Stop Growing!!!

"Stop Growing!" I say this to Jaelyn at least once a day. She is just growing up way too fast. Usually this statement comes because shoes that I bought 3 wks ago don't fit, or because her Sunday dress is too short, but this last week I have said it because she has been learning too many new things. We visited my sister, Kelly in Vegas for a couple of days, and Jaelyn decided that she was going to swim without her lifejacket and now she is a total swimmer. No help, just goes - jumping or diving off the edge, and diving down for rings or whatever is on the bottom of the pool. She does awesome, but it is a little unnerving for me because when she had the (coast guard approved) life jacket on, I felt that I didn't have to watch her every second, now I do.

She learned how to cross the monkey bars when we visited Tommy Woolf last week. She has been practicing every time we go to a park, and now she finally has the hang of it. She also learned how to do the fire pole at the playground by herself. I'm sure most of you Moms know the relief that comes when you don't have to carry the kids across the monkey bars or hold them as they slide down the fire pole. It is a really nice thing, now if we could just get Mackay to do it.

When we went to the cemetery for Memorial Day I caught Mackay singing. This isn't a relatives headstone, but he saw the temple and just started to sing. He loves to sing.

Jaelyn also learned to tie her shoes the other day. We stopped at the outlets in Barstow on our trip and we bought her some new gym shoes. No that she is in girls sizes, velcro isn't as prevalent, so I told her she would need to learn how to tie laces. She figured it out in about 10 minutes of practicing. I thought that we would be working on it for weeks. Yet another joy of parenting. The day when your kid can put their own shoes on - shoes with laces that is.
I enjoy these milestones, because she is so excited about accomplishing new things. I guess watching your kids grow up is just bitter sweet. Sorry about the long post.

Jae wanted me to take a picture of every "step" of the process.