14 & 1/2 months!

I just realized that I am majorly slacking. I don't think I've done a girl status update in several months. Eek! These girls are little sponges and are learning SO much every single day that I need to write it down!

The biggest accomplishments for both girls over the last 6 weeks or so are:
Eating entirely on their own - i.e. - they won't let anyone feed them with a spoon or fork- they want to do it all on their own.

Walking around with shoes on - this is a big accomplishment as they were SO rebellious with the shoes...screamed every time I put them on for the last several months! Of course any child of mine MUST love shoes, so I'm pleased that we have moved past that =)

Following simple instructions - if mommy says to go get in our highchairs to eat, we walk right over there and get in them; if mommy says to bring her the bottle, we bring the bottle to her, etc..

Learning general cause and effect - if mommy asks if we want to go outside we will go and get our shoes and coats and bring them to mommy so she can put them on us...I'm so impressed! We are also learning that if mommy or daddy says no 3 times and we don't listen that we get 1 minute of time out in our cribs. Definitely not our favorite place to be!

They understand exactly what we are saying to them - I'd say they pick up at least 80% of what is said, if not more. Crazy! A couple weeks ago I think they were maybe at 40%?

Rapidly expanding vocabulary - Livvy now says - thank you, Bailey, baby, ut oh, mommy, daddy, yes, yep, papa, Bri, hi, hey, tummy, I love you; and will sign: "more", "milk", and "all done" on a regular basis. Bri now says - thank you, yup, yes, ut oh, up, mommy, daddy, hi, please (she is a bit more selective on her speech apparently!) and will sign: "all done" on a regular basis and "more" occasionally

Learning how to brush our teeth - Every night in the bathtub the girls get their toothbrushes and mommy sings the "Brush your Teeth" song by Raffi while the girls brush their little teeth. They think it's so fun, and they love the song =). Speaking of teeth, I know that Livvy has 3 of her 1 year molars most of the way in, and Bri has 2 partially in. Yikes...these molars must really hurt coming in!

Now, specifics, per girl:
Olivia

Your smile can light up a room peanut! So bright and vibrant. Everyone notices you first because you are almost always beaming when we are out and about. One of your new things is you love to mimick us! You are so adorable when you shake your head "no" at us with "that look"! I have got to capture it on camera because it is so precious. Your new favorite thing to do is take cups and bowls and spoons (or toothbrushes) and use them to stir whatever is in your cup/bowl. Ever since you helped mommy and Aunt Denise stir when we were making Rice Krispie bars a couple of weeks ago you have wanted to do it over and over again! You are going to love to help mommy and Aunt Denise in the kitchen, I just know it.
You love the bath. You could play in there for hours I think! Every single night we have to tear you away from your bath tub time because you are turning into a prune. And every night you fight it and want to go back in =)
You are always trying to figure out how things work. For Christmas Miss Whit got you a lock puzzle - you are so intrigued by it! You also love to read. Not only do you love for us to read to you, but you also like to sit on the floor and read to yourself outloud. Precious!!
Favorite Foods - Graham crackers, spaghetti, bread and butter, pancakes, bagels, cheese

Brianna

You are absolutely precious! You love to play hard-to-get...shy and reserved while people are paying attention to you, but as soon as they stop, boom! You want to smile or play or talk to them. Momma loves this as usually she gets extra snuggles while you are playing your hard-to-get game =).
You love music! You are perfectly content to play music on one of your toys or on "Scout" your puppy pal, and you will just swing back and forth and smile from ear to ear. Your favorite activities include playing outside (you cry every time when we have to come back in), and playing with the household electronics. You are a TV remote magnet, you LOVE laptops, and you are absolutely obsessed with cell phones and the home phone. If it's electronic, you want to play with it!
You also enjoy reading, but you prefer quick books that don't have a lot of words. One of the cutest things you do right now is, you think that everyone else has body parts (currently a nose), but you don't think that you do! You walk around pointing to mommy's nose, daddy's nose, Livvy's nose, Aunt Denise's nose, but you won't point to yours! Same with ears, eyes, and mouths!
You also like to play in the bathtub, but your favorite part of the bath is playing in the water from the shower head..you just giggle when you get wet =). You also like to squirt and be squirted with the rubber duckies...daddy has taught you well!
Favorite foods - Bread in any form, spaghetti, fruit (pears, bananas, strawberries, clementines), cheese, graham crackers

One obstacle that we still haven't overcome is a full transition to sippy cups from bottles. Not because they aren't ready, they totally are! I tried to go to full sippy cups last week and they did really well...at first anyway. Livvy did perfectly throughout, but Bri started taking a drink from her sippy cup then spitting it out (on the floor, highchair, herself). I would tell her no and take the cup away from her, but then she would take Livvy's cup instead and do the same thing. Then I had to take Livvy's cup away too (totally not fair to her!). I tried again later in the day and Bri was fine at first, but after 20 seconds did the same thing all over again with the spitting of the milk on the floor (carpet...ick). So repeat of above...take away Bri's cup, then Livvy's, then the cups all together. Any ideas on how to fix this problem? They are totally ready for sippy cups instead of bottles, I just can't have Bri spitting out her milk all over the house. She doesn't do anything like that with bottles! Help please mommies!! Thanks!

Until next time -
Megan