Some things I’ve enjoyed about my daughters over the past week.

M.: M. is always talking. Even if just to herself, her lips are always moving and sounds are coming out. We catch her whispering things to herself all the time.

We’re working on bike riding. A week ago we took off her training wheels. She made some great progress the first few days, but with the weather cooling off and her back in school, we let things drop this week.

As I took her training wheels off, she sat next to me, excited to take a big developmental step. I heard her whispering to herself, “It’s a big day.”

Once we got on the bike, I gave her some instructions and chased her around the driveway. Each time she would start over, she would run through my list, “Top foot, push off, now peddle hard!” I don’t have to say anything anymore because she’s repeating it all on her own.

She’s on the verge of riding all by herself. Once it warms up again, I’m sure she’ll master it quickly.

C./L.: The little sisters share one this week because of something they did Thursday night. C. lost tooth #3 last Sunday. She literally lost it, as it came out while she was eating watermelon at her cousins’ house and, thinking the tooth was a seed, threw it in the grass. Luckily the Tooth Fairy still came.

Tooth #4 was getting very wiggly Thursday afternoon, and she kept pulling on it. After dinner the sisters were outside playing. She and L. came running in, flew upstairs, and we heard their bedroom door slam. A couple minutes later we hear C. screaming, “MOM, DAD! MY TOOTH CAME OUT!!!!”

Turns out she had a little help.

Apparently she put a toy flower into her mouth and had L. yank on it, removing the tooth in the process. Clever. My favorite part was how they had clearly been talking up this plan based on how they ran right by us and closed the door, yet acted like it was some miraculous event afterward.