2nd Birthday Party!

The girls had a Dora themed birthday party this year. We had lots of friends and family over to our house for a cookout. We were worried about the weather dampening our outdoor plans, but the rain held off and it wasn't too cool to play outside. The kids enjoyed the play set, the girls' new sandbox, and their inflatable jumper that they received as a birthday gift. They also received clothes, personalized Dora books, puzzles, Little People zoo, Play-Doh, a large carpet for their playroom, tricycles, money, blocks, and gift cards. We want to thank everyone who came to celebrate this special day with us. We love you all!!

Birthday Fun!

Music To Grow By Play Date

We went to Music To Grow By on a play date with some other sets of twins from our Mothers of Multiples group. The girls had a blast playing with the instruments, dancing, and singing.

Big Girls Beds

We finally decided to make the switch to a full size bed for Abigail. She refused to sleep in her crib even if was converted into a daybed, so we just completely converted it into a full size bed. Emily loved it too, so we went ahead and converted her crib into a daybed. She actually likes it and they both are doing great going to sleep in their new Big Girl Beds!!

What's New...

What's new with Emily:

Emily's vocabulary has really taken off. She is quickly learning some Spanish words and often surprises us using a new word in everyday conversations. She is beginning to understand and identify colors(blue and green), identifies some upper case letters and their sounds, and speaks in two and three word phrases. One of my favorites is "Bless you" after we sneeze or even cough. She is very polite, always saying "Please" and "Thank you." She LOVES her milk, monkeys, jumping, babies, and hugging Sister. She is very dramatic and has developed the use of a undeniably pathetic sad face when she wants something. This face always gets her grandparents to give her whatever she wants. She recently got into an "argument" with her Daddy about whether there was milk in her cup. He asked her "Are you going to drink this or not?" She infatically exclaimed, "Not!" That's what you get for trying to reason with an almost two year old. She went through several phases of being "scared' of several things: giraffes, crabs, and dogs. We always calmed her fears by telling her they were nice. She just wanted to make sure they were "Soft?" and when she asked, as long as we replied in the affirmative, she was comforted somehow. She is still a great sleeper. When we put her in her crib, she lays down and goes quickly to sleep, usually without a sound. She loves interacting with people and watching their actions intently, often mimicking what they do. She is very affectionate, liberally giving hugs and kisses. She is Mommy's Little Helper and loves to assist with the cooking, sweeping, and vacuuming.

What's New with Abigail:

Abigail is now speaking in 4-5 word sentences. Her Spanish vocabulary is 35+ words, but no phrases yet. She can identify all upper case letters and 21 lower case letters(the n,h,q,a,d are giving her a hard time because if you'll notice the 'n' and 'h' look alike and the 'a' and 'd' look alike except for the "stems"). She knows most of the sounds, too. She is able to tell you an animal that starts with each of the letters. She knows what she wants and fortunately she is able to verbalize that now alleviating much frustration on her part, as well as with Mommy. If something if different than the way it usually is or someone says something wrong, she will correct it. Her Aunt Tracie was watching her eat dinner tonight and said, "Abigail, are you going to eat your noodles and beans?" She quickly corrected her, "These are peas." She absolutely HATES being put into her crib even when it is converted into a daybed, so she sleeps on her mattress on the floor. We recently discovered that she likes her leg being rubbed to help her fall asleep. She enjoys more independent play and will often disappear into their playroom for long periods entertaining herself(usually dumping all their play food, puzzles, books, and blocks into the floor). She is very good about helping to clean up her messes though. She loves to eat noodles, cheese, and, judging by the above picture, chocolate pudding.

All Dressed Up, And No Place To Go

As many of you know, Josh and I are both attending grad school. In doing this, a lot of time is required if us to be at the computer. One day as I was working, the girls were playing in my room with me. I looked over to check on them and Emily had found my eyeliner and was drawing all over Abigail's face with it. More surprisingly, Abigail was standing still let her do it!

They love playing in my vanity, so it has now become their "treasure chest". I learned from this experience to hide any make-up I actually want to keep and use and leave play items in the drawer. They often enjoy pretending to get all dressed up.

Make Over

Reading at 21 Months Old???

Abigail has been really developing her pre-reading skills. She is able to identify some sight words, predict text, use rhyming words to complete phrases, and loves to finish the sentences when I read or sing songs to her . Here she is working with some books Nana gave her. We just started working on this short 'u' book 2 days ago and she can already point to the words when I ask her and she is even able to read the words herself.

Learning Our Opposites

Emily has been working on her opposites. She loves to repeat them over and over, especially during meal times. She knows up/down(a favorite), big/small, whisper/shout, and stop/go(another favorite especially when when are pushing her in a shopping cart. It gets a little time consuming trying to get through the store stopping and going every other second:)

Also, this was the first time she's had her hair in pigtails on the side of her head. Doesn't she look adorable!!