Milestone mayhem

Fiona apparently never got the memo, the one that lists the order and rate of mastery of toddler and preschooler milestones. This week has brought long-awaited achievement of two of them -- she has weaned from the breast and slept through the night in her own bed.

She has got it all upside down, this kid. She was using the toilet independently and reliably by 14 months. She started studying violin with cheerful determination at age 2 3/4. She began reading at age 3 1/2. Performing simple subtraction and multiplication at almost-4.

And then, at the ripe old age of 4-and-a-smidge, she decided she could make it through a day without nursing, and through a night without taking up the middle half of her mom and dad's not-even-queen-sized bed.