My ability to blog has been eclipsed by my skyrocketing work level, but I still manage to make it home most nights for dinner and the bedtime routine (park, bath, books, milk and cuddles) only to pick up working again in the evenings.  There is a light at the end of this work tunnel that I think will come around the middle of this month…

Anyway, the girls are really into “labeling”.  I guess this is the phase where their vocabulary soars as they label each and every item around them and their memory for events is repeating in this “labeling” storytelling.  This past weekend Chad’s parents came over for lunch on Sunday and to wish Daddy Chad a Happy Birthday (shout out to Daddy!).  We had a great time, but there was a moment when we were sitting in the living room and Grandpa Chris leaned over in his chair and KABOOM! he fell.  He was alright and we helped him up.  But Nora was very very concerned and scared.  She insisted that I give him a hug at least twice.  And every day since then Nora has gone up to that chair and said, “Grandpa Chair.  Fall down!” 

Their little memories are amazing.  One time (only once) we saw two ducks in the little creek by the park by our house.  The girls were so excited.  Every time we go by the creek on the way to the park they say, “Quack quack duck!”  And when we don’t see them I ask them, “Where did they go?”  In Nora and Tessa’s minds there are only two responses to this question: 1) “Sleepytown nite nap!”, and 2) “Snack”. 

Everything thing that leaves has either gone to bed or is eating something.  It’s so cute.  They say this about everything–ducks, dogs, cars and even airplanes.  “Where did the airplane go?” I’ll ask after it passes overhead and flies far off.  Nora will say with certainty: “Snack”.  And Tessa will agree and say “Sleepytown nite nap”.

Last night at dinner we were sitting around the table talking about milk and water.  They love to see what everyone is drinking.  Mommy was having milk.  Daddy was having water with ICE.  Ice is a big deal.  They love ice.  Toward the end of dinner Tessa wanted to see if Daddy was done with his water.  “Almost.” She said when she saw the glass almost empty.  “Ice?” she asked?  ”No,” I said, “Daddy’s ice is all gone.  Where did it go?”  I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about melting.   Tessa disagreed, “Ice sleepytown,” she correct.  I laughed so loud.  True, I thought.  The ice probably went “sleepytown.”

These are the two pictures I have sitting on my desk at work right now:

Tess:

Nora:

I can’t even tell you how much I love these two people.  They make my day just smiling at me on my desk.

About once a week our daycare provider, Barb, calls me to say that the girls have brought her the phone (not sure how they are getting the phone, but whatever) and they are asking to talk to me.  It makes my day, every single time.

Here’s the sum of our conversation:

Me: “Hello?”

Nora: “HI MOMMY!”

Me: “Hi baby.  How are you?”

Nora: “FINE!”

Me: “What are you doing?”

Nora: “PLAY.  SNACK.”

Me: “Are you having fun?”

Nora: “LUV YOU!”

Me: “I love you, too, baby.  Let me talk to Tess.”

The same conversation ensues with Tessa except there is a lot more button pushing and beeping in my ear.  They both conclude by screaming “BYE BYE!” and then actually kissing and hugging the phone. Each. 

I am the luckiest person in the world.

On April 11, 2007, we welcomed our new cousin Lincoln to our family.

He is such a cute little bug. Everyone is doing great. Cousin Vance is enjoying being a new big “bro” to baby Lincoln. So happy and sweet…

We got to go see baby Lincoln at the hospital. It brought back all sorts of wonderful memories for Mommy.

The girls talked about baby Lincoln all day. “Baby baby baby!” they would say. Then they’d cry like a baby does and laugh like a baby does and say “goo goo ga ga” like a baby does.

They sure do love babies. I can see why.

Nora and Tessa are 20 months old–going on two years.  Nora likes to announce this fact by constantly declaring, “Nora do it! Nora do it!”.  Needless to say, she likes to do things for herself.

Tessa likes to try things out, but she often, and without hesitation, asks for help.

As a mother who has about 1,000,001 things to do all the time, you may be able to imagine how time consuming it can be to allow your daughters to “do” everything themselves.  And, sometimes, how it is frustrating.  This roaring independance, which sometimes ends up on the floor kicking and screaming and crying, is frustrating for me because I want to encourage Nora and Tessa to be confident, able people.  I want them to learn and grow and explore their world.  I love that at the age of 20 months they can mostly put on their own shoes and coats!  I love their determination to “do it” all for themselves because it makes them capable, self-sufficent, curious, intelligent human beings.

But, we all get frustrated when “do it” doesn’t work out…when the frustration of being almost two-years-old has limitations that are beyond their understanding.

