A little hint of news for those who are waiting.

I'm not announcing anything official. But my sister-in-law is carefully avoiding being induced tomorrow morning by getting a bit of a head start. So if there's new baby news soon, don't be shocked. (I'm not terribly surprised myself. I predicted 9pm tonight, and she left for the hospital at about 10pm.)

In other news, young T (who is infamous upstairs for not wanting to go to bed) went down like a dream for me when I was in charge of the tail end of bedtime. I tucked him in twice, and he was out like a light. I like to think I'm special, but I hear that he does that for babysitters too, so it probably has more to do with the fact that I'm not mom or dad.

Not having any kids of my own, I don't think of myself as an expert on child development by a long shot. However, I fin it fascinating to watch children develop between 1-3 years of age. I feel like they change dramatically even in one week - learning how to walk, how to run, how to talk, how to communicate effectively (not always the same thing as talking), how to do so many things just by watching you do them (good or bad). Every so often I go upstairs and out of the blue, my 2 year old nephew suddenly looks so much more grown up. He tells me all about how ducks go quack, and "reads" books he has memorized, and tells me to come over here so he can show me something. He chatters away non-stop and even in the last week or two has become much more understandable. (Interestingly, I have heard that he hardly says a peep in Nursery on Sundays.) I remember about a year and a half ago coming upstairs and he was walking all on his own - and I thought, he couldn't do that three days ago! It boggles my mind. I know children grow and change and learn every day, and if we're lucky it doesn't stop even when they're adults. But for some reason, that particular developmental stage always seemed to encompass the most dramatic changes. It's fun to watch.

Anyway. Enough of my ramblings. Time for some pie and sleep.