She's walking!!!!

Callia officially walking

The girls are 15.5 months and getting so independent (almost). They want to do everything by themselves although when they do need help, they ask for it by raising one hand in the air (like asking the teacher for help). With both girls walking, it is both easier and more difficult for me. It is nice to not have to carry them both everywhere but now I have to make sure they don't go in opposite directions!

Callia is so proud of her new walking self. While she used to spend much of her time sitting and reading books, she now spends most of the day walking around! It is very fun to watch her be much more physical. She still loves her books though and now says, "Ga" for gorilla (Goodnight Gorilla is still her favorite book). Callie has been so incredibly loving these days. She sometimes just looks up at me, smiles and says "Mamamama". She also gives real kisses! I gave her a little lion beanie baby recently and she carries that around with her everywhere. She often looks at it, roars and gives him a kiss! So incredibly cute. She and Maia have a blast together and love to play peek-a-boo in their cardboard house. Callie has actually been saying "Ba" for "Boo" when she sees a picture of a ghost.

Maia is constantly busy and I am trying to find ways to nurture her active self! Honestly, she wears me out some days because she is always on the move. She climbs on top of and into everything as you can see by the pictures and is often trying to test the boundaries of things. If I say to her sister that playdough is not for her mouth, Maia immediately puts a piece in her own mouth and looks at me for a response. Luckily, I am on to her game and don't give that behavior too much attention by just redirecting her to another activity. She is very interested and proud to help Mommy and does "chores" like sweeps crumbs off the floor (more like re-distributes) and puts dirty clothes in the hamper at bath time. Maia is so silly and has the best belly laugh. She loves to be chased, tossed around and tickled. She just loves her sister and has recently created her own version of "sister" in sign language by placing her two pointer fingers to her cheeks. The actual sign is running your thumb down your jaw line and putting your two pointer fingers together. I thought this was pretty clever.

Now that Jason's big work project has wound down, we are really enjoying more time with him. The girls have been so excited to have Daddy take them outside to play and Maia sat mesmerized yesterday watching Daddy rake leaves. We took the girls for their first swim lesson today and it was so much fun! They LOVED the water and had smiles on their faces the whole time. It is such a nice activity for us to do as a family. Now we are gearing up for Halloween tonight and Jason and I have just completed our jack o'lanterns for our annual pumpkin carving contest. Will post pictures soon....

Maia & Callia in their "playhouse"

Maia on top of the tunnel

Callia and her special lion

Callia roaring like a lion

So grown up!

Officially toddlers....


Maia stuck in the Mega blocks container


Maia the Bumblebee and Callia the Ladybug at a Twins Halloween Party


More Halloween pictures soon....

Almost 15 Months and so many new developments

Callia is getting so independent these days as she now has taken a few solo steps. Walking is in her near future and we cannot wait! At the same time, she has become a little more attached to Mommy than she was and has had a hard time separating from me at night for bedtime. Hopefully, this is just a passing phase. She has also started saying more things like, "Go", "All gone", and "Na" for Jenna, our babysitter. She and Maia are very into "their letters" and can recognize Callia's "C" and Maia's "M". The cutest thing Callia does lately is she pretends to snore. Her favorite book is still "Goodnight Gorilla" and she makes a snoring noise whenever she sees the gorilla sleeping at the end. However, now when she sees Daddy sleeping or Mommy resting, she snores too. It is extremely cute!

Maia has started saying more too. She says "Da" for pasta and "nana" banana. Having fewer words does not hinder Maia's capability to express what she wants. She points to something and nods yes if you ask her if she would like that. She uses many signs to communicate like, "more, please, thank you, cookie, fruit, songs, all done," and raises her hand when she needs help. I truly believe that without these means of expression she would be one very frustrated little girl. She is still incredibly active and has now acquired a new skill climbing onto the couch. She knows how to get down but has attempted to go head first off the couch a few times. Luckily, Mommy was close by to catch our "Supergirl".

Do you see her 3 teeth yet? Two on the bottom (below), one on the top (above)!

Maia loves to hug everything these days...usually toys she loves or pages in books. On occasion she will grace her daddy or me with some "Love".

The girls are much more interactive these days during play time. They often play next to each other at the same activity or different activities but lately I have been catching them playing peek-a-boo with each other through tunnels or this little barn. I love watching that!

