Twenty Two Months

Down by the river.

Just when you thought they couldn't get any older...they do!

Oh...wait. Strike that.

A few new things have been popping up in Twin Land. Logan now calls Emma by name...sometimes. I suspect the introduction of Elmo into their world had something to do with it. Seems that if it's easy enough to say "Elmo", it should be easy enough to say "Emma". So he does. When he wants. Emma, on the other hand, still has no intention of calling Logan by name, but will helpfully point out "Baby cry!" when Logan is hollering his head off.

Logan, not to be outdone, will tell you that Emma is off having a diaper change: "Emma diah-pah!". He will also, very helpfully, tell you that he needs a diaper change by patting his own butt and saying, "Diah-pah! Diah-pah!".

Connecting two words together seems to be happening this month. Right after I wrote last month's entry, Logan put his first two words together (that we recognized): Fishy cracker. That's right. He wanted fish crackers. Now, he says fun things like "Bye, Daddy!" and "Hi, Daddy!" on a regular basis. Bye Daddy followed by blown kisses in the morning is how Eric is serenaded off to work. Emma just looks around for more food to nosh on. Sorry Eric, ya can't win 'em all.

Both twins have learned the power of bedtime stalling. I'm not sure where they got the idea, but it seems to have paid off for both of them. Now when we announce that it's bedtime, they both immediately start gesturing and announcing "Foo! Foo!" to let us know that they are suddenly starving to death. Nevermind that we just cleaned them both up from dinner, they're starving. Bedtime triggers that response, you know. Just ask Caitlin. (Hi, honey!)

Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Mommy?

I also noted that they've both gotten better about sharing things like drinks and food. This was especially helpful during out trip up to Estes Park this past weekend since Caitlin wasn't in the back seat to hand around snacks and drinks. She's our inflight service attendant, albeit an unwilling one.

You wanna rock?

When Logan finished off his cup of milk, I asked Emma to share hers and, to my surprise, she did! Awesome! Then, later, when Logan wasn't eating his granola bar (I suspect he may be a texture eater and doesn't like the mouth feel. He doesn't like nuts, either. Weird!), I asked if he'd share it with her and he handed it right over. Excellent!

This new-found sharing skill doesn't mean that they both aren't still up for a little ill-gotten gaining on the other, though. Snack stealing is still all the rage in Twin Land.

Both Emma and Logan are still crazy about bath time and are willing to jump into the bathtub fully clothed (if not stopped), so when we let them splash around in the river up in Estes, they clearly couldn't believe their luck. They waded right in.
And started tossing rocks.
And getting soaked.

Splish! Splash!

We had to drag Logan back a few times - he seemed intent on getting in too deep. The big difference that Logan discovered very quickly is that this big water wasn't all nice and warm like at home. As much as he liked it, I think he likes being warm a little more. He started climbing to higher ground after he'd had enough.

Dis is code. I outta heah!

I'm goin' up!

Emma, apparently, is made of sterner stuff and stayed until we dragged her out. Soaked socks and all.

Little bitty hands. Little bitty feet.

Shaking the water off.

One of the big problems we seem to be running into these days is food. We don't know what to feed them anymore. Some days they'll eat everything and then other days and day and days, it seems like nothing makes them happy except more starchy food. I want to get more protein into them, so if you have any ideas on that score, leave a comment. Suddenly they want nothing to do with hamburger, fish, chicken or sausages. I'm running out of ideas. Seriously.

I'm not sure where they are on the food allergy scale, but Emma had a run in with a hellacious diaper rash this past month so I currently am avoiding all sorts of acidic foods for her and Logan and an assortment of fruit that appears to also be a trigger. No tomato sauce. No grapes or raisins. No strawberries. She won't eat blueberries, although Logan will inhale them if given a chance. Both have gone on a banana strike. Apples are OK, until they're suddenly not.

Fortunately, since they both like baked goods a lot I am at least getting zucchini into them via zucchini bread (both chocolate and plain versions. They really liked my banana bread, although Logan started picking the walnuts out of his. Emma would then snag them and eat them. More for her! Neither one seems to want to eat the crust on my homemade bread, so it makes me wonder if it's a lack of teeth issue.

They still don't have all their teeth. As a matter of fact, they still both have just 3 on the bottom, plus a pair of baby molars for Emma and a single bump of a molar for Logan. Sloooooow to teethe. They do like to have them brushed with a finger brush, so that's good. They line up very nicely and take turns. I don't know why they like the finger brush over a regular toothbrush, but I'm willing to roll with it. Besides, this way I can count all of the teeth they do have.

I seem to have turned them into movie junkies in my desperate bid to get stuff done around the house. Now when they wake up from naps, the first thing they do is ask for Moo-mees. Sounds kinda close to Mommy, which is a little confusing for me. Often I agree that yes, I am the Mommy and they get frustrated and start pointing to the computer and say it louder and slower: Mooooo-meeee. Clearly that thing where we talk louder and slower when dealing with idiots and those that don't speak out language goes deeper than we thought. Gah!

Hey, guess what I learned today?

Taking twins to the library alone is a good way to potentially get kicked out. I took them to the kids section first and after saying hello to the fishies, took them with me up to the adults section (Not that adult section. I was trying to find something interesting to read. No, really.) and they immediately split up and took off on me.

Oooh! Pretty!

It was almost as if they'd watched a whole series of movies where the kids go into Mayhem Mode when they started pulling books of the shelves at random, running in and out of study rooms and running up and down the aisles, laughing. For that last part, I had Emma in hand and kept trying to catch up to Logan without calling for him and yet he managed to keep staying an aisle ahead of me. It was pretty funny, but I was worried the adults around us would get quickly irritated with our shenanigans, so we left pretty quickly. I guess it's back to ordering from the online library service. Siiiigh.

Maybe leashes aren't such a bad idea.

In other news, we're all looking forward to Caitlin getting home. I'm pretty certain the twins are going to completely Freak. Out. when they see her. I bet she'll like that. I know I would. Of course, I will probably freak out when I see her, too. I suspect I'll hug her so hard her head will pop off. Maybe I should bring some Super Glue with me to the airport on Saturday Sunday? Something to think about.