Where did my babies go?

Most mornings, as soon as I open the room to their door, Cadence rushes out and Megan fusses to be picked up and carried out to the couch. This morning, though, Megan was sleeping in and Cadence was playing with her legos. So, what's a mom to do?

That's right, I sat next to her and began playing too. She was talking up a storm as she played "hmm, green one right.... here" and "oh no, be careful" and she'd pretend to wobble every time her lego tower did. Every time the tower did fall over (despite my best attempts to counter balance her awkward building choices), she'd cover her mouth and get a huge wide-eyed look and say: "Oh, no, she fall down!" She'd also babble at me as we worked. She told me Megan was still sleeping.

Taz came over and chatted with us. Cadence did really well with just petting her instead of being mean, which I praised over and over again. Then she rubbed her face against Taz's, giggled and said she had "pet Taz with face". There were a few more random syllables thrown in there, of course, but the words I recognized were those in that order.

Megan woke up shortly after that. I had scampered off to get dressed for the day and when I came back, Cadence was asking Megan if she wanted to get up and Megan clearly said "no" and burrowed deeper into her blankets. When she saw me, she sat up and asked "up?" So we sat by her bed. She pointed to the Dora book at my feet and asked "book?" so I picked it up and we began to go through it. She pointed to the turtles and named them. She pointed to Dora and named her. She pointed to the babies and named them.

Cadence came and offered a trade. A stack of legos for the book, which Megan happily accepted and began disassembling and reassembling them as Cadence sat by both of us and began reading the book to me. I was fascinated. I've read the book to her a few times, including once last night. She opened to the first page and repeated the typical opening to Dora show ("Hi, I'm Dora!" "And I'm Boots!"). She continued to name basic facts for most of the pages. She recognized the Troll Bridge and the Troll. She discussed Map. She pointed out Swiper and pointed to the "tenpoes" (tent poles) he was attempting to swipe. She named off "Mami and Papi" and pointed to the marshmallows they were roasting and said "Yummy!" Her recall is amazing. She's also really beginning to relate to the movies and books. Just yesterday she was watching Toy Story (a favorite, though calling it simply a "favorite" may be selling it short, lol) and when Buzz broke his arm off she exclaimed "oh, no, Buzz broke his arm" very clearly.

Yes, fascinating.

Then, as we wandered out into the living room, Megan asked for "frog", which is our normal routine. As I was emptying the dishwasher, she wandered in and asked for "juice" and bounced when I pulled down the "cereal" and happily repeated the word over and over, then ran back to the couch to wait when I told her to.

In the time since I sat down to rush through this entry (I have a kitchen needing cleaning this morning and I'd rather get it done as soon as possible), Cadence came up to me with two cups and informed me she had "two cups, one water, one juice" then scampered off to enjoy the exciting moment. Megan carried her cup and bowl over to me, set them both on the desk beside me then held up her arms and asked "Up?" and spent the rest of my typing exercise in my lap talking to her sister.

So, seriously... when did I suddenly become the mom of two toddlers? And when did they get so smart?