Oh man. These girls . . . they're 22 months old and still getting cuter and curlier every day! Here's a mish-mash smattering of their doings and sayings these days.
Lydia said her first true sentence this past week: "Baby eat pie!" She and Abby have enjoyed making sand-pies in various containers in the sand box. Today she had a Little People plastic person (all small anthropomorphic toys the girls call "babies") whom she animated in a funny dance as it "ate" her sand-pie.
Lydia with her "baby" and her "pie"
I caught Lydia tipping a cupful of sand into her mouth yesterday.
"No, Lydia!" I said. "We don't eat sand! Yucky!" She replied, in a
serious tone, by way of explanation: "Pie."
Lydia
While they continue to add words at a fast rate, the girls don't always differentiate their pronunciation of words well. For instance, Lydia's words for "fire," "water," and "flower" all sound very much like "wa-wa." "Booger" and "poo-poo" are sometimes almost indistinguishable; she says "boh-boh" for both. Abby is typically clearer--she's worked at making "Kezzie," "Daddy," and "Grandma" more and more distinct.
Abby on the fort
Abby
Over the Thanksgiving weekend I first noticed the girls using various parts of speech. Up till then their vocabulary was vastly nouns. They since have expanded with many verbs and several prepositions, adjectives, and perhaps even an adverb or two.
Eat, read, walk, out, outside, inside, pretty, and
mine are some of this past month's words.
Lydia
Lately Lydia has taken over the phrase "No way!"; just a few weeks ago Abby was the one who said it most. Lydia uses it in response to queries but also applies it to emphasize her wish to remove clothing or shoes, be done with her meal, get out of her car seat, etc. (For instance, she pulls on her sweatshirt or shoes and says, "No way! No way!" with increasing volume to indicate she wants them off.)
I don't know where they got it, but both girls say "nonny" to mean "I want/need." Abby uses this more often than Lydia, but they both do use it--and apparently without any precedent.
Teething still plagues the under-two crowd (and thus everyone else, too) around here. Abby's top canines are finally poking through, and the two on the bottom look close. Lydia is still working on her bottom molars, and her canines are bulging in the gums, too. Combined with a recent cold, the teething has made for some cranky days.
With the rash of holidays, we've had more treats than usual around the house. Several times recently Jeremy brought a few chocolates home from work for the kids. We also made Christmas cookies when Grandma-from-Dubai was here. Anyway, the girls have learned the word "treat" and have occasionally requested one after supper.
They totally understand the requirement of finishing their food before getting a treat--or eating a set amount of a main dish before getting a muffin or more peas (i.e., the more desirable item). It's funny to see them dig in when motivated to finish a less-than-appealing bowlful. Abby likes to cheer for herself by yelling, "Yay!" when she's done.
Abby with sand-pie
The girls have also honed their eagle eyes to see what Josiah gets on his plate. If he sprinkles Parmesan on his noodles, they must have it, too! If he gets a piece of bacon before they do, they clamor and point. If he asks for a straw and "a little milk in a cup," I immediately hear two more voices yelling, "Me! Me! Me!"
Lydia eating a broccoli leaf from the garden
Abby has mostly gotten over her pickiness about food (with a little help from Mom and Dad). These days both girls will try just about anything I put in front of them, and they usually clean their plates. Some of their favorite foods are eggs, cheese, avocado, berries, yogurt (especially
with berries), cashews, cucumbers, and--a recent one--popcorn. They love raisins with their morning oatmeal; eat as much bacon as we'll let them; and do better now with meat in general, though it's still not their favorite.
Playing the "sinking sand" game Grandma devised with them--one yells "Help!" from under the lemon tree, and the other gives her a hand to pull her out
Lydia
Abby
Both girls love music and dancing (as did Josiah at this age--and he still does now!). Lydia especially likes the
Pirates of the Caribbean theme and asks for "hat! hat! hat!" [Josiah's pirate hat] anytime she hears this particular music. She throws in many an "Argghhh!" with her crazy dance routine, which involves lots of running in circles and some prancing moves. Abby loves to spin and spots quite well.