It is frustrating for them and it is frustrating for me.  And, so, I am trying to learn that it is the journey that I should embrace, not the end result.  Nora and Tessa live in the present, not the future.  It is the walk to the park…the dilly-dallying over every rock…the challenge of holding hands while crossing the street…the feel of dirt and concrete on our hands and knees, not the park itself, in which we learn about life. 

It is the washing of the hands, not the clean hands, in which we learn about what it feels like to get your whole shirt wet and how the floor becomes slippery when there is water all over.

So, I’m learning to pick my battles lately.  And I’m learning patience (although it’s really really tough sometimes).  And I’m trying to embrace the reality that in order for Nora and Tessa to become confident, happy and helpful people there are many life lessons to be learned, albeit within the boundaries of love and guidance from Mommy.  And we’ll try to pepper in a few “please” and “thank you’s” along the way…

Time is getting away from me.  Free time, that is.  We did have a fun Easter weekend, though.  The eggs were a hit, although they were sometimes difficult to manage.  (Tessa on the left, Nora on the right.)

 What to do…what to do…

When we tried to pick them up…

even more spilled out!

But we still had a good time.

With all the frills upon it… 

 The other evening my mom was over playing with us while Chad was at church.  After some time of playing dress up…

and trying on hats…

 and riding our horse (with more hats)…

We were ready for dinner.

We like to play some games during dinner.  Our favorite game is called, “Whose milk is that?” whereby we ask the girls, “Whose milk is that?” and they identify it as “Mommy’s milk” or “Daddy’s milk” or “Tessa’s milk” or “Nor Nor’s Milk”.  It’s fun and we go around and around the table.  Since Grammy was sitting with us that night, we were able to practice “Grammy” which is just starting to sounds like “Gra”, but we’re working on it.  They also like to tell each person when they are “all done! all done!”

We made up a variation of this game called, “Boy, is this milk delicious” whereby a person takes a swig of their milk and they follow it with a loud and refreshing “AHHHHHH!!!” sound.  Everyone got multiple turns.  As I noticed that the girls were not eating their carrots, I decided to take this game one step further.  So, I took a carrot off of Tessa’s plate and made a big deal rubbing my tummy and saying, “Mmm Mmm DELICIOUS!”.   Then I pointed at Grammy–her turn!  “Mmm Mmm DELICIOUS!” she said.  Then I pointed at Tessa, who is not adverse to vegetables but chooses normally not to eat so many of them, and she popped one in her mouth and smiled, rubbed her tummy and said, “mmm mmm”.  Not totally convincing, but she DID eat a carrot.  Then, it was Nora’s turn, who also enthusiastically popped a carrot into her mouth.

Her face dropped.  Half gagging on the disgustingness that is a carrot, she thrust the half chews bits back out of her mouth with her tongue as Grammy and I roared with laughter and shrieked, “Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh!”

That kid genuinely does not like carrots.

Oh well.  Sorry baby.

Yes.  We are still here.  This blog is still alive.  It has just been crazy. Too crazy.  And the thoughts and the memories slip away and things change before I can post them…So, let’s get back on track. 

The girls turned 18-months-old on Valentine’s Day.  I love that.  It just seems so fitting that the two people who have their arms wrapped tightly around my heart have a 1/2 birthday on V-Day.  They are so sweet.

Right around Valentine’s Day we had a LOT of people asking us how many words they say.  As if I have the time (or the thought) to sit down and COUNT their vocabulary.  So, I started counting and here’s what we came up with as of 18 months.  And, in full disclosure, the girls have always seemed to progress through milestones at the same time or within a week or so apart.  Variances are otherwise noted herein (god–do I sound like a lawyer or what?).

I divided their vocabulary into three categories: words they can actually say, signs that they can make and animal noises (or object sounds).  I’m sure I missed some, but here’s the bulk in no particular order:

WORDS THEY CAN SAY:

Toe (this is their favorite song thanks to Cassie and Mackenzie!), Snow (they scream with enthusiam as it falls and falls and falls out our window), No (no comment) , Yes (mostly nodding, but they do say it when prompted), Nora (Both girls can say “Nora”, although Tessa has it down to an art-form.  Tess says, “Nora” ALL THE TIME.  She clearly knows that it’s her sister’s name, but she also uses it arbitrarily in other contexts.  It’s odd.  Nora can also say her name, but she calls herself, “Nor Nor”.   I think that’s adorable…)

Tessa (Again, both girls can say this although sometimes it sounds like “Da Da”, so you have to pay attention.  For awhile it sounded like Tessa was calling herself “NoraTet-Ta”, but I think I figured it out.  It’s goes like this:

Me: Tessa, what’s her name? [pointing at Nora]

Tessa: Norrr-A.

