20 Months, Oh Please.

Oh please--how can my babies be 20 months old (and that was last week, geez)?! That means we're getting precariously close to 24 months, at which point we stop counting in months. And I'm not sure I can handle that. They are getting so big, and changing so much--it's fantastic, but it's kind of hard on their mama. I'm glad that even though they both have strong independent streaks, they still love to snuggle and cuddle, and even occasionally let me rock them like little babies (though they are far from that).

The babies' vocabulary has absolutely gone through the roof. We have all kinds of words at our disposal: milk, dark, light, play, splash, bath, ellie (elephant), puppy, bear, froggy, owl, color, yellow, blue, green, red, pink, purple, noodle, apples, bread, choo-choo (train), balloon, walk(a), outside, ball, base ball, hockey, goal, hop, muddy, night night (good night), bye, I love you (which is the absolute sweetest), nana (both banana and Nana Candy), banca/grandpa/grandma, Spud, mommy, daddy, me, you, bubba (Addison's word for brother), Addie (Jackson to his sister), book, car, wagon, airplane, teeth, nose, eyes, mouth, hair, armies, leggies, cereal, Cheerios, krispies, pancakes, eggies, cheese, soup, sip, zip, snap, water (wa-wa for Jackson, wa-da for Addison), pee-pee, potty, Elmo, Ernie, Burt, Big Bird, Abby, Audrey, baby, and amen.

Also, Addison has started declaring her food, "Mmmmmmmm...NUMMY!" It's good to know she likes it!

Addison and Jackson are doing a lot of growing, and both are getting bigger and taller. They are well into their 18-24 month clothes. They are thisclose to being too big for their car seats--it's a near struggle to get them snapped in at this point.

Both of them are very fast and are very much on the move. It's gotten to the point that when they take off, you almost have to run to keep up with or catch them. They love to dance and hop and jump--they especially love using the couch and their cribs like trampolines (we repeat the following mantras: please don't fall off of the couch, please don't fall off of the couch...please don't climb out of your cribs, please don't climb out of your cribs). They love to play outside--Jackson is REALLY good at throwing and kicking balls around. He's got a really impressive drop kick. He also LOVES to play hockey--he hates to come inside and put the hockey sticks away when it's time for dinner. Addison is also pretty good at kicking and throwing the ball around--she loves to play hide and seek on the front yard. The people who live a few doors down from us have put out a little ceramic frog in their bushes and a couple of chubby little owls near their front door--Addison and Jackson just love to run to that house and say hi to the froggy and the owls.

Jackson would sit in his highchair for hours, working on buckling the straps, if you'd let him. He's such a little problem solver and a thinker. Addison is increasingly interested in dressing herself, and she'll happily put on multiple pairs of her own shorts, or her brothers pants, or grandpa's jeans (depending on what clothes happen to be around). She also loves to put on Daniel or my shoes and try to walk around the house in them.

In the past month, we've dropped our morning bottles. Addison was fine switching to a sippy cup for her morning milk--Jackson was a bit more resistant, but after a couple of days, the switch was completely made. We're also really outgrown the sink for our baths--so we've started having our nightly baths in the big tub upstairs. It's been an adventure, but the kids are loving the new freedom and increased splash potential.

We're starting to see glimpses of what having 2 year olds will look like--little emotional breakdowns, overreactions, minor meltdowns, wanting things just so. It makes me a little bit nervous...but oh, you two at 20 months: so much fun (and so exhausting) (but really, so much fun), and we love you so much!