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!