I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry

My babies are growing up. How does this happen? I remember the day Joseph came to our house like it was yesterday. And I remember the day Elle was born like it was .... this morning. And then I blinked and they grew up.

Elle turned two yesterday. I can't even wrap my head around that. I can so clearly remember waking up the night before she was born and thinking "Is that a contraction? I think that's a contraction. A real contraction!" I was so excited that I was going to be able to meet my little girl and now she's here and she's more amazing than I ever would have dreamed she could be. She's soft and girly, feisty and rough n' tumble, sassy and sweet. My funny little monkey.

Joseph is another one. Yikes. Sometimes I forget he's getting older because he always seems to stay the same size. Then he goes and does something that reminds me he's not a baby any more either.

The other day we were in the car and Joseph started talking to us about some girls at school he likes. He told us there's one little girl in class that he loves (because she's smart) but that he can't talk to. He explained "When you talk to a girl in school then everyone in your class will know that you love her and that's embarrassing." (I thought that was a pretty astute observation for a kid who so often misses the finer points of social interaction.) He said he sometimes tries to talk to her after school but then her brother is always with her. I suggested that he just try saying hi to her sometime in the hallway, that that would probably be ok. That led to this conversation:
Joseph: It's hard to talk to girls when you love them.
Me: Yeah, that can be hard.
Joseph: Kayla told me to stop telling her that I love her all the time.
Me: Oh, um. Yeah, it's ok to have those nice feelings about someone but sometimes people aren't comfortable hear stuff like that.
Joseph: (long pause) How do you know when a girl wants to hear "I love you"?
Me: Uhhhhh.....

Crap. I didn't think I would have to have this conversation with him for anther 20 years or so.

Joseph also told me that he loves a little girl who he always sees at our family functions. He told me "I do everything I can think of to make her fall in love with me to." When I asked him what he did he said "Things like making sure that my hair is laying flat on my head when she's around so that I'll look handsome. And sometimes when I see her I just hide behind a post so that she won't see me." I'm baffled by how she's managed to resist his charms so far.

Sigh. He's too young to be having all these girl problems. I'm too young for him to be having all these girl problems.

Isn't there some way that I can just keep my kids little for just a little while longer?