15 Months Old

Two weeks after the fact, here are some pictures and details about our fifteen-month-old twins!

Abby on the left, Lydia chewing the pig (dubbed "Piggly-Wiggly" by Josiah)

Lydia still weighs about two pounds more than Abby (they're 24 and 22 pounds, respectively--give or take a little). They're 31.25 in. long, which puts them in the 80-something percentile for height. They continue their trend of landing in higher percentiles than Josiah. One day they may catch up with him in height--hopefully only temporarily!

 Abby on the left, Lydia on the right

These days Abby and Lydia understand pretty much everything I say to them. If I say, "Do you want to take a bath?" they tumble over each other to rush to the bathroom. If I ask them to get their shoes so we can go outside, they say "sh! sh! sh!" and plop on my lap desperately trying to pull them on. When I ask them to be quiet as we exit their room after naptime--so as not to wake Josiah--they put their index fingers on their lips.

They love to make music!

The girls do say some words, but they also communicate pretty effectively through their combinations of sounds, motions, facial expressions, pointing, sign language, etc. Both say "hi," "da-ee" [daddy], and "mama" clearly. Abby tried to say "Lydia" yesterday (with lots of tongue movement) and also said "ball."

 Lydia

Lydia requests music almost every day by pointing at the CD player, whining, wagging her head, clapping hands, and (I think) trying to say "moo-si." She still uses "da-ee" as a kind of catch-all word, but especially for words that are kind of similar--like "Abby" and "dolly."

 Abby with Aunt Bobo

Both girls give kisses and hugs liberally. Abby sniffs as her kissing sound, while Lydia does a first-rate pucker and smack when she smooches. 

 Abby on the left, Lydia on the right

Both girls say "sh" for "shoes" and "ch-zz" for "cheese" (one of their favorite foods). They love to try on everyone's shoes, especially Josiah's crocs. They spend quite some time fighting over shoes, trying to get them on their feet, and then delightedly and proudly walking a few steps till they trip or the shoe falls off. They also love to pull all the shoes off the shoe rack and use it as a bench (which is not allowed).

 Lydia loves hats like the rest of 'em

They like to dance (Lydia's is a fast-stepping jig, Abby's is smoother and slower with more turning) and take me up on every offer to read them a book (but each wants my lap to herself). They love to page through books themselves, and they often aid each other in emptying Josiah's book case. 

 Lydia on top of Abby

Abby barks/growls just about any time she sees an animal outside or one in a picture (regardless of whether that animal actually makes a barking or growling noise). While she's very interested in animals and loves to see dogs when we're out walking, she's terrified if they come near her. She still doesn't like to pet the goats at the zoo. Lydia, on the other hand, chases every dog she can.

 Lydia

The girls are climbers now, too. Every day I have to pull them off the kitchen table multiple times, and they're getting dangerously close to being able to shimmy up their crib bars and flip over.

 This is what tandem nursing twins in bike helmets looks like . . .

 They love their new helmets and fight over them, switch them, bang them together . . .

 Sisterly love

These little sisters love, love, love their big brother. When he gets up from a nap, Lydia runs over smacking her lips and gives him kisses. Abby says "ah-ahh" (her "gentle" sound) in a sweet voice and leans in for a hug. They instigate wrestling and chase games and squeal with delight when he pretends to be a tiger and runs after them.

 Guess those shorts are gettin' too small, Bud

They want to do everything he does, which is cute but often leads to fights when all three want to read the same book, sit with Mama at the same time, play with the same toy, dig in the sandbox all together, pull the wagon all at once, etc. Two of the girls' favorite things are drinking out of Josiah's water cup and clambering all over his bed with him.

 Mesmerized by Shaun the Sheep

Last week we moved the girls into Josiah's room. The first night they were all awake till 10 p.m. Josiah threw a heavy floor pillow on Abby just when she had settled down, which raised a ruckus, and he's antagonized her in particular by throwing blankets, stuffed animals, etc. into her bed regularly. A few nights this past week everyone went to sleep fairly quickly and painlessly. I hoped this meant we had weathered the transition, but last night all three were awake till about 10:30 or 11, with alternating crying/screaming (from the girls), kicking the wall/jumping on the bed (Josiah), and playing/laughing/screeching (all three). At one point I went in to find Josiah vaulting over the side of Lydia's crib to join her (a big no-no). So I guess we keep persevering . . .

See how much they love him?

Peach Picking

Last Friday we got an early start and drove down to Queen Creek to pick peaches at Schnepf Farms. I think we've gone annually since moving to Phoenix--and this year all three kids could pick and enjoy peaches. 

The day before we had told Josiah our plan to go pick peaches. When we got him up Friday morning, he was quite excited. He rubbed the grogginess from his eyes and ran to our back door, saying, "Let's go pick our peaches!" He thought we were just going out back to pick peaches from our little peach trees! (One of the three does have about 20-30 peaches on it--but they're Mid Pride and won't ripen till mid-June.) His enthusiasm about the backyard peach adventure was cute. 

And though no one enjoyed the car ride to Queen Creek, Josiah and his sisters loved picking peaches in the orchard! We ended up with about 30 pounds of Florida Prince peaches. 

