New "Milestones"

I'm not sure if these are milestones or what, but I find that since the Miles has been potty trained, there have not been a whole lot of other really definitive milestones recently. I guess Miles coloring better could be one?

• This week Miles was playing with the MagnaDoodle and said to me "Mommy, do you want me to write WLIT?" (the call letters to the station that plays all Christmas music around the holidays in Chicago). His arm was in the way at first so I couldn't see him form the letters, but he did it. And I did witnessed him writing the T, effortlessly.

• Monday Ella was getting her tap shoes on in the dance hallway and wanted to tie them herself. Nowadays there are rarely ties on kids shoes, so maybe she would have asked about this earlier if their were. So we went through it a few times. Today she showed me that she tied her sweatpants tie in a bow. She did it! All by herself!

• Now this one may seem weird. And it may seem weird that it actually made my eyes well up with tears of joy. Today Ella had swim class. She is very good in the water. She is learning different strokes now. While practicing the precursor to the front stroke (otherwise known as a modified doggie paddle), she started moving her hands differently. The teacher taught the class that arm movement and then the the froggy leg kick. Which I'd actually taught Ella in the pool this summer, and she remembered. The teacher asked her to put it together and she did. ELLA DID THE BREAST STROKE for the first time! Am I nuts for getting so excited?