Sugar and Spice

What are little boys made of?

"Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;

And that's what little boys are made of."

What are little girls made of?

"Sugar and spice, and all that's nice;

And that's what little girls are made of."

One of my new pet peeves (because I needed more) is people blogging about their little boys and saying "___ is such a boy!" You've got to be kidding me. Every time I read what makes their boy a "boy" it seems like it's something our girls do/like. I guess I just can't buy the gender stereotypes. If loving cars and trucks and lawnmowers and machines, running around and getting into stuff, getting dirty, putting things in their mouth, etc makes babies "boys" - then we have 2! Though they like their babies, they'd prefer to run around and throw balls and play with their hockey sticks. And I'm sure that boy babies have sweet moments just like our sweeties do.

This was earlier this week...a good example of how much more loving they've been with each other. They've been so into giving each other kisses!

Restaurants

Chubby Anna and chubbier Kara consider their food while on vacation. Anna's on her way back to chubby, but still smaller than she was - her arms and legs and face look skinnier. I finally scheduled their (12 month) doctor's appointment for next Friday, on my BIRTHDAY. I didn't think this was a mistake until I realized 1. I'm taking them by myself to get shots for the 1st time...and the rest of the day/weekend they'll probably be feverish 2. I'm going to get really upset about how little Nan is/how little she's grown. She looks way shorter and feels way lighter than Kara. I bet she's like 20th percentile instead of almost 50th like she always has been. :(

Anyway, I've been thinking lately how impossible it is to do much of anything with the girls' schedule of eating. We always have great plans for the evenings/weekends, then by the time they eat it's about time for bath, books and bed. They take forever to eat. I don't want to go out to eat because they don't eat much except for at home. But...there are tons and tons of restaurants in STL that I am remembering that we loved (we had none we liked in Ann Arbor)...and we have a more liberal food budget, allowing for out to eat. Takeout here we come! Not quite the same for, say, Schlafly's Tap Room where I crave the fries and part of a beer...that doesn't come home. Maybe if we go out to eat at like 4? :)

Closeups with Dad

In honor of the fact that they sign "more" for dad every time they see him. The girls love their daddy!

Spinning

Theme today=old pictures and stories of what they can do. :) Obviously they love cubbies, so that they plopped themselves down in these box parts was no surprise. Yesterday they slid themselves under the dining room chairs to sit under those. Kara once pulled this box off of a shelf and emptied it so that she could sit in it.

However, this post is not about that...they first showed me that they could spin this day in these boxes. Anna is a spinning expert, and Kara tries really hard, and spins about 25% of the time. Most of the time she side steps, walks backwards, etc and is SO funny. Their spinning is so so cute. I love it.

Lately

Also a month old picture, one of the first times they climbed up on here.

Just a little update on what the girls are up to at 13.5 months...I feel like there is a lot less notable progress now that they're older, but they are a lot of fun and only getting more so. They crack me up every day.

Talking - not so much. They say a couple of discernable things, and try to say some other things, but mostly don't try very hard (can you say _____? is always followed by the emphatic "dah!"). They have their own versions of "up," "down," "dog," "duck," truck," "toes," "juice" and "shoe" (that mostly all sound the same). They can tweet, quack, and growl. But my favorite is that they respond to questions with emphatic "yeahs" if they want to do whatever I ask - finally some communication other than frantic pointing and signing "please" or "more." They understand everything that's going on, and seem to know what most everything is and everything I'm saying (surprising me sometimes still), they are just taking their time about being verbal. It's getting to the point where I feel like when they start talking, because they do understand so much, it will be in sentences. That's my dream anyway. My new favorite as of yesterday is that I taught them to whisper when I ask them to.

Running - they have finally gotten over their grass hatred, and run with abandon all around the front yard and sidewalk. There's a slight downward slope to get to the sidewalk and Kara loves running really fast down the tiny hill, scaring me that she'll fall every time, though she hasn't yet. They still love when I chase them and love to run around the house peeking at each other around various objects.

Play/Empathy/Imagination - they are getting a lot more into taking care of babies/little people, marching their animals around, giving their people rides on their toys, rocking and hugging them, petting their dog, etc. They still love to offer me their food and drink, but have now started sharing with each other too. A couple weeks ago when Anna was sick and not eating except for when we bribed her with songs, Kara tried to put a blueberry in Anna's mouth so that I would keep singing. Very perceptive and cracked me up. They are starting to play better together and (finally) sometimes sit and read books without chewing them. They are getting really affectionate with each other (hugs, kisses, walking holding hands). They get upset when the other is upset, and today for the first time they both got really upset and wanted me to hug/hold them when I was visibly upset. Oh, and they wear their little beaded necklaces ALL day.

Following directions - they are starting to understand multi-step commands, and "if ___ then ___." That helps.

Teeth - they both have 3 molars through (K has one all the way in) and the 4th coming in, and other teeth coming too. Maybe that's why they are being terrible eaters and sleepers the past few days?

