Twenty Three Months

The twins want you to know that they plan on partying hard in just 26 more days. Yes, indeed.

Since they survived their wild attempt at mountaineering in their bedroom, I thought you could use a few photos. Also? I'm late on the 23 month update. Surprise!

Emma stares deeply into your soul. "Cookie?"

Emma wants you to know that in addition to her fabulous verbal skills (Chatter! Chatter! Chatter!), she's also a great mimic. She's taken to imitating Caitlin, at Caitlin's worst, to me. As in, the other day she turned to me and folded her little arms together: harrumph! And then grinned. See? It's cute when you're small, but not when you're 8.

The food thing is still and on-again, off-again issue. Some days it seems like they won't eat anything but carbs and then other days, they chow down on coconut curry chicken soup.

"Yum!" Logan has the best grin.

That was my soup, just so you know. They won't eat on their trays, but pop them in your lap and poof! All of your food disappears. I dislike it when it appears all over the floor but am OK with it going into their tummies.

While the twins still are madly in love with having baths, they don't really like being told that it's bedtime, unless there's a lot of this going on:

So tired!

In which case, they'll happy climb the stairs lickety-split and head to bed.

Up the stairs! Up the stairs!

It seems like they're just a little bit away from walking up the steps like big kids. Just a little...bit...more. I'm not in a hurry, though. Logan will occasionally practice going down the stairs by holding onto the bannister, it's very cute. They'll also hold your hand and walk down the "normal" way, as well as up, but they'd really prefer that you carry them.

Emma, aren't you coming?

As has been the trend all along, Emma continues to be taller than Logan. I point this out because it's really obvious in the next picture.

"You ready yet? You so SLOW!"

She's got at least 2 inches on him and uses it to her advantage. She gets on and off chairs, sofas, boxes, bookshelves...you name it, she climbs it. She's been trying to climb in to the cribs and can so long as the side of the crib is down. Luckily, she hasn't tried to climb out yet. I'm not quite sure how we're going to handle the transition to regular twin beds yet. There are no other rooms for them to sleep in, so they'll still have to share a room, but I'm not certain how much sleeping will take place once they can actively get in and out of their own beds.

Note that they haven't figured out how to open doors yet, so we're safe from that skill for a little while longer.

"You ready for night diapah, yet? I hep you get ready."

Their language skills have taken a big jump this last month. They are saying many different words, bunches of them are quite clear, too. Emma said "Monkeys!" very clearly today in response to a picture. They make many different animal noises, with a nice roar being the clear favorite. They also listen pretty well to direction. Especially when you say something like "Get him!" This is the result:

Strange blue tones are from bouncing the flash off the very blue ceiling. Whoops!

Looks like a hug...


No! It's a take down!
Emma drags Logan down, giggling.

"You OK, right?"

But she also checks to make sure that he's OK.

They really like to tickle one another and chase each other around screaming. Chase games are even more fun if Caitlin and I are involved. Of course, the volume goes way up if that's the case.

There are still plenty of hugs

Squishes!

and kisses

Mmm-wah!

going around, but you never know when it's going to go from gleeful hugging

into a wrestling match,

complete with hair pulling.

Good thing Logan thinks it's still funny.

Recently, Logan has been waking up in the middle of the night and screaming his tiny head off. I'm not sure if it's teething (they're still getting teeth in) or if it's because someone didn't eat enough at dinner, but it's no fun. He squeals like a stuck pig. LOUDLY. Then there's all the guilt from hearing him call your name over and over again. If you go in, he calms down, but only as long as you're in there. As soon as you leave, he screams louder.

Somehow, Caitlin sleeps through all of this. It's amazing.

Last night I went in armed with water and a muffin and after he'd calmed down, fed him the muffin and water. Eventually he let me leave without too much additional screaming. Emma woke up and stood up in her crib. Since it was pitch black, I couldn't tell for certain but I'd swear that she fell asleep again standing up next to me. After putting Logan back in his crib, I picked her up and laid her down. Not a peep out of her. Poor, tired monkey!

They love going 'side (outside) and will open the back door, if you leave it unlocked, and wander out. The only problem is that they're not safe in the backyard.

Or, rather, the yard isn't safe from them. They rip green tomatoes off, willy-nilly. Rip flower heads off with great abandon and make mommy cry. It's bad enough when the mice do it. So it's become impossible to garden with them in the garden, which means my garden currently looks like hell. During the day, it's too hot to weed and at night, while there's still light out, I'm busy making dinner. Sigh. Maybe in the fall?

The twins have discovered a great love for the playground where Logan will fling himself down the slides like a maniac. Emma follows, but at a much slower pace. She's more than willing to climb to the very top of the structure, but is less willing to just go down the slide once she gets there. Both of them have an unnerving tendency to change their minds and suddenly want off the level they're currently on and will back out over space. You have to be ready to grab them at a moment's notice. Park trips aren't easy with only one parent.

Logan's favorite vehicle is currently the plane. Whenever (and I mean whenever!) he hears one flying overhead he will start yelling "Fly! Fly! Fly!" until you acknowledge the fantastic sound of jets flying over.

Oh and he wants you to know that any round, reddish fruit is an apple. Even if it's a peach. It gets called an apple. You can insist all you want, he doesn't care.

On the potty training front, I haven't even tried, yet. If you have any recommendations on how to do it for twins, let me know in the comments. I'm worn out before breakfast is over. Having to stop and try to get them to sit on the potty? Not happening. Yet. Maybe we'll try a crazy weekend approach. I don't know, but I'm willing to listen to suggestions!

That's it for now. Now for a quick quiz. Which baby is which in the following picture without scrolling back up?

They look most like twins from back here. Can you tell which is which?

Make your guesses in the comments! The winner gets a warm feeling of satisfaction from being right. You know you want it!