The girls are seemingly more eager to potty train (or at least use the potty) than I am to train them. Sure, it would be nice to be done with diapers. But the chaos of handling twin trips to the potty is daunting! We already spend a lot of time in the bathroom even though each only regularly uses the potty a couple times a day. (And Josiah still needs my help with undoing his pants during last-minute emergencies [which happen a few times a day] and then with wiping his bum afterwards.)
Lydia and Abby like to do their bathroom business at the same time--one on the big potty (with kid seat), one on the little potty. Sometimes they fight over which potty they want. Then they sit, pull bits of toilet paper on the sly, discuss the duckies on the potty seat, put their hands in the toilet bowl, jump off to wash hands, get back on to try again, perhaps tinkle a few drops, sing their own praises ("YAY!"), slide off to wash hands again, claim to need to do poo-poo, flush the toilet several times in a row, touch the potty yet again, wash hands again . . . At some point I announce that we're done. They scamper into their room, where now and then one promptly squats on the rug and pees.
Lydia
They love to run!
The girls have been requesting songs at bedtime, and recently they've gotten better at joining in with hand motions and some words and melodies. All three kids love "Little by Little"--some nights this past week we sang it three times in a row, since it was the bedtime request of each child! The girls call it "By-by." Apart from bedtime and dinnertime songs, they also like to sing "Pop! Goes the Weasel" and "E-I-E-I-O" from "Old MacDonald."
Abby is the most dedicated hat- and helmet-wearer
Abby and Mama
Lately Abby has launched into a streak of tantrums. Lydia can certainly express loud displeasure, but Abby leaves her in the dust with the violence of her opinions and the duration of her fury and sulking. Abby often cares desperately which shirt or pair of shoes she wears, which cup she drinks from, where she sits in the stroller, which shovel she digs with, etc.
If we can't find her favorite hat; if I refuse to dress her in the white, frilly shirt; or if she has to sit in the bike trailer rather than the seat attached to my bike, she lifts her voice to heaven in wails and shrieks. And it's not just a momentary outburst. She prolongs the tantrums into pouting and refuses to join in games for a while. She's also occasionally said, "Buh-
bye" to me in a defiant tone as she runs off to a corner of the yard. She can be a stubborn one!
Abby "riding" a PVC pipe "horse"
Lydia with her PVC pipe "hoe"
On the flip side, Abby is often happy to play with Josiah outside much longer than Lydia lasts out there. If I step inside, Lydia will likely soon follow. She's much clingier than Abby these days. Often when I make lunch, Lydia hangs on my legs or stands on a chair pulled up to the counter next to me. But Abby and Josiah happily continue to dig in the sandbox or hunt bears or herd their sheep--they're usually fine with just some regular checks from Mom.
Lydia
Though Abby and Josiah are sometimes more a twosome, both girls look up to their big brother and want to do what he does and play what he plays. (They all love PVC pipes!) They can both say "'Siah" now--and they say it a lot. They still like to go through the litany of family names whenever we discuss what one person might do. For example, I might say, "Abby, do you want a snack?" She'll say, "Ess!" and then quickly add "Lilla! [Lydia]" and then "Siah!" and often "Daddy! Mama!" and sometimes "Tezzie! [Kezia] Glalya! [Grandma]"
Last night we talked about Christmas and who we'll see in Flagstaff. Both girls eagerly shouted "Pa! Pa! Pa!" and then went through others. Lydia has often asked about "D" (Uncle Daniel) out of the blue since we visited over Thanksgiving.
Josiah was nearly 22 months old when the girls were born. (Interestingly, at this age they're already wearing shoes he wore just last year--at two-and-a-half!) For comparison's sake, here are a few pictures of Josiah around the age the girls are now:
Like him, the girls are adventuresome and often fearless--they love to climb, balance, jump, chase, spin, splash, and generally try daredevil antics. They love to be outside and enjoy roaming the yard, pushing/pulling each other in the wagon or their toy car, riding bikes, etc. Like him, the girls are funny and know it--they like to put on a show and get us (and their siblings and sometimes other people) to laugh at them. They laugh loudly at themselves, too! Like him, the girls are energetic and exhausting. Like him, they're intense and exuberant and often friendly enough to yell "Hi!" across the street at passersby. Like him, they love baths and irrigation water and the fish pond. Like him, they love to "help" Daddy with projects around the yard. And just like he does, they make life more challenging, joyful, and worthwhile.