Things We Hate About the Beach

Only 1 part needed. Hated = Just the sand and the water - you know, the beach parts of the beach. :)

As the first picture shows, they REALLY hated sand. They refused to step on it at all, for the most part, even with water shoes on. We got them to walk on it a couple times over the course of 8 days, and we did actually have one nice walk on the beach by the water before bed, but I think that was mostly because it was dinner time for the birds, so they wanted to walk over to the birds. I tried to get them to make sandcastles with me (can you see their disgust and Kara trying to get the sand off of her?) or at least scoop sand with a shovel and bucket. My mom told me "don't make them hate to get their hands dirty like you" - but honestly, I did nothing but encourage them to touch sand, and they cried/tried to get it off every time it got on their hands. They were very confused. I do hate getting my hands dirty, so I don't blame them!

Water - 2nd 2 pictures. They are clinging to us and the shells for dear life. They mostly wouldn't let us put them down in the water, even if it would just touch their toes a tiny bit. I'll blame this on Andrew, though it's probably not his fault, since the first day at the beach he left Anna a little too unattended and she got knocked over backwards by a wave and fell down in the water. Oops.

Things We Love About the Beach - Part 4

Other babies...the first weekend we were there we met 2 babies a couple months older than us, and smaller than us! Mom was so impressed, since we're usually smaller than everyone else. :)

Airplanes on the beach. There are always airplanes that fly over the ocean with trailing advertisements and the girls loved them.

BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS. There were a ton of seagulls, especially since our house was on the beach, and there were a few spots that pretty much perpetually had birds sitting on them. There was a lot of distressed "more" and "please" for birds that had flown away.

Hmm...now that I look at all of these pictures, I realize that we somehow only took pictures days they wore these 2 suits. They have 2 other ones that are really cute, too...oh well.

Things We Love About the Beach - Part 3

Beach chairs...with or without mom/dad/uncles/aunt/grandma/grandpa. And Uncle Peter's hat! :)

PS - Anna's snugging is a new phenomenon. They have never ever ever been snuggly babies, as I've mentioned before. However, I taught them to "snuggle" me and they will for about 10 seconds before they sit themselves back up. A mom can try! At least they give lots of hugs and kisses. Oh, and I want to record a 1st...Anna the other day walked up to Andrew and gave him a kiss without being prompted at all. It was so nice.

Things We Love About the Beach - Part 2

Our pool! Thanks Grandma. We spent pretty much all of our time at the beach in the pool. It took some getting used to that it was full of salt water that we couldn't drink, though.

Shells! We loved that mom and dad would find us shells that we could then show to everyone else. They still love their couple shells we brought home, and they are a good distraction when we're trying to make them do something they don't want to (notably get their diapers changed).

Things We Love About the Beach - Part 1

Okay, I'm going to attempt the beach picture posts. I'm finally ready. :)

Like their mother, the girls are seeming to be all or nothing when it comes to loving/hating things. There were a lot of things they loved about the beach (which we'll get to before the hated things).

This included the deck upstairs at the house. It was a great place to let them run around outside while keeping them penned in and providing none of the usual dangerous outside things they like to try to eat. It also had fun deck chairs to lounge in.

Cubbies

Oh, peek!

Our side buffet table has this great area to stick themselves in. The other day Kara somehow managed to climb her whole body up onto this tiny shelf. Of course she got stuck!

Anna and then Kara under our little end tables, a favorite hiding spot. They really wish they both fit under here at the same time, but they don't. So they fight over this spot too, or on good days, wait until the other leaves the spot and dive in as quickly as they can.

Around the House

A typical day around the house...from over a month ago, but I love these little snapshots of our everyday life.


They love the area between our range and the wall; it's the perfect cubby space for hiding and banging. Sometimes they're nice and they let the other one in with them, but this is also a common area they fight over, pushing each other out.


Running and running and running and chasing. Andrew and I crack up at the fact that they'll run right by each other, like in the second picture, but always stop for just a second as they pass each other, as if to say "hi." I've seen them crash a fair number of times, too, of course. :)


They love peeking at each other in their oven spot. Kara is usually the one hiding and Anna the peeker. They sometimes decide to stop for kisses, too, which is super nice.


Peeking at mom from behind the pocket door between the kitchen and the dining room. They still love peeking. They lately have been chasing each other around the house, leaning over and around things and peeking at each other - they'll do this forever!

Shooting Hoops

Uncle Peter got the girls this basketball hoop for their birthday. They enjoy shooting baskets, and me saying "score!" when they do. They will put just about anything through the hoop, and don't understand that you pick up said thing from the bottom rather than through the top the same way you put it in. Anna also experimented with stepping through the hoop, though she quickly learned that wasn't the best way to go.

The hockey sticks are in the background in a couple of these shots. They like pushing their hockey sticks around the house...we're practicing for a year or so from now when we can get them on skates!

Another Day, Another Series

Sitting on the trunk, Anna with the Little People mom, Kara having fun with sister. Kara is generally much more loving to Anna than Anna is to Kara. Not to say that Kara loves Anna more than Anna loves Kara, but Kara is just snugglier in general, since Anna likes to always be going and doing things and doesn't like to stop for hugs and kisses.


Hugs and kisses...


Pfft! Oops, got some hair. :) And Anna, did you know this is your nose?