Fourteen Months!

Yeah, I am still here.  The boys turned fourteen months on the tenth of this month and I had a great post written and then Blogger would not actually publish it.  My draft would not even save and I took Eric's well meaning advice to refresh the page and lost everything.   I should have copied the body of the post into a Word document.  What can I say?  Lesson learned. It had already been a tough week with both boys having colds as well as teething and I was really unmotivated to write it all again.  Then it was Mother's Day and our little dog Scooter disappeared.  Thankfully Scooter was returned the next morning but the week was just one thing after another.  Abraham was super irritable and I brought him into the pediatrician and, sure enough, he had a double ear infection.  Suzie got into some human food and was up all night with tummy pain.  I stayed up with her since Eric had to go to work in the morning and I tweaked my neck really bad because every time she would jerk her body I would quickly sit up.  My house is a disaster.  It is a total clutter box right now but I want to get some of this written down again before it blends into next month's post. 

My sweet boy-- Winston (left) and Abraham

They tend to goof off when I want to take a picture of them. 

So all that to say, the little guys turned fourteen months.  I have recently done some updates about how they are becoming big boys and the milestones we have reached.  I was reflecting upon Mother's Day last year.  The boys were so teeny tiny then and Mother's Day has passed by once again.  I knew last year that I was a mother.  I had carried those babies, delivered them, nursed them and loved them fiercely.  But now I actually feel like a mother. Being a mother is a core part of my identity.  Everyday I am nurturing, educating, correcting and molding them into the little people that they will become.  That is a heavy responsibility but it is also a complete joy. 

Often I write about the boys' changes and progress for the month and then write individual items about each of them.  The big thing I am noticing in the boys' is their strong desire for independence.  They want to do things all by themselves even if it is not really something they can do so.  I have had several people comment to me how they are incredibly independent for twins.  They enjoy one another and play with one another but at the same time they like doing their own thing.  They do not tend to look for one another if they are separated in public and are content being on their own.  I do not normally feed the boys food with a spoon but at breakfast I was making oatmeal for them.  Winston was so irritable at breakfast lately and I figured out that he was frustrated that he was not feeding himself.  I gave him a spoon to hold and try to use and he was happy again.  No more oatmeal though because it is not worth the frustration on either end.  

"Hey, whatcha got?"

The boys love each other, wrestling, making each other giggle and enjoy playing with one another.  At the same time the sibling rivalry thing is really starting to show. They take toys away from one another, fight over things and sometimes slap and tackle one another.  I feel like a referee and trying to be consistent in correcting them each time is exhausting. 

Abraham's classic mischievous grin.

Winston is always finding something to put in his mouth.  Yikes!

One thing that is hard about this age is that the boys are getting so independent but they cannot adequately communicate what they want or need.  This makes them frustrated and they whine.  The whining, oh the whining.  It seriously drives me crazy at times.  It has gotten better again but when the boys were sick it was really hard for me to continuously be patient and not snap at them.  Then the boys go to bed, I get a couple hours of quiet and some adult conversation with Eric and then I start missing them.  I miss them like crazy.  Sometimes we want to wake them up but then our sanity comes back to us.  Ahhh, parenthood.

Yay, papa's home!

The boys have gained some new words.  I have been using cookies as a reward for good behavior and the boys call them 'tooties.'  They can identify apples and call them 'ap-holes.' That last one is a little dangerous, huh? Winston calls both dogs 'Suza.'  They will both shake their head and say 'mm-mmm' as if to say no but I don't think they understand what it means.  They say no but the answer is actually yes quite often.  They started asking for Eric when he was gone at work.  They do the signs for 'milk' and 'all done.'  In general they have really started trying to mimic everything we say and it is so much fun interacting with them. 

Smiling at their papa.

Abraham is our talker.  He talks up a storm.  Winston is also a talker but he is more our singer.  Winston loves to sing himself and he will dance to music.  Seriously, these kids just kill us with their cuteness at times. 

We are doing some early potty training and in general Abraham will go on the toilet about once a day. Winston is a little slower to take to it but he has gone on the toilet about five or six times now. The thing we are working on is just them communicating their need to go.  They can give some clear signals so I just praise them when they do it and they go on the toilet successfully.   I am using a more traditional timing method over all and just trying to be consistent with it.  It is super casual and I am not stressing that they have to go in the toilet because I do not want them to dread that time they do sit on the toilet.  The boys are still nursing and do not seem ready to wean just yet.  I dropped a feeding during the day and it was pretty painless. They were frustrated the first two days because they were so used to the routine but were fine once they were given their sippy cups.  We use a juicer to make them apple or carrot juice and they love it. We typically dilute the juice with a lot of water and the good news is that they do not mind drinking water now.  They also drink coconut milk but Winston seems to like it better than Abraham.

We are still on two naps a day.  The boys are sleeping about 10-12 hours a night.  They were sleeping in until 7 a.m. making for a full twelve hours but they have been waking up earlier again.  With it being daylight longer they have not been going to bed until about 8 p.m.  I wish my kids were the type that if they stayed up later that they would sleep in later. 

This is real life.

 

 

A&W are not walking yet and it is still a neck and neck race to see who will be the first to do so.  The boys can balance well and stand for a while before they slowly squat and lower themselves to the ground.  They have taken to their little toy walkers and like to walk around the house with those.  I think they like it because they do not need to hold our hands and can do it all by themselves. 

Abraham and Winston, you are awesome little boys and we love you so much.  You make our hearts smile everyday with your playful and sweet personalities.