Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Walk this way: Month 13 Update

I was unsure if I was going to continue to chronicle the boys month by month after their first birthday.  As their "birthday anniversary" approached, I became aware of how much they had changed since their 1 year celebration so I decided to write some things down.  I think I would be sad if I could not look back and prompt my memories with all the funny/cute things that have happened this month and be reminded of much progress the boys have made.  So, for now, I am going to keep writing about our adventures and chinanagins and try to keep up a record of growth for this second year.

This month we celebrated Christmas in a grand fashion.  We rang in the New Year with a family 5k and the hope that his year will be more proactive and less reactive than 2012.  The boys have grown and changed so much in just one short month.  For starters, I swear they look more like toddlers than babies now.  Perhaps the lable is making me biased. ;)






Brady
New Skills: Walking!  Brady went from taking one step, to stringing together several [zombielike] steps together at a time, to being able to multitask while walking.  He is well on his was to perfecting his stride.  Also, Brady also loves to put towels, blankets or shirt over his head and pretend to hide.  He gets so happy and starts to giggle when you say "where's Brady".   He will also cover his own eyes with his hands and start to laugh in anticipation of this game.

Teeth: Still one lonely [adorable] tooth on the bottom. 

Words and phrases:  Brady says many words now but the most notable is that he says many multi word sentences.  The other day I sniffed the air and asked "Who pooped" and he looked up and said "I did". I missed that at first but then I asked who wants to be changed first and he pointed to himself.  I don't think I give the boys enough credit for how much they understand.  He also says "Hi Dad" and still says "what's that" as well as 'that again'.  

Funny memories:  Brady is a daredevil.  He is likely to be found weaseled into small spaces cracks, and crevisis where he is not supposed to be.  This month I found him standing on many objects, half sticking out from underneath his crib and wedged inbetween the two cribs in his bedroom.  I will have to keep a third eye on him!

Brody

New Skills:  Brody is a master walker having transitions from zombie strides to a more regular gate.  Though I have made little effort to teach the boys signs, Brody seems to pick them up easily and can sign for more, milk, open shut them, and itsy bitsy spider.  He likes to communicate this way and I think it is fun to see him put these thoughts together.  Brody can also give raspberries with amazing skill.  If able to find any exposed skin and he will get a devilish look in his eye and execute a perfect zerburt!

Teeth: 5, two on bottom, three on top

Words and phrases:  "What's that" still rolls off his tongue most often. One morning Chris was up with the boys before I was and I heard Brody say "what's that" at least 100 times.  Miraculously, Chris just keeps answering-- fan, picture, wall, ball, light switch.... and on and on.  As I laid with the pillow over my head still able to hear the question and answer session,  I realized Chris has way more patients than I do!

Funny memories:  Santa brought the boys a new red wagon and we tired it out at the farmers market a couple of weeks ago.  Since we usually wear the boys, pulling them in a wagon was kind of new to us and made us feel like the boys were more vulnerable and accessible to the public.  At one point- while I was off purchasing produce, Chris was approached by a [moderately sketchy] woman and her daughter.  The woman yelled to Chris that her daughter wanted to say hi to the babies.  Instead of waving or saying hi, the little girl leaned right into the wagon and kissed Brody on the lips.  You may be asking yourself, what was Chris's defense against this action?  Well, the first thing that came to his mind was to yell "Watch out, he bites" to the little girl.  I am not sure which part of this disturbs me more, the fact that Brody's first kiss was stolen from him or that Chris tried to prevent the kiss by saying that Brody bites.  We may have to put a net over the wagon in the future!


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Christmas 2012

These are the faces of Christmas.  I am not sure that these guys had any idea what was going on but they were totally willing to participate!



This year, we celebrated Christmas with one-year-old Man-Babies who were fully capable of opening gifts, tossing clothing aside and heading straight for the toys!  It was great.  My family flew in from NY and spent the week with us entertaining the kids and teaching them new tricks.






This is Brody kissing my childhood pound puppy.  Love that he loved it as much as I did.



After the hours of opening presents and playing with toys, we were happy to welcome some family over for Christmas dinner.  Even though I am a novice entertainer and was not really able to put on a sit-down dinner, we were able to have a low key family dinner to celebrate the holiday.  




After the craziness of Christmas day, we took the rest of the week to enjoy my parents and sister being in town.  The boys loved all the attention and it was amazing to see how much they advanced with all the prompting.  Brody started walking almost full time and both boys enjoyed showing off all their party tricks (touching their head, making dragon noises, touching finger tips, doing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', making doggie noises, doing 'Ittsy Bitsy Spider', etc.).  It is also amazing to me that the boys really seemed to know my family from the time they spent skyping them.  It is so cool to know that technology really does give us a way to stay connected.  





In addition to my family visiting, we were also lucky to get a short, but sweet, visit from long-time friends Todd and Nicole.  I think it has been 4.5 years since I have seen Nicole and I have never met their second son, Shay.  I was lucky enough to know Tyler from day one and I remember him as a sweet adorable baby boy.  Unsurprisingly, he has turned into an amazingly sweet big boy.  He was enamored with my kids and wanted nothing more than to hold and play with them.  I am so glad we finally got to meet Shay and start to get to know this cute, funny little boy.  I hope that we see more of these guys while we live in the same state!