The most adorable new thing that the babies are doing is dancing. They are dancing machines!! They dance all of the time--if there is a song coming out of a toy, if there is a jingle on the television, they are wiggling their bums and shimmying their shoulders. They can really feel the beat and move along with it--I love it when they dance! Mary has been taking them to a weekly children's concert at Eastern Market, where they evidently get down with other kids. They are also doing lots of talking--a couple of nights ago, I said that we needed to put away the crackers, and Addison said "cracker." She said it about 20 times (and since then, Daniel tries to get her to say it all of the time). Jackson said raisin during snack time this past weekend, and Addison said bottle last night. I swear, these kids are going to be talking very soon.
In the past two weeks or so, the babies have started signing--we've been going to a signing class every Friday for a few months now. The teacher told us that most kids act like sponges for a few months and take things in during the class but don't necessarily sign, then between 12 and 14 months, the signing really begins--and that's how it has gone with our kids. They both have a handful of signs, which they use and seem to actually understand: all gone/all finished (and Addison says "gohn gohn" when she makes the sign), food/hungry, more, water, dog (and both of the babies say a variation of dog, doggie, and good dog), bear, gorilla, and we're picking up more every day (I think their next signs will be bath and cracker, but who knows what will spark their interests!). We have such bright babies.
Both babies are very steady on their feet. Jackson takes big, commanding steps. Addison takes smaller steps, and is a little bit less stable, but good grief is she fast. She looks kind of like a roadrunner--her upper body is still, but her bottom half is moving. Both babies are getting to be pretty good at throwing a ball, and Jackson is also good at kicking the ball, walking after it, and kicking it again.
The babies are doing a lot of "reading" these days. One of my absolute, all-time favorite things both of them do is climb up on my lap with a book. They love to turn the pages, they love interactive books with things to touch or move on the pages, and they love to hear you read--I hope they'll always want to sit on my lap and read a good story.
We made the transition to cow's milk a couple of weeks after their first birthday, and it was pretty seamless. I only got a few moments of hesitation and looks from Jackson, giving me the eye because his bottle was different. They are eating a lot of food, and eating all kinds of food--for breakfast they like fruit smoothies (which they love to drink through a straw), bagels with cream cheese, pancakes, Cheerios, and some kind of fruit; for lunch, they have a fruit and/or vegetable (often apple sauce with strawberries, peaches, or carrots), grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese, ham or turkey, and crackers; and for dinner they eat pasta, peas or carrots, cheese, sweet potatoes, bananas, blueberries, graham crackers, and a lot of time they have some of what we have for dinner. And for the past few weeks, every night with dinner they are eating pureed prunes and apples, to help little Addison stay regular. For a while there, they wouldn't let me spoonfeed them a thing--now they are back to liking to be fed a little bit, and Addison is getting pretty good at holding her own spoon (I just have to reload it for her between bites). When he gets a hold of a spoon, Jackson waves it around like a wand, flinging food everywhere--not quite ready for prime time with his own silverware.
Breakfast has become a big meal for the babies--for the past few days, they have eaten 10 silver-dollar pancakes between the two of them, along with Cherrios and plums this morning (pics thanks to my iPhone).
Oh, how we love these babies! They are too cute for words.
No comments:
Post a Comment