10.12.2010

Eighteen Months

First of all, I never posted the girls' 17-month picture, so here it is (courtesy of my mom one morning before school)...

17 Months

Addison's hair is not quite as long or full as it appears in the picture, but both girls are sporting nice little mullets these days.  I am hoping the front will eventually catch up with the back, and if those beautiful curls want to hang around, I will be totally fine with that also.

They weren't feeling like cooperating for the 18-month picture, but it sure does capture their personalities at this stage...uncontainable! 

18 Months
One version with Addison looking at the camera...

18 Months, take two
and one with Mackenzie looking.

So, what is going on at 18 months?  LOTS.  A & M are busy, busy bees from the time they get up in the mornings until their heads hit the pillow at night.  They are into absolutely everything, so my house is almost always a wreck if we have been home for any length of time...you wouldn't want to see the state it's in today after being home for a long weekend.  And yet, we have so much fun together at this stage. 

A typical day goes something like this right now...
The girls get up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:15, though it's not uncommon for one or the other to wake up around 6:00 and come to our bed to go back to sleep.  Immediately after they wake up, we go on a hunt for snack cups (filled with Cheerios or Teddy Grahams) and milk.  They hang out in my bedroom while I get ready, either screaming and holding onto my legs or playing with their daddy and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, depending on what kind of a day it is.  Around the time I leave for work, the girls settle in for breakfast, provided by either my mom or Jeremy.

If it's a school day, my mom comes to our house to finish getting A & M ready, then she takes them to school at 9:00 and picks them up at 2:00.  Otherwise, they spend the day at her house while I work.  Days are consumed with exploring kitchen cabinets, eating lots of good snacks, playing with balls, baby dolls, and other various toys, climbing up and down in different chairs, jumping on the bed, and playing outside--which consists of eating rocks, leaves, and any other bits of nature they can get their hands on.

After I get off work, the girls and I come home to either play outside or otherwise entertain ourselves until dinnertime.  Then it's time for bath, always a favorite in our house.  A & M usually have a good time running around naked for a few minutes after bath, burning off the last of the day's energy.  We read a few books and wrestle into pajamas, then settle in with sippy cups of milk to wind down.  Even if Jeremy is home, this is the time of day when the girls absolutely insist on having me.  We sit in the big recliner, rocking, reading Goodnight Moon, singing bedtime songs, and saying prayers until I take them to bed (which is usually around 7:00 most nights...school wears them out!).  No matter how tired they are, Mackenzie vigorously shakes her head "no" when I ask if they are ready for bed.  Yet, when I put them down, she is usually the one who goes right to sleep with little or no protest.  Addison, on the other hand, stands up before I get out of the room to shriek her protest.  That usually doesn't last long, but I can hear her humming and thrashing around in her bed for up to a half hour some nights.  She doesn't cry or anything...we just call it her 'quiet time'. 

As exhausting as the days can be, I love this stage.  It's like we are learning to understand each other and communicate a little better what we all need and want from each other.  Mackenzie is talking some, trying to repeat anything we ask her to say.  Her favorite saying right now is "Uh-oh, spaghettio"...which comes out all jumbled, but it's absolutely precious.  Naturally, we hear it 1,000 times a day, followed about 800 of those times by me saying, "That was NOT an uh-oh".  She also says daddy, mama (rarely, and only when I'm not here), keys, seat, pee-pee, poo-poo (classy, right?), baby, NiNi, bye-bye, mum-mum, rock, and can repeat a variety of other jumbled words or phrases.

Addison has not had much to say up until this point, except for long, nonsensical babbling.  She seems to really be getting the hang of it this month though, and her babbling is sounding more and more like words.  She has said uh-oh, rock, daddy, and mama lately.  Oh, how I love to hear their sweet little voices and imagine the conversations we will have one day!

I guess this has turned into a baby-book style update...but since I haven't updated their baby books since we moved into this house more than six months ago, I guess that's okay, right?

It's hard to believe my girls are halfway through their second year, closer now to two years old than to one.  The days are long, but the years are short... I have heard that multiple times during difficult times over the last year and a half, but it's not until I stopped to really take stock of how far we have come that I realize how very true those words are.  I try to remind myself of that fact a little more often, and make every effort to enjoy these days, with all the jumbled words, curious little hands, and footed pajamas...  In the grand scheme of things, they will only be here for such a short time before we move on to more serious conversations, homework, fights over clothes and boys... oh my.  Can't they stay little awhile longer??

7 comments:

  1. So much fun...I'm so glad you're taking some time to enjoy it b/c I'm sure you're so busy!!!

    One of my friends informed me that Hailey has a rat-tail the other day and that I should cut it off. My response? Long hair is long hair and it's all she has right now!

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  2. They sound exactly like mine - into everything, no sitting still and on the go, non-stop while they're awake.

    I'm so glad you said they never say mama when you're there - I also have that and yesterday V said to me, "they say mummy all the time when you're not here, when they point to your photos" Aaawwww

    Hey, any hair is good, right?

    The talking sounds good for 18 months.

    Also, I was thinking about you this morning in the shower. Nothing weird - I just do good thinking in the shower. And wanted to say thank you for always leaving me comments - they really do make my day!

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  3. That quote may be cliche, but it's so true!!! It feels like such an exciting time for us, at 21 months...our girls seem like they're really on the cusp of being "little girls", but then they still have a lot of "baby" in them, too. I'm so excited to see what the next chapters hold, but I am trying to savor every last bit of baby snuggles and babbles that I can!

    It sounds like your girls are doing a great job in the language department! Did you notice a big change when they started school? I was ever-so-slightly worried about our girls at 18 months, but they just exploded with new words and phrases over the past 6 or 8 weeks. It's so cool!

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  4. Great saying, "The days are long. The years are short." That pretty much explains our life too. With Phoebe being 10 years and the boys being 16 months, it seems like time has passed so quickly with Phoebe, but sometimes you just can't wait for the end of the day for them to all be in bed!

    Enjoy, enjoy them! They look and sound so precious. I don't think I've been able to take a photo of the boys sitting next to each other since they started crawling. I might be able to get one photo, but they probably aren't all looking up.

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  5. Awwww, your girls are adorable!!! And, yes, it's such a busy stage they're at but also so much fun!!! I have to say that probably the best time for me was between 16-24 months!

    To answer your question in your comment on Christina's blog, I was definitely more laid back with the 2nd set of twins. I adopted a "been there, done that" attitude at some point in the pregnancy and things just fell right into place. Even my husband was amazed at how much more confident and calmer I seemed the second time around!

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  6. Oh, into everything... I get it. Believe me.

    Beautiful pictures. Beautiful girls, as always!

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