Our main activities now are puzzles, always books, the new farm house, playing outside and pretending in our new kitchen (found it on Craig's List for a steal). They love to open the doors and play with the pretend food but most especially, they love to have a "tea" party with the tea set that Grandma and Granddad got for them. As usual, we are keeping very busy!

Our new "kitchen"

14 Months and I'll do it myself!

Callie showing off her new teeth - look closely!

Maia giving her banana monkey a hug

It's amazing to me how quickly the time goes and how little of it I have to take new pictures and update this blog! The girls are growing up so fast and wanting to do so many things by themselves. This takes extra patience and time on my part but I love watching their faces after they have succeeded in their endeavors. This is mostly around feeding as both girls like to use a fork or spoon on their own. Much of it ends up on the floor, them or me but they are getting better at it each day. Maia can even successfully poke something with a fork all by herself!

Callia is so near to walking that we think it will happen any time now. She took her first solo step today and is constantly practice walking all around the room. I used to say that I was fine with waiting for her to walk since the idea of two toddlers walking in different directions seemed very daunting, but now I am really excited for her to walk. I think it will open so many doors for her and she will be so proud of herself. The only thing that really worries me is having them walk/run away from me in opposite directions in a crowd. My friend, who also has twin girls (they are a little older than Callia & Maia) found these adorable monkey backpacks they can wear and a parent can actually hold onto the tail in a crowded area. I used to be so against "leashes" for kids but now having twin toddlers, I have changed my mind and think it is a matter of safety. So I got them too and will use them once Callia is officially walking.

Anyway, Callia has begun saying versions of words like "da" for pasta and "na na" for banana. I also think I heard her say "Elmo" the other day - one of her favorites. She is just a love and so happy to be sung to and read to. I love it when I sing certain songs to her and she anticipates the next part or mimics me. If there is a sad part in a song she will put out her lower lip and squint her eyes.



Maia is always on the move. She continues to amaze us with her communication skills while only being able to say "Ma ma" and "Da da" right now. She can tell us what she wants through gestures, sign language and nodding her head. Signing has been very helpful for us since I can imagine Maia being so frustrated if she could not communicate her views to us. Naturally, siblings tend to want what the other has and often Maia would whack Callia over the head if she wanted her toy. I introduced the "turn" sign to her so she could ask for a turn and then I help her get it when Callie is finished with the toy. This has helped tremendously and Callie no longer gets bumped on the head!

Maia's depth of understanding is incredible to us. The other day, she started crying and kept pointing to a drawer. I opened it and she pulled out the Triple Paste diaper cream. I asked her if her bottom hurt and she nodded her head. Sure enough she had a rash and stopped crying once the cream was on. It will be so fun when she has words because I think what she has to say will be very humorous. Maia has a little bit of a mischievous streak to her. One night, she took a box of tissues out of a cabinet; Daddy told her they were not for playing and put the box behind his back. At some point, she took the box behind the ottoman to hide and took every single tissue out. Daddy saw that it might be bedtime so he started singing the "Clean-up Song". Maia put back every single tissue into the box and then put the box back in the cabinet where she originally found it. So funny...



Jason has been incredibly busy at work this month and it will continue into the next. He works so hard and is so dedicated to his projects but I know he misses being with us. The girls really adore playing with Daddy and often Maia cries when he leaves, signing "More Daddy". Luckily, we saw a lot of him this weekend and I was able to take some time to do some things for myself...like get my haircut! I decided now that the girls have stopped pulling my hair, it is time for a change. So I had about 5 or more inches cut off and I love it! I think I will get it even shorter next time! Will post a picture sometime soon...

We have been enjoying a wonderful organic farm share that includes many vegetables and fruit since last June. The positive side is that I have been able to make a variety of organic things for us and the girls (they like kohlrabi!) but the negative side is that it is quite challenging to cook anything with 2 toddlers underfoot. Today, I was able to make tonight's dinner as well as tomorrow night's....baked ziti with eggplant - one of the girls' favorite meals. I am very proud that they are pretty adventurous with food although there are definitely things they do not like. I am just happy to expose them to a variety of things so they hopefully won't demand the same thing for dinner every night - I can dream, right? We keep very busy during the week and have had a great time at playdates with other kids/moms from our class. Looking forward to being out and about more this winter and not so cooped up like last year!