We have absolutely no idea what our children are doing when we're not with them

About two weeks ago, we decided it was about time (way later than with the boys, I might add) to start Amelia on some Cheerios, her first real solid food. (We've been feeding her baby food in jars for a few months, but we hadn't given her crackers or anything yet.)

I told Grayson he could tell Ms. Faye and Ms. Dee, Amelia's teachers, that they could start giving her Cheerios at school if they had some to share. Cut to daycare the next morning:

Grayson: "We're gonna start giving her Cheerios this weekend, so if you want to, go ahead and give her some Cheerios here."

Faye: "Aw, HONEY. 'Melia-Moo LOVES Cheerios, don'tcha, 'Melia-Moo? Ooooh, she LOVES some Cheerios. AND THAT BITE OF BANANA PUDDING I GAVE HER, TOO!"

So, well, there's that. Which we actually both thought was hilarious. Little did we know, she'd been gobbling Cheerios -- at a minimum -- down for some time now!

A few days later, I was the one dropping Amelia and Jake off at school, and I told Ms. Faye that Amelia was doing great with the Cheerios at home.

Faye: "Oooh, yes she IS. And she loves those graham crackers and veggie puffs so MUCH!"

Okay, so clearly we've moved right on down the line to crackers and puffs. I mean, I couldn't be happier! I was thrilled to know that Ms. Faye and Ms. Dee were guiding poor Amelia's development along the right track, while we're at home practically limiting her to IV fluids. I'm so glad we have this tremendous support system to save us from ourselves.

Then, while I was at the scrapbooking crop a couple of weekends ago, I received several emails from Nick in a row on Saturday morning. He was SO excited because Amelia was eating Cheerios in her high chair, and he'd taken pictures and video of it. I was so proud of him for capturing those moments for me and then emailing them to me!

Nick ALSO sent me this one of Jake. I cannot even explain it to you. I have no idea.

And later that same day, I received the following email from our babysitter, Anna:

Dear Katherine,

As you know, I babysat your children today. They are all doing well ... The boys all made a point of telling me that she had had some Cheerios that morning. After I fed her and gave her a bottle, I heated up some Spaghettios for the boys. While they were only lukewarm, I took some of the pasta and sauce out, squished it up in a bowl, and went to see what Amelia thought of them.

Dea

Nicholas: "She can't eat those."

Me: "I smashed them up into little bits and there isn't any meat in here."

I show him the bowl.

Me: " If she can handle Cheerios...."

Nicholas gives his approval. By now, Nathaniel has taken an interest in our conversation.

Nathaniel: "What is it?"

I show him what's in the bowl, and Nicholas tells him. This next bit is the part I want to call your attention to.

Nathaniel (as I am giving Amelia a tiny bite): "This is the first time she's eaten that. I better get a picture."

He grabs the camera off the fireplace and proceeds to snap away. Soooooo ... this is what I want to know: Have you trained him to capture 'firsts' in the event of your absence, or has he just picked this up from being in an atmosphere of almost constant documentation (scrapbooks, blogs, etc.) Because it was just too cute.

Anna

As I told Anna when I emailed her back, I haven't "trained" the boys to do that, but I LOVE that they both thought to grab cameras and document some of Amelia's "firsts." I think it's less a result of my constant documentation of their lives and more of a testament to how much they love her. They want to capture and remember those special moments because they realize how quickly she's changing and how much they want us all to remember how incredible this time was.

I couldn't be more proud.