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My kids. They just keep growing. Every time I have a chance to breathe these days, one of them does or says something that reminds me what a constant process it is. Here are some of the things I've noticed:

Oliver

Can form a few letters finally. I've tried several times before to get him to form the letters of his name, but it was just scribbles. When it came time to do this year's Valentine's cards for his class, I had him write his name on each one. He got pretty fatigued by the end of about 20 cards, but he could legibly form O-L-I-V. I had to give him lots of explicit instructions for the E, which never was recognizable, and R was very hard. But I was really proud of him for trying. (And on a related note, I must wonder a bit that he was the only one is his room of 16 kids to do so. Every other Valentine he got, each one a pre-made card, had his name and the kid's name written by the parent. The kid hadn't even colored anything. Even last year, when he was 2, I had him put on stickers himself and color the envelope. I seriously question why the daycare has us do this if the kids are in no way involved. Okay, vent over.)
Is probably ready to do a little reading. I picked up a reading guide suggested by my mommy mentor, Sarabeth, that she used with her kiddos. We started it for a few days, and while he seemed to be picking up on it fine, I found that I didn't have the ability to be consistent. I put it away and we're going to start again once my classes are over so that we can make it through the whole book in the way it's intended. There's no huge advantage to have him reading sooner than later, but I don't see any reason to put it off, either, if he's showing readiness.
Can count on his fingers and enumerate up to three or four. He's been able to count up consecutively for several months or more, but he could not enumerate. He can still only count to maybe four or five, but it's usually correct.
Is trying to make sense of the world around him. He has recently said things that make my gender norming radar go off -- about "boys and mans" being good at bouncing a ball but not "ladies and girls" or only him and daddy being allowed to use the sander, but not mommy. I know part of it is just him reflecting back what he sees, part of it is possibly what he's being socialized to at school and possibly at home, but I also think he's just at the stage to try and lump things together in ways that help simplify the world. We also have conversations about things that have wings and things that go in the air. It's fun but also sometimes requires thoughtful responses -- like, "There are lots of ladies and girls that can bounce balls very well, and some boys and mans that don't do it well at all," or "You're right, mommy doesn't usually use the sander these days, but I know how and maybe Emme will, too, when she gets bigger." I try to keep things kid-friendly. He knows that the men near the stop lights are selling newspaper, and he always looks for their bags at the corner, but my explanation for why they have them is pretty simple: "They don't have a home like we do where they can leave their things, and so they bring their bags with them." We'll cover poverty, the causes of homeless's, and social responsibility at, I don't know, maybe four.
Moved up into a belt-positioning booster seat. He's a little early for this by TN child restraint laws, but he's as big (or bigger) than plenty of four-year-olds who are, by law, permitted to use such a seat. He was really getting too big to fit comfortably into the five-restraint harness seat we have, and by moving him up, it was possible to equip both cars to transport both kids.
Has expanded his movie and television repertoire. He has now seen Charlotte's Web. We have thus far avoided any conversations about death -- he was more focused on Templeton and his rotund belly post-fair visit. He still likes his Winnie the Pooh, The Berenstain Bears, and Sesame Street, but now also really like Scooby Doo.

Emmeline

Is drinking solely from a sippy cup and eating only table food. The bottles have all been put away, and I stopped buying baby food. She usually has dry Cheerios, some banana, and either yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast. She has lunch at daycare on the weekdays, which they provide, and is the same thing Oliver has for lunch. Dinner is usually portions of whatever we're eating, with some simple self-feed stuff thrown in. She absolutely does not like to be fed. And oddly, she really likes meat. She'll fuss if she sees the container of deli meat out. Tonight we had ribs -- Oliver had very little, Emme had a lot.
Is really walking well. She still looks pretty inebriated and falls in the uneven yard or stepping over toys in the living room, but she walks everywhere. Crawling is occasionally necessary, but not preferred. She'll take my hand on the uneven terrain and stay up pretty well, and fortunately, she doesn't fuss when she falls.
Has several hand signs, some gestures, and a few words. She can sign for "more," "all done," "food," and "please." We can hear mama, dada, and -- classic -- "up." In fact, "up" is pretty solid. She still loves to be held or sit in my lap a lot of the time. Usually she just wants it for a while until she's met some kind of quota, and then she'll willingly go play. Unfortunately, she often wants held in the morning, when I'm trying to get us out the door, or in the evening around dinnertime.
Loves to climb. A few weeks ago, Wes left her in her room while he put a dirty diaper in the pail, and by the time he got back to her, she was standing on the child's chair in her room, clapping with glee. She still has to be really well supervised, but she's also learning how to turn around and lower herself off the side of things like the couch.
Loves the bath. Loves, loves, loves it. Will cry and throw a complete fit if you take her out before she's done.
Has a temper. And speaking of a fit, Emme's personality is definitely showing. And from what she has shown, she's for sure not the laid back, easygoing type that Oliver (for the most part) seems to be. And that's fine -- all kids are different. But man is this a different parenting experience. The boundaries are the same, the lines consistently drawn. We're just having to enforce them much sooner with her. I find myself using my "time-out" tone with her -- about throwing goldfish on the floor to a waiting Lucy, for example. Today, evidently, she threw a fit at lunch about her food. Her teacher said she just pushed her away from the table and let her fuss, then asked her if she was "all done" with her fit (which Emme responded to), and then pulled her back up and let her resume eating. As Wes put it, if this is one, I can only imagine what two and three might be like! The age-old stories about boys being harder when little but easier when older, and girls vice versa, does not seem to be holding in this house.
Moved up into a forward-facing convertible seat. Emme likewise outgrew her car seat recently, and moved up (legally) into a forward-facing seat -- the one Oliver previously occupied. It was hilarious to see her in there the first day, this little bitty thing once filled so completely by brother. But she's safe and secure and seems to be a little more content.

There's certainly more than what I've listed here, and I'll add them as I think of them or notice them, but these are some. It constantly amazes me what they can do and how much more they are interacting in play.