11 Months - Stats and Habits

Easter's Egg Hunt at the church

I am teary today reflecting on the past three days. These girls are no longer babies but little people. Their achievements grow as quickly as they do.

Little Ava did something glorious and terrifying. She took her first 2 steps. From the coffee table at Grandma's house to Rocio. Then again from Rocio to me. She got so excited and it nearly made me cry. Ava still won't crawl, but loves to be led around the house. She only needs to hold on with one hand. It's like walking around with a little toddler, not an 11 month old!

Tina's learned to not only walk her walker down the hall, but to backup and turn it once she hits the wall or another piece of furniture. She's very adept at walking and crawling and using the combination to get around to nearly anywhere she wants.

Ava has a habit of twirling her wrists, but the other day, I noticed they weren't twirling, but she was opening and squeezing her hand...her first sign: "milk." Later the next day, as she sat from my hip looking down and talking to Hayden, Tina clapped her hand against her leg: the sign for "dog." I wasn't sure if it was an accident. I put her down and said, "Tina, where's the dog?" She looked from me to Hayden and slapped her hand against her leg again. There you go! Are they finally getting this? Ava signed for milk again, ironically at the birthday party for one of our Baby Signs classmates.

Tina's been having some teething pain and thus her sleep has been interruppted, but both girls have two glorious teeth and are eatting more finger foods. Blueberries and avocados are their favorites right now.

10 Month 3 Weeks - Mobility and Motion

On the move and not looking back!

What's happened! I missed a week! Well, these girls have started on the move. Tina's crawling, but that's not the beginning of our concern. They are cruising with the confidence of "Chariots of Fire" and, with their new push walker (seen with Ava above), they are literally running down the halls.

They love their new-found independence. They look at each other, running circles around the coffee table, chasing each other around the superyard, giggling and laughing so hard they nearly bring themselves to their knees. It's really very cute.

Time for the outlet covers and more extentions for their superyards. The timing of the bi-annual Twins Club fundraising sale is perfect. We need to convert from gyminis to toddler toys. Amazing - I can't believe that they will soon no longer be infants, but toddlers!

While Tina has found comfort in her mobility, Ava, while enjoying it, has been more dependent. Separation anxiety has transferred from Tina to Ava.

They are also intent on talking. When Tina gets going, she gets very animated and punctuates her multi-syllable sentences by throwing her arm in the air and pointing. During these times, we call her "Little Hitler." There are a few words that they - mostly Tina - are saying: "dog" was one of the first ones, "Mama" in context (Ava's strong on that one), "Yeah," and "Bye/Hi" which they use interchangeably.