How cute can they be? Well, here are a few sayings and doings of late . . .
About two or three months ago, the girls started nodding emphatically when I asked them to say, "Yes, Mama!" in response to my instruction. They often add "Mama" with the nod, but lately Abby nods and seems to say "Yeah Yeah Yeah." Abby has also started saying "na na na!" for "no no no!" rather than just shaking her head (which both have done for many months now).
Lydia on the left, Abby on the right
All three kids like me to do "this little piggy" with their toes. The girls come up close or plop themselves in my lap, grab their toes, and imitate my intonations with high-pitched voices (mostly the "wee wee wee all the way home" part). Josiah sometimes obliges them in their love for this game, and they giggle when he names each little piggy-toe and push their feet at him for more when it's over.
Lydia
Just in the last week or so, Lydia fine-tuned her pronunciation of Abby's name. Now it seldom comes out "Babby" or "Wabby" anymore--it's clearly "Abby." The girls say each other's names quite a bit--maybe almost as much as they say "Mama!" A couple days ago I heard them across the room from each other calling back and forth: "Abby!" "Lilla!" "Abby!" "Lilla!" etc.
Lydia watches apprehensively as the garbage truck rounds the corner
Lydia expresses her feelings about the garbage truck
Abby joins in watching the truck till it's safely gone from sight
Lydia has taken to blaming her toots on Abby. The other night Lydia and Josiah took a bath after Abby, since I suspected that both of them may have pink eye, and we wanted to attempt to keep Abby uninfected. Anyway, while those two were in the bath after Abby was done and diapered, I heard an unmistakable noise from the tub and asked, "Who tooted?" Lydia promptly replied, "Abby."
Abby of the funny faces . . .
She's perfected this scowl and uses it aptly
Seldom do the girls play separately. If one wants to do puzzles, the other does, too. If Lydia wants to ride the rocking horse, she often invites Abby to climb on behind. If Abby wants to drive cars down a ramp, so does Lydia. If Lydia wants to build towers out of Duplo, Abby does so too--or messes with Lydia's creations. They fight, of course, but I'm also surprised at how often they play nicely together--not just "alongside" each other.
Our pediatrician gave us a sheet of expected 18-month milestones. Its expert advice says, "Don't expect your toddler to share." This made me smile. Of course, I don't expect the girls (or Josiah) to want to share or to share naturally or easily, but between several factors--twins, siblings close in age, a small house, and a limited number of toys--I don't really have an option but to teach and train them to share early!
And actually, they're doing pretty well. (Sometimes I have to remind myself of this fact when I'm refereeing spats!) Often without prompting they trade their books and puzzles when done. They can happily play with Duplo or dance together or collaborate to put away the box of blocks. Certainly they require quite a bit of supervision (they like to climb onto the kitchen table and stomp together), and certainly they fight quite often. But I think their twinness has given them a head-start on sharing. (Josiah certainly didn't have a constant companion with whom to practice playing or sharing at this age!)
Silly Abby
Both girls love to pretend with their dolls, and they're developing more of a game out of it (vs. just hugging/kissing the babies and then trying to get me to nurse them). Lydia came up with the idea of putting her baby into her high chair. I mentioned she might want something to eat, so Lydia loaded her up with fake food (see below)! She was intent on getting the doll to slurp some milk (complete with sound effects) from her little toy carton.
This is the current style of posing for pictures
Abby wanted to join in on the fun, so she stole some food from Lydia's doll's stash--instigating outrage from Lydia. She and her baby would clearly miss the fake chicken Abby swiped.
Everybody's posing this way!
Abby feeds the entire chicken to her baby
The girls are partners in crime as well as in cuteness. During nap time, they egg each other on in getting out of bed, climbing atop the changing table, looking out the window, pulling clothes out of drawers, etc. Typically Abby is the first over the crib rail, but we suspect Lydia of sometimes encouraging her sin from the safety of her own bed.
The other day, I checked their room for perhaps the tenth time after putting them down for a nap, and I found them working assembly-line style to empty the dirty cloth diapers from the diaper pail. Abby pulled them out of the pail and passed them to Lydia, who piled them in the middle of the rug. Yuck!
Abby (like the other two) still loves hats
Both girls love paging through "real" books!
I strapped Abby in her high chair seat for time out the other day after some misdemeanor. A couple minutes later I returned to find Lydia supplying Abby with dolls, books, and other toys to keep her happy during her period of punishment!
Lydia
Abby reading to her babies
The girls add new words almost daily. Lydia said "birdie," "hat," and "book" in the last week. Abby said "pillow" ("bop-oh") and "thank you." Both say "dere" (there) and "dis" (this). For some reason, Abby was quite enamored of her pajamas the other night, composed of a pink t-shirt and purple leggings. I pointed and said, "Pink shirt, purple pants" in answer to her questioning noises, and she tried to repeat the words after me. She approximated "purple" pretty well.
Abby in Great-grandpa Earl's old swim cap
And to round out the post, here's a final little snippet from Josiah:
"Are you funny or what?!" I exclaimed the other day to the girls.
Josiah said indignantly, "I not what!"
Sillies' love
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