And then, all of a sudden, your birthday is over.

Last night I had a three year old, and today she is four. And thrilled by this evidence of aging.

I don't mind aging so much, either. Life just keeps getting better and better. I've been thirty for almost three years now, (December will bring the day that I will finally be telling the truth about being thirty), and so I have no complaints about aging so far.

My only complaint is how fast it is all happening. Maybe it is my fault. Maybe I need to slow down a little. But I honestly have trouble comprehending how I am even a fully grown human, much less the mother of a full-fledged child. (I think we can safely say that Ella is beyond her toddler years. There is no toddle anymore.)

I offer to snuggle Ella every night before bed. She started refusing my offer. I think because I require her o be quiet and still during snuggles, and she likes telling herself stories when she's laying in bed. There was about a month without snuggles. Which was kind of sad. Maybe really sad. So, I told her how I missed our snuggles. And so she has started asking for them again each night. And I stopped enforcing my lay still and quiet rule. I guess we have an understanding.

I must say, it's a relief that she is finally four, because when a girl walks around with a big belly like mine, and people ask how old her children are, andcage tells them three and two, she gets looks like she must be crazy. But Ella was very insistent that we all conveyed her age accurately.

Charlotte on the other hand could care less that she's two. When asked, she offers a blank stare. Or she says she's one. Or, as of today, three. And I quote, "Ella is four now! And I am three!" That child is so smart, I know it is not a comprehension problem. She is just outright refusing to be her own age.

I guess she gets it from her mother.