Twins

My girls are 10 months today and they are rapidly turning into little toddlers!  Their stout little legs support their weight as they lean against the coffee table and devour Cheerios.  Their capable little bodies chase me into the kitchen and ‘help’ me clean or cook.  They are starting to have very clear modes of communication.  They go nuts when daddy sings “Goosey Goosey Gander” or the “Grand Old Duke of York”.  Their little personalities are just shining so brightly.

Aeralind Grace

You are fearless.  You were the first to pull up and stand at the coffee table.  I thought for sure that I would have to help you get back down to a sitting position, but, oh, no.  You simply let go of the side of the coffee table and plop right down on your bum so hard I almost swear you bounce!  You crawl to the edge of our tall King bed and reach over the 3 foot drop to grab something off the nightstand.  Sometimes you’ll even hang your arms and head over the side of the bed as if to taunt the floor! You’ve even climbed 2 stairs before I could swoop you up for a diaper change. I’m constantly amazing at your adventurous spirit.

This month you’ve learned to pull up to stand, clap your hands at the table (I think you’re signing ‘more’… but I’m not sure), blow raspberries like your sister, steal food off your sister’s tray at mealtime, pull up to stand on objects that are flat (the oven and the back door are your favorites), and are captivated by your reflection (hence the obsession with pulling up to stand at the oven…).  You love to lick your reflection which I think is odd since you don’t lick your sister 😉  You also love tipping your head backwards as we lean you back over on our laps.  It makes you shriek with joy!

You’ve become a bit of a cuddle bug this month.  You’ll pull up to stand next to where someone is sitting and shriek until we pick you up.  Then you’ll snuggle up close.  Sometimes you pull hair, or explore what happens as you pick our noses, or attempt to poke out our eyes.  You just enjoy being near us.

I taught you to roar early last month.  I would get down on the floor and roar and attempt to chase you two (although you both chased me instead… you haven’t figured out how to run away!).  And suddenly one day you started mimicking my roar.  It cracks me up as you come flying at me howling.

You’ve become obsessed with the cardboard carseat boxes that we used to make a fort in.  In one of them your daddy carved a small square window and you love sticking your face out of that window.  You’ll get your sister’s attention from the window and suddenly the two of you will be collapsing in giggles as you try to lick/bite each others’ hands through the hole.  If you’re not playing at the window, then most likely you’re pulling up to stand in the box and peep over at me in the kitchen.

Bronwyn Hope

Bronwyn, this month your mischievous side has burst forth with reckless abandon. You’ve always loved moving objects larger than yourself and you just figured out you could move the carseat box fort from it’s post as ‘gate’ between the living room and the kitchen.  You delight in shoving the boxes out of the way and leading an exploratory expedition into the kitchen. One day I walked out of the room and when I came back I could not find you anywhere!  You had crawled behind my couch and were quietly chilling out in the space where the couches butt up against one another.

While you showed almost no interest in crawling or moving until your sister started crawling last month, you’ve quickly made up for it.  After you’d mastered the inch worm, you managed to sit up from your tummy.  Then one day you just suddenly gave up the inch worming (sadness… it was so cute!) and just started crawling better and faster than your sister.  You love getting into things.  You’re always dumping out toy crates, banging toys together, and moving on to the next thing as fast as possible. You’ve also learned that you can blow raspberries with food in your mouth, how to climb over just about anything, how to pull up and stand, and can to get to a Cheerio hidden anywhere 🙂

You are a sweet clumsy child. This month you’ve bonked your head on the fireplace, fallen into the coffee table, pulled up on a kitchen table chair and fallen into the kitchen table leg, and gotten your legs stuck in the crib slats (though you probably could have gotten out of that without my assistance).  You always have bumps on your poor little head.  Because of this, I think you’re more cautious than your sister.  You would pull up on the coffee table to eat your cheerios, but only to your knees for the longest time.  When you did pull up all the way to your feet, your method of sitting down is so dainty compared to your sister’s giant plop.

