And this is Quinn – dressed herself this way. Yes, the girl can put tights on all by herself.. She is such a silly nut this one. One thing that strikes me about her these days is her efficiency with syllables. Really more than two are never necessary. Her pacifer is a pac, lollipops are lols, toiler paper is toilet papes… She shortens everything and it cracks me up – she has her own lingo at 3.5 yrs old.

She is completely obsessed with water. If she can find a container, it will get filled with water. The other day she got two bowls from her play kitchen, filled them with water and returned them to her play kitchen. She will take out 20 ziplock bags our of another kitchen drawer and fill each one with water making “fishies”.

She also on a daily basis empties the towel drawer in my kitchen and then stuffs all the the towels and washcloths into the bottom shelf of her play kitchen. She will take all the clothes from her dresser drawer and then stuff them in her nightstand saying they need to be there in case she needs them. She is a strange mix of hoarder and transporter and re-organizer. It is all at once funny and drives me crazy. She runs around the house full of purpose with a purse stuffed full of who knows what mix of toys, random stuff and toiler paper that is slung across her body like a messenger bag looking like a little old lady headed to Luby’s.

And she is so in the moment – she draws anywhere, on any surface and whenever she has the inclination. There are no boundaries – it is not Tyler’s art or Mommy’s notes – they are a canvas for her to decorate. And even if we claim them as ours well, she offers her help with our art or our notes. She is all about group projects, this one.

She plays with reckless abandon completely in the moment. The perfect example of a child soaking up life. Sometimes I wish I could join her more in her moments. Mine are filled with scenes of large-scale messes or asking her for the 100th time where the toilet paper is. After she goes to the bathroom, she always takes the roll and puts it under the night stand in case she needs it. The night stand is special as is toilet paper.

She is three and a half. I have no answers……merely observations coupled with amusement and bewilderment.