(The girls mastered all of their puzzles so we created a 'puzzle pile' where we dump all the puzzle pieces into a giant pile on the floor and then try to match the pieces to their appropriate puzzle. It allows us to appreciate our puzzles in a whole new way. Fiona/white, Daphne/pink, Stella/red)
The girls are really beginning to show their personalities and it is adorable. Below are some of my favorite developments over the past month.
Stella: Every morning we listen to music. Eventually 'She'll be coming around the mountain" begins to play and Stella stops whatever she is doing, runs to a book that also has the words to the song and repeats 'same, same, same' until I acknowledge that the book and the song playing are the same. Then she proceeds to dance/march around the room until the song is over. She also insists that I sing the song to her at least five times a day. If I skip a verse or get them out of order, she corrects me by freezing in her steps and repeating the phrase of the verse that I have messed up. She is very dedicated to the song and I still haven't figured out why.
Daphne: All the girls love books, but Daphne REALLY loves books. She gets upset whenever we stop reading. Don't get me wrong I read to them all day, but eventually we have to take naps, eat lunch or go to bed and often Daphne gets upset when it is time to stop reading. We usually go to two story times each week at various libraries. Recently, Daphne has begun reading to other people at story time. She will sit down in front of the reader with her own book, face the book towards them and then tell them things that she sees on the page out loud, turning pages when they do, and completely mimicking their behavior.
Fiona: Around eighteen months, Fiona spoke very little. She clearly understood everything we were saying but didn't speak much herself. Our pediatrician told us not to worry and that she would talk when she was ready and oh boy, was she right. Fiona repeats everything you say and often uses 7-8 word sentences without hesitation. She has begun to use her language skills as a form of entrapment. She will ask you something, you repeat it back to her to confirm you understand what she is asking and then she responds with 'OK' and a big smile. For example: Fiona says 'Daddy pick you up', Brant repeats back 'Daddy pick you up?' and Fiona responds 'OK'.
(stella/pink, fiona/dark green, daphne/light green)
Other adorable acts in our household these days.
- The girls love playing tea party. Daphne will play when no books are available, but Fiona and Stella immediately rush to the table to play every morning. Bernie (the bear) is always attending the party and often other animals join sitting in their own chairs of course. There never seems to be tea at the tea party, mostly just coffee and juice (probably because Brant drinks coffee I drink orange juice in the morning), cupcakes and eggs.
- Everyday before quiet time, nap, or bedtime the girls have to put elmo to sleep. Auntie Kelly got the girls chicken dance elmo and they make sure he faces the wall each time before we go upstairs. Upon coming back downstairs the girls race to wake up elmo (turn him back around facing the room). Also, we started watching sesame street occasionally and the girls refer to that elmo as 'red elmo' because their first and therefore original elmo is yellow from his chicken suit.
- We have a staircase in our new house and one side has a railing half the way and then wall the remainder. The other side has a railing the entire way. Of course we have encouraged the girls to use the railing side which means they only want to use the wall side....they are two after all. Every time they walk down the stairs on the wall side they tell us with each step '(name) letting go pretty soon' making sure we realize that they will have to let go of the railing pretty soon because they are approaching the wall.
- We started with our first juice a couple of weeks ago. Until this time, the girls have just had milk and water to drink. They were begging to have some 'mama juice' also known as orange juice. I gave them a couple sips of mine and now we are hooked. Each morning they share ~4ozs and compete about who gets to 'drink it all up'. With each sip they tell me they are going to 'drink it all up' and then the next girl says the same thing. Whoever finally finishes the juice gets a giant grin and informs their sisters that '(name) drank it all up'.
These days are pretty adorable. It is amazing to try and decipher where their thoughts are coming from and what they will do next. They are really beginning to play, hug and kiss each other unprompted. They ask where their sister is if someone is upstairs getting changed: Fiona 'Stella where are you?' Stella "I'm up here, be back soon' Fiona 'Bye bye see you later'. The cuteness level is ridiculous!