Bronwyn, you love books.  You love unearthing them from the pile in the corner of the room. You love opening them to a page and giving the room a running commentary on those pictures.  You love stealing them from your sister.  You love chewing on them.  And you love it when I read them to you too.  I hope that means you’re going to be an avid reader, but for right now I just think it’s amusing 🙂

Recently you’ve started to cause mischief at naptimes (okay… that’s not recent… :-p but this is a new form of it).  You crawl over to the corner and lure your sister over to talk to you.  Then you share your pacifier with her.  Well, really you throw it at her or just drop it out of your crib.  It’d kind of cute… except ofcourse when you’re not napping 😉

Oh, babies, I love you so much and I’m loving this age but I can’t wait to see what your spunky selves evolves into during your 11th month.

That last month just flew by.  I wish I could freeze time and keep these girls as they are right now.  I know it I say it every month lately , but I just cannot imagine my girls becoming any more fun! This month brought on full mobility for both babies and they are just loving the freedom to roam around.  Honestly, I’m loving it too (although I thought I dreaded it).  Mobility brought with it a sweet contentedness and the joy of me being the one worth moving toward.
As you can imagine, getting both babies to stay put long enough for a photo is quite the adventure these days 🙂

Let me start in reverse birth order for a change.

Bronwyn Hope
Bronwyn, you are sitting in my lap right now and smacking the desk because you’re cutting your second bottom tooth in one week and just can’t manage to sleep.  Your bottom right poked through on Sunday and your bottom left is greeting us today. You’re really not too bad when teething, but the naps sure do become impossible!

Bronwyn, you are just so quirky! Your ‘crawl’ is a beautiful inch worm.  You start on all fours but then slide your left toes into the ground and plop your belly down.  You drag your lower body using the brute strength of your arms with a little push from those toes.  Your inch worm is actually almost as efficient as Aeralind’s full crawl minus the fact that it’s nearly impossible for you to go straight.  Yesterday you inched all around the Bouncing Babies room and stole toys from every toddler who would let you.

You also are really into meals at the moment.  If I don’t give you food fast enough you grunt and growl at me.  If your sister touches your bib, you will roar at her.  If the food on your tray doesn’t look as good as sisters, you’ll help yourself to her food.  Mealtimes are very rarely dull anymore!  You are my traditional sippy cup child, though unfortunately for mommy you haven’t figured out how to tip it back on your own yet.

I can’t get over how much you love making noises right now.  Not so much squealing like a pterodactyl anymore, but using objects to make noise. You’ll crawl on over to the entry way to smack the vinyl flooring.  You love that sound.  You also are content to shake rattles or bang toys together or on other objects as often as you can.  Noise and the fact that you can cause noise just fascinates you.

You are ticklish on your tummy and love when I do “Goosey Goosey Gander” It makes you so excited.  You are also ticklish under your chin though you pretend not to be.  You love being held and will snuggle right up to me if I pick you up.  You try to hold parsnips between your toes when you’re eating finger food. You pretend to suck your thumb, but really you are just chewing on it (sometimes while saying a very nasal “gulla gulla gulla”). Oh my sweet Bronwyn baby, I wish I could bottle you up as you are now and just enjoy you like this for months!

Aeralind Grace
If ever there was a child as persistent, independent, and hard headed as I am, you, dear Aeralind, are that child. I’ve been trying to teach you not to suck your thumb at the table.  When you finally understood that I wasn’t going to allow that no matter what. you looked at me with mischief in your eyes and stuck your other thumb in your mouth just to make sure I would be as consistent on that side!  Since you’ve awoken, I’ve had to haul you out from under the desk more times that I care to count.

I really don’t mind your persistent spirit.  I actually love watching you figure things out.  For the first two weeks of your 8th month, you were thisclose to crawling. Every day you would get on all fours and rock.  Then you’d lift one hand in the air. Then you’d lift one foot in the air.  Then you’d push forward and collapse in a heap of limbs. And you’d repeat those actions over and over every single waking moment (and lots of moments when you should have been sleeping, too).  Finally, on May 28th it all came together and you haven’t looked back.  Your independent spirit is so excited to have the blessing of mobility.

Within days of crawling you had also mastered the feat of sitting up from your tummy.  Now you’re trying to master crawling over large objects like your sister or me or wipes boxes or anything else in your path.  You also are pretty obsessed with putting your hands on something in front of you and rocking back and forth on your knees. Occasionally you’ll stick a foot under you too.  I’m pretty sure you’re going to pull up to stand before 11 months and I’m afraid you’ll be an early walker!