Best Ages Ever

Brooke and Charlotte are at such great ages, we would like to freeze them in time.  At 4 (and a half!), Charlotte is such a joy to be around.  She likes to be with us and can talk for hours about nothing and everything.  Sometimes her observations of the world are quite interesting.  Other times, I can't follow her random flights of thought for more than a few seconds before I am lost.  Either way, it is a pleasure to spend a few moments together, just the two of us.  Brooke, at 14 months, is also a bundle of joy.  It is amazing to watch her mind work.  She can spend minutes just playing with her toys.  Her shape sorter, books, drawing, and stacking toys are her favorite right now.  She loves to climb, spin, and walk around everywhere.  She tries to jump but can't get off the ground yet.  She wants to do everything her big sister does, good or bad.  Brooke's vocabulary is exploding, both in speech and signs.  I haven't yet counted her words, so, here goes.  She says hiya, bye-bye, mama, dada, book, ball, yaya (Charli), eat, more, milk, agua, patos (zapatos), socks, dog, meow, please, help, close, open, cracker, baba (bottle or paci), no, bear, baby, duck, quack, star, up, down,  pig, bath, tick-tock, ow, night-night, thank-you, hippopotomus, fish, helicopter, all-done, pan, por favor, balloon, bubble, and poo-poo.  She probably has more that I am not thinking of right now.  Brooke is also now sleeping through the night at least 4 nights a week.  Unfortunately, she does think that 5 am is a perfectly acceptable time to wake following a full nights sleep.  We will have to convince her otherwise, and fast.  I need a nap!