The Good Stuff

We are enjoying the boys at this age and how they are becoming more animated with each day.  There are so many moments that they make us laugh and smile. Eric and I look at each other and we realize that these are the joys of parenthood.  We are really entering the good stuff.  We get sentimental about how they are no longer little babies but we are also enjoying more sleep. Ha! They are changing so quickly that I wanted to make sure that I remember some of the things they have started doing:

• The boys are not walking yet but we can tell they are gaining more muscle strength in their core.  They can stand and slowly lower themselves into a squat or vice versa.  They will stand for several seconds and then sit down because they do not know what to do next.  They will be standing in their crib or next to a piece of furniture and start clapping without leaning on anything.  They do not realize they are doing it, look down and quickly grab onto something.   They are really into cruising the furniture. They are on their own little time table for walking and that is just fine with me.
• Winston's language is taking off.  He is really trying to make word sounds and mimic what we say.  Our little dogs Suzie and Scooter are like little ducklings and follow whatever activity is happening around the house.  The boys both like watching the dogs and petting them.  I was telling Winston that the little girl dog was Suzie and he repeated to back to me 'Suza.' Later on that week he was eating in his high chair and when he saw Suzie standing in front of him he looked at her and said, "Suza."  It was totally unprompted and I was so proud of him!
• The boys have little stuffed animals that they sleep with.  Abraham has Leo the Lion and Winston has George the Monkey.  Abraham kept putting Leo in Winston's crib so that Winston had two stuffed animals or he would throw Leo on the floor.  Every time I would go in to get the boys I would look forward to seeing where Leo ended up.  I would ask, "Where's Leo?", and Abraham would giggle.  Abraham then taught Winston to throw George out of the crib too.  Winston gets so excited about doing this that it has turned into a game.  As soon as he gets put in his crib he picks up George, pulls himself up and throws George out.  So now every time I walk into the nursery, poor Leo and George are on the floor.  Also when I tuck in the boys for nap time and bed time I take Leo and George and make their respective animal sounds.  The boys both make the 'ee-ee-oo-oo-ah-ah' sound for the monkey now. 
• Abraham now says 'uh-oh.' Apparently he has heard us say that a number of times.
• Winston taught Abraham to chew on their adjoining crib rails.  Their rails are now wrapped in a dish towel to prevent them from acting like little beavers.
• When we ask the boys, "How big are you?", they lift their hands over their heads.  Abraham is especially quick to do it and now Winston is even trying to say it as well.  It is not clearly the phrase 'so big' but he uses the same tone and inflection.  
• Abraham seems to think that the food on Winston's tray looks better than his so he always tries to grab for his brother's stuff.  Fortunately Abraham also shares and gives his brother his sippy cup. 

 We hosted our first play date last week and we tried to

 get a picture of all the kids together. 

This is pretty much how all of them looked except at one 

point Sammy (yellow snack cup) was screaming.

 Abraham's faces just kill me sometimes.

 Gracie in the green outfit and the bow is only six days older than our boys.

 Those blue eyes!

 Smiley boys

In general the boys are laughing and playing with each other a lot and it is such a delight to watch.  Listening to them "talk" to one another just melts our hearts.  When they get put down for their naps it is pretty normal to hear them giggling and shrieking for 15-20 minutes before they fall asleep.  It's stuff like that that makes having twins so awesome. 

We are going through teething again and some struggles with tantrums but it all comes with the territory, right?  We love these boys and love their little smiles.  We feel blessed to have our little sons.