carter is so totally into music. he hears a beat and his head starts nodding, and his butt starts bouncing. he does this as he crawls on his hands and feet, so the effect is very funny.

and he 'sings' too--not like ava did at his age--she had an ah ah aaaahhh thing that she did--rather he goes aaaaahaaahhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa with his mouth wide open and yells at the top of his lungs. but it is definitely singing because he only does it in response to other people singing.

he completely imitates ava. and he claps with both hands facing the floor--so he hits the back of his right hand with the palm of his left.

still climbing, still crawling. not much of an interest in walking yet. why walk when you can get so much dirtier by crawling?

ava is busy trying to figure out past present and future, thereby excommunicating herself from the zen bliss of living in the moment. soon she will be joining the ranks of regular humans, all desperately trying to get back to it.

it isn't like she did not get that there was a past and a future, but i am talking about big stretches of abstract time--like mom being a kid. she is only just starting to comprehend the enormity of that. i existed before she did. she existed before carter did.

the other day, i pointed out twins to her. after explaining it to her, she swore up and down that she saw carter when she was inside mommy. i tried to explain again, but then gave up.

it is funny--she is so mature in so many ways, and it will lead you to have a conversation with her that is very sophisticated, and then out of the blue, in the middle of a deep discussion on life and the meaning of it, she will stop dead in her tracks and holler "look mommy! a FIRE HYDRANT!!!!"

translation: "i am still 2"