the same time. I think that girl is going to be WILD! Today, for instance, we were at the beach, and while TJ was scared to go in past his knees, Taryn was going in all the way to her neck and totally getting taken out by the waves. She'd come back up from out of the water laughing, and when I'd check on her (b/c it was terrifying me!) she'd be all, "I'm okay Mommy!" A little water would splash in TJ's face, and he would cry till he could get to a sand-soaked towel to dry his face off, where he would then cry about the sand in his eyes!

But back to Taryn...so I got Trey a motorcycle, you know. He decided to take the kids for a ride around the neighborhood shortly after we got it. TJ was first. He put some pants and his bicycle helmet on, and ran to the bike. As soon as it was time to get on, he freaked out, screaming that he was scared. At the time, I was standing next to Taryn, who proudly proclaimed, "I'm not scared, Mommy. I wanna ride the motorcycle!" She did, too, like she'd been doing it her whole life. I was worried at first, b/c she was scooted back too far, and could barely reach, much less reach around, Trey. Once he moved her up some, though, she held on alright. He said the whole time she was pointing at things and talking his ear off w/o a fear in the world! Later, I asked her if she wanted a motorcycle when she grows up, and she answered with a resolute "YES!" Now that's my baby girl! Do you think it's too early to go ahead and get her a "Biker Babe" t-shirt? As she grows out of it, it can just become a baby-doll shirt, or whatever it is chicks wear these days.

Everyday she shows how utterly fearless she is. She's also a funny little person, too. The other day we were in the car w/Julia and her kids, and Alison was telling her to say "Holy Cow!" She'd go, "Holy Cow, Mommy, look at that tree!" She kept us laughing. Many days I'll wake up by rolling over to a little girl dressed in a hodge-podge of dress-up clothes, with her normal clothes intermixed, and singing a silly song as she attempts to get to my face to "give you a kiss, Mommy." Her emerging imagination is pretty entertaining, too. The other day she told me all about the ghosts that live in our house (they're nice ghosts, of course). We went down the list of them all, and who they haunt, and she even let me know what sound each one of us makes when we see them! I say, "OHHhhhhhhh!"

Did I happen to mention just how smart she is? TJ caught on much more quickly to the spoken language thing, and seems to be very, very mathematically inclined, which is great. Taryn, however, is constantly amazing me with her artistic abilities. It took TJ till he was four before he even would try to draw a circle, and he just started being able to draw people. Taryn is already drawing people, and she started drawing circles at two! She also started picking out her clothes (which she matches quite well, sometimes better than me!) and dressing herself somewhere around the time she turned two. You can never appreciate enough how great it is to have your child dress herself, especially when you have to dress not only her little brother, but her older one as well! I also find it amazing that she has the memory she does. She still remembers everything she got for her second birthday, and everytime she sees it, she'll go, "I got that for my happy birthday!" She does the same thing for Christmas presents, and gifts in general. She'll tell you, "Mimi gave this to me," and it'll be something she got years ago. I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast this morning (which is pretty sad, b/c I eat the same thing every day!)!

I could go on and on, as I'm sure anyone could about their child. I say that she worries me, b/c I can just see her being a wild-child that has no problem letting her hair down and having fun. I foresee trouble, and I can only hope that she picks the right friends. She excites me, though, b/c I also see her being the life of the party, and standing out in the crowd. I think she'll be a unique person, with a personality all her own. She's social, yet completely able and happy to hang alone, which I think will definitely benefit her. She's already shown that she's fiercely independent, which I'm quite sure will help her and hinder any attempts by me to hold her back! I do love, though, that she's such a loving little girl, and the she's 100% Momma's Girl! She tells me at least 1000 times a day that "I love you so much, Mommy." It rocks, even when it gets on my nerves b/c I'm in the middle of doing something! I am a very, very lucky person! I couldn't be happier that I have the special little girl that I have, scary crazy or not!