Me: Good.  What’s YOUR name? [pointing at Tessa]

Tessa: NoraTeta.

Me: No, you’re Tessa.

Tessa: No-you’re-Teta.

Get it?  NoraTeta and No-you’re-Teta.  I thought she was confused that her name was Nora also so I kept correcting her telling her “no, you’re Tessa,” so she’d repeat me saying “No-you’re Tessa”.  Oh geez.)…Now she just says “Tet-Ta”.

Shoes (sounds like “chews”), Barbara, Da-da, Ma-ma (although it’s usually in triplicate “Ma Ma Ma”)…

Baby (OBSESSED WITH THE BABIES LATELY), Elmo (with variations of Mo and Melmo), Big Bird (although they can only say Elmo and Big Bird, the can identify every single Sesame Street character by pointing.  We have these old books that have all the old characters and they know and LOVE all of them), Down, More, Oranges (Tessa only once said this, and she totally over enunciated it–which was hilarious), Ball, Pa (for paci), Go (they repeat this a million times when Grammy comes over because they think they get to “go” somewhere with Grammy), Bye bye, Balloon (although it sounds more like “Baoon”), Cracker (with a “gra-crack-car” being a variation on graham cracker), Pa Pa (for Papi Jerry), Cheese (for the food and the smile)…

Go dog go (their all-time favorite book thanks to Alex and Jacob), Zebra (Tessa only), Nite nite (mostly Nora), Coat (with a silent “t” for coat),  Water (really, wa-wa)…

 Dora (Tessa says this clearly and distinctly from “Nora”, and I think Nora calls her more like “Doe”).

SOUNDS THEY CAN MAKE:

Cat (all time favorite animal), Dog, Duck, Cow, Sheep, Snake, Rooster (this one is hilarious “ca-ca-doogle-do”), Witch (they’ve got a cackle down), Horse…

Bear/tiger, Fish face (fishes make faces, not sounds, sillies!), Elephant (we got a hand gesture down for the nose on this, too)…

 Owl, Frog (we do a side-to-side tongue thing, not “ribbit” because that’s what our books says), Monkey (with arm-pit scratching effects), Cookie monster (we can put away cookies like that dude), Seal (arf! arf!), Car, Burr (cold), Airplane (with sign), Microwave (boop boop boop boop boop! as they play on their toy microwave in their toy kitchen–also a variation on elevator buttons–I desperately wish I had a picture of them playing with their microwave).

SIGNS WE CAN MAKE:

Milk, Eat, Cookie (we get a little sound with this, “cuk”, but not really a word), All done (we do say “ah dun” with this), Dirty (so cute), More (ok, we say this CLEARLY, but it is a prominent sign), Diaper, Bath (Nora says “Ba” with this), Bed (Nora now says “nite nite”), Hug, Baby (we can say this, but we furiously sign for it, too), Sick, Help, Airplane, Book, Cold, Car, Please (we can say “peas”), Thank you, Clap (for good job), Brushing teeth, Wipe-nose (we scrunch up our nose and blow)…

Share (I made this sign up because we need a sign for it).

So, it was a pretty good vocabulary of words/signs/sounds for 18 months… 

But since February 14th, we’ve really seen an explosion of annunciations of new words.  They can repeat a lot of words when asked.  New words that they’ve never said before.  More than I can list.  Some require prompting, some are spontaneous.  It’s incredible to see them on the verge of something new, something exciting, something liberating.  I was really pleased with the signs that they knew before they were verbal.  I remember seeing the relief in Tessa’s face when she signed “milk” the first time and I handed her the cup of milk.  It was this expression of “Oh, lady, you totally know what I want.  Eureka!”  The animal sounds starting coming along and I would just make their sounds into sentences.  Nora would “meow” and I’d say, “Do you see a kitty-cat?  Kitty-cats say ‘meow.’ ” And then the words started to flow.

It’s fun.  And I’m so proud of them.  The next ride is about to begin… 

I do not like this time of year,

I do not like it in my ear;

[Read: we are all sick sick sick with crud]

I do not like the cold and snow,

I do not like it cause it blow(s);

[Read: we cannot go outside because the windchill is minus 30 everyday and we’re getting cabin fever]

I do not like the cold and flu,

I do not like it in my shoe;

[Read: did I mention illness?]

I do not like no pictures to post;

Because I ate them with my toast.

[Read: Illness + Cabin fever = Bad Photo Ops and Bad Blogging.]

Although these two pictures (Tessa and Nora, respectively), make me very happy every time I look at them–even if they date back to November: