Eighteen Months

and nine days.

But who's counting? I mean...other than me of course? I'm late! I know! I was distracted by coughing up my lungs and sleeping (or not sleeping, as it were) on the sofa at night.

Moving on...the twins have become monkeys. Monkeys that climb on everything and get into everything and they cannot be stopped. On the stairs, on the couch, on the chairs, on the play stove, on the beds, on the mom, on the dad, on each other, etc. etc. etc.

Up!

Over!

Down! And...repeat!

They climb on things it never once occurred to Caitlin that she could climb on when she was their age and together they can get into all kinds of things we never had to set up to keep Caitlin out of things. Immediately after this photo, Emma climbed up over the back of the couch, after starting in the box.

"I press dis button, you get da disc."

They're completely mad about music and every time we go down to the living room, we must have music turned on immediately. Even before breakfast is made or juices are handed out. The box they are climbing into was there to protect the CD changer from their tiny, sticky fingers. It lasted for months and months, but not any longer. If you are slow on turning the music on, they'll try to do it for you. Slacker! They love the children's CDs we have, but they also will listen to regular rock and roll as well, which is good because there's only so many times you can listen to 'Jimmy Cracked Corn' without going on a shooting spree.

Not that I would...I think.

Emma: "Romeo! Oh Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse --"
Logan: "Dat Shakespeare is too heavy for me. You just be a kitty stuck in da tree."
Emma: "But -- but I gots more lines!"

They like to help out in the kitchen sometimes. Emma likes to watch what I'm working on and Logan likes to sweep. Or mop. Basically, if a very long stick is involved, he's happy to swing it around and smash stuff with it unintentionally.

Even more than sticks, though, Logan has an unending love of buttons and all things that have buttons and go beep. Computers? Remotes? Phones? He loves them all. He's a Gadget Boy, born and bred. Today I gave in and broke our house rule about no noisy toys and bought him his very own laptop.
He looooooooves this thing. I can't even begin to tell you how much. I'm kind of worried about his ability to share it with Emma, but I may have a different toy to pull out of the garage for her - Caitlin's Little People Zoo.
It makes noise! It has critters! No buttons, though. Hopefully she will be appeased. Frankly, the laptop is a naked attempt to get Logan to leave all of the other actual laptops alone so that they remain functional. I hope it works. This one makes way more fun sounds when you press it aaaaaaand you can open and close the top all day long. Open and close. Open and close. Open. And. Close.

Please, honey! Leave mommy's computer alone!

In other news, Emma's hair is getting really long and either needs to be trimmed or held back by clips or ties. However much she may like clips and ties she also pulls them out after a few minutes. So while she is sporting the gamine urchin look with her hair in her eyes all the time, I do attempt to restrain it on occasion. Like so.

I give you...the Poof.

Step back, Pebbles!

It's terribly cute, no? She's at the phase where her hair isn't long enough for a ponytail, but it's perfect for standing upright in a poof! Whee!

I trim Logan's hair in front and have continued to let it curl wantonly in the back. I love it. I can't help it! I've noticed a big difference in their hair amount and thickness, though. It makes me wonder: Caitlin and Logan have piles of thick hair, while Emma's is quite thin and fine. I'm really hoping it's going to fill in at some point, but I don't know if it will. Can I tell you how completely surprised I am that a child of mine could possibly have seemingly little hair? I, personally, have enough hair on my head for a family of four. Where's Emma's share? I blame Eric's genes.

Sorry honey. It had to be said.

The twins continue to break in new teeth every now and again, but it seems like it doesn't bother them overly much. A little extra drooling here and there and some serious clingy-ness, but no particular caterwauling over it, so I guess it's good that they're so slow to teethe, just like Caitlin was when she was their age. Emma is currently working on her upper canines, while Logan has decided to mix things up a bit and go for a lopsided look. He has 4 upper teeth and 3 lower teeth. The outer pair on the left top and bottom came in together, while the matching right side teeth are taking their sweet time.

One thing about the twin thing that continues to astound me is just how much they really love one another.

"I loves him!" Emma gently lays her head on Logan.

They can play rough at times, but they play together a lot, very nicely and so sweetly. They give each other kisses and hugs, share food (Sometimes forcibly. You will eat dis cheese!) and even toys.

Emma: "You don't tell her about dee books I broked, I won' tell about dee 'puter you broked."
Logan: "Deal!"

They giggle together when we put them down for naps and entertain one another for that extra half hour that it takes to get out of bed. They still steal each other's blankets at night (and the loser cries and cries until we come and rescue their blanket from the winner), but they also tickle each other and chase the other one around the house and they both make me laugh so hard my face hurts.

Emma: "Cheese. I want cheeeeese."
Logan: "You gotta use da sign langwage. She don't hear too good."
Emma: "You know dats you fault for all da screamin', right?"
Logan guiltily: "Yeah."

While they do make it hard to get a lot of anything done, they are a lot of fun just to play with and tickle until my face hurts too much from all the laughing to continue. They like to be chased around, given piggy back rides, tossed into the air, spun around on the floor and flipped upside down (Who doesn't?!). They also like to explore in the backyard, when the weather allows.

Logan: "Yeah, right here? Dis where I gonna plant some seeds."
Emma: "You gonna need a lotta seeds."
Logan: "Ayup. And a shovel. Maybe a hammer."
Emma: "What for?"
Logan: "I dunno, but I bet I find a reason."

It's really hard to keep them out of trouble out there, though. There's so much to get into! This explains why I haven't gotten any yard work done this year and why I haven't planted anything yet. I have to wait for nap time and it would be really nice if I wasn't exhausted and sick, too. It will probably be a few years before they can actually help in the yard and not eat the flowers. Or suck on rocks.

"Daddy! Can I have a hammer for some unspecified purpose? I'm cute! See?!"

The twins are working on acquiring more language and say things like juice (Jooooose!) and cheese (Cheeeeez.) and cookie (Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!) and assorted other things that they won't say on demand, but will when the mood strikes them. They have a full repertoire of Ehn! that covers everything from Pick me up! to Turn on the music! to Give me that toy! but it's a contextual language thing and I'm ready for more solid words. Just a few extra nouns would be nice.

Until then, I guess I'll have to keep listening to Ehn! Ehn!

All in all, while it's still tough having twins, they're a lot of fun on the good days and twice as horrible on bad days. So long as the good days out number the bad, we're doing pretty well!

"Heeeeey! What can I say? It's a tough job bein' dis cute, but somebody's gotta do it!"

It's still a very good thing that they're sweet. I think I'll keep them!