 Lydia

Jeremy let Josiah haul around his own bag, and he and I both tried to direct Josiah toward the best fruit for picking. Josiah listened with half an ear while Jeremy told him to look for bigger ones, not too green, no bad spots, etc. Then Josiah picked the smallest, greenest, hardest one from the tree nearest him and said, "Like this one, Dad? Maybe this one is good!"

 Abby

 She got dirty pretty fast!

 Lydia probably ate her body weight in peaches . . .

We supplied the girls with a peach each so they could sample while we picked. But that didn't last long. They wanted to get their own peaches--usually the nasty, smushed, buggy ones on the ground around the trees. Plus they had trouble navigating the humps and bumps of the irrigation ditches and dried mud around the trees, so they fell often. They ended up with a nice mixture of sticky peach juice, bits of peach, and lots of dirt and mud all over their faces and arms--and just about everywhere else on their bodies. They kept right on eating peaches that helped break their falls and didn't seem to mind the taste of dirt. We tried to keep them from ingesting too much, but in the end it was a lost cause.

 We had the presence of mind to bring a wagon!

 "This a good one, Mama?" 

Well, you already picked it, Bud . . .

 Josiah had so much fun!

 I had to clandestinely go through his bag and get rid of many bad ones

 Abby with lots of peach in that little belly

 He wanted to haul it around all by himself

 The girls started getting tired and hot

We've been eating lots of peaches this week. I don't bother buying peaches in the supermarkets anymore because I never have luck with them. They're hard at purchase and usually shrivel rather than ripen--and they don't taste good, besides. But these peaches--they're wonderful. I can't wait to pick the ones from our trees out back, too! We just hope to keep most of them from the pesky birds.

Since we had 30 pounds of beautiful peaches ripening fast, I tried several things with them. I think I've eaten at least one bowlful of homemade yogurt and granola with sliced peaches every day (so good!). We've frozen lots and still had plenty for peaches on pancakes and waffles, peaches and whipped cream on shortcake, peaches in smoothies, and--perhaps the crowning glory (at least according to Jeremy)--peach pie:

Come visit soon and we'll share!

Beards, Babes, and Bones

It's hard to keep up with all the funny things Josiah says these days! So I made a quick draft and alliterated the title so I'd remember to post at least these three.

1. Beards

 Josiah comes from two families of men who can (and often do) grow facial hair. Cases in point:

 Josiah's Pa circa 1986 . . . before little Jeremy could grow anything more than blond fluff on his head!

And Josiah's other Pa, circa 1996, with another full beard . . . and strangely similar glasses, too!

Our paterfamilias himself

Just look at those luxurious locks Jeremy sported back in the day (2006)!

Uncle Andrew workin' on the facial hair (2012)

Even Uncle D, the proudly hairless, attempts some scruff occasionally

Even though the married-in uncles don't affect Josiah's genes, they help promote the cause of facial hair . . .

 Dashing Uncle Justin with a beard and our little boy (January 2014)

 Handsome Uncle James with tiny-boy Josiah (December 2011)

Hey, you know beards are in the genes when Mama can sport one like the best of them! (c. 2004)

So I believe Josiah has taken note of the popularity of facial hair in the family. The other day he informed me, "Mama, I want a beard. I gonna grow a beard someday!" Since then he's regularly notified me of his plan to join the ranks of the bearded boys. Maybe I better look out come No-Shave November?

Hard to believe this sweet little boy will be a bearded man one day

2. Babes

You don't realize how much your kids pick up on your phrasing and usage until you hear echoes of yourself in what they say.

The other day Jeremy was working on the computer, and the rest of us were in the room keeping him company. Josiah was bouncing around as usual when Jeremy sighed a deep sigh. Josiah stopped and looked concerned. "What's wrong, Babe?" he said in a sympathetic voice.

He also calls Jeremy "babe" sometimes when he hollers for him across the house or yard. "HEY BABE!" he yells . . . and makes me reconsider how I call to my husband.

[Disclaimer: this final installment of the "babe" scenarios is not drawn from our daily usage, and I still don't know how Josiah knew to apply the term this way.]

At church a couple weeks ago, Jeremy loaded the kids in the car while I finished talking with someone. As Jeremy strapped Josiah into his car seat, Josiah looked out the window at a group of high school girls in the parking lot. "What are those babes over there?" he asked Jeremy. And then he yelled, "Bye, Babes!" as Jeremy shut the door.

I don't think Josiah considers Lydia and Abby "babes," but he has recently mentioned a few times that they're his "best friends." (Yesterday he told me, "Abby is my best friend . . . somedays.") This is, of course, very sweet. But he also calls all sorts of other things and people his best friends--random characters from poor-quality books that he's read once, a little boy from church, a parrot Daddy saw outside when Josiah was napping, etc.

3. Bones etc.

Okay, so this doesn't work as well as a theme, but it alliterates. Here are a couple of Josiah's humorous mis-speaks lately:

We went peach picking on Friday (more pictures from that later). Josiah has consumed many a peach since then. But on one of the first, he ate halfway through and exclaimed, "There's a bone in there!"

Some friends gave us hand-me-down clothes, in which Josiah found a pair of pink ballet-type slippers. He likes to wear them around but constantly loses one or both. "Where my flippers?!" he asks me several times a day.

Well, I can't think of anymore funnies to include in this section, and naptime is almost over. And so this post will end with a whimper.