My baby boy is growing up so fast. Too fast.

Was it really a little over two years ago that Ethan came home to us, so tiny?

 Ally was so thrilled to have her baby brother at home, and we would have to watch to make sure she would not smother him with her affection.

At six months, he was a very happy and slobbery baby with two teeth. 

A few months after he turned one, Sam brought his mini-me to the company picnic, who was not impressed.

The boy has been addicted to TV since he was a tiny infant.  We call it his altar.

A big boy now, he tackled his trike while playing with bubbles this spring.

Although Ethan is two years old, he still does not speak intelligible words beyond "mama", "dada", and "uh oh".  Rather, he makes a noise that seems to substitute for everything.  We decided to enlist the help of Infant and Toddler Services of Johnson County, and he now works once a week with a speech therapist.  In addition, we decided to send him to school once a week, hoping peer modeling would encourage his speech development.  This past Tuesday was his first day; he was very happy and proud to show he's a big boy and can navigate the stairs to his classroom.

Then he realized Mommy and Ally may not stick around...

We snuck out of the classroom, and there were absolutely no tears from him.  I immediately went back to the office, where they called his teacher to make sure he was still fine.  Yes, he was fine.  No, he did not cry.

Ally and I had no choice but to leave.  On the drive back, I held it together.  Then Ally whimpered "Mommy, I miss Ethan!" and the tears started streaming down her face.  At this point, I should clarify that I cry on an average of once a year.  It has been justifiably argued that I am much like the Tin Man, except I have no special desire to find a heart.  When one of the kids cry, I ask them to re-evaluate the situation to determine the justification for their tears.  From my perspective, there is generally very little reason for them to shed tears.

But seeing my sweet, compassionate little girl cry because she missed her baby brother was too much.  I, too, started tearing up, and I did not reprimand her.  How did our baby boy grow up so fast?  How did my sweet little Ally get to be such a big girl?  WHERE IN THE THE HELL DID THIS HEART COME FROM, AND WHO SNUCK IT IN?!!!