Mooserific!

Words coming soon

They may not be speaking much with words, but the babies understand quite a bit. A few examples from the past few days:

We were all playing downstairs and Abby was feeding Gwen and Josie’s new baby dolls a bottle. Her doll, Rose, was laying abandoned on the floor near me. I said to Abby that Rose was crying and needed her mama. Abby ignored me, but Josie, who was playing on the other side of the room, walked over, picked up Rose, and started patting her back.

The next day, the babies and I were in their room getting ready for their nap. I told them that it was nap time and that we needed to put on their socks. Josie walked over to her dresser, opened the drawer, and pulled out a pair of socks for me.

Tonight, the babies and I were in their room getting ready for bed. Gwen was hanging on me while Josie looked at a book. I asked Gwen “where is your mobile?” She pointed to it. I then asked about all the other familiar items in their room, the ones we usually name when we play this game. She pointed to each thing after I asked: the tree, the clock, the fan, the window. Thinking those things are too familiar now, I then asked her about new things. “Gwen, where is your changing table?” She pointed to her changing table. “Gwen, where is your dresser?” She pointed to her dresser. “Gwen, where is your bed?” She pointed at her bed. So then I thought, I need to include your sister. “Josie, where is your bed?” She looked at me, but then just went back to her book. I asked again. This time, Gwen pointed at Josie’s bed.

Tonight was the first parent observation night at Abby’s dance class. I think I had as much fun as the cute dancers.

The careful seamstress concentrating during her sewing lesson.

Once again, I’m reminded that life and people can be unpredictable. Last spring, I made a comment about Josie being outgoing and Gwen being more cautious around people. That was the case then, but the tables have turned. Josie is now the cautious one. It’ll be interesting to see how they are a few months from now. I make no predictions.

Our sweet baby girls are one year old already!

Where did the weekend go? It disappeared far too quickly with so much Halloween fun. We enjoyed pumpkin decorating at the Library on Friday, Hallzooween on Saturday, and a nice long walk around our neighborhood to look at Halloween decorations on Sunday.

Babies, what’s that? Is that a light? Is that a tree? Is that a clock?

We often play this naming game. They both like to look around a room and learn the words for what they see. They’re furiously working on being able to say those words too.

They also really like books. I recently borrowed an animal picture book from the library. Gwen and Josie love to look at it. When I turn to the page with tigers, Gwen now growls with me. Gwen, what does a tiger say? “Grrrrrr.”

Persuasion

While trying to convince me that it would be okay to stay up and watch videos rather than going to sleep, Abby said, “But Papa, I persuade you! I PERSUADE YOU!” as if she was invoking a spell.

Alas, it didn’t work.

The picture may not have turned out well, but our first grocery shopping trip sure did. The babies greatly enjoyed the experience, and I felt a little bit like a super mom afterward. I’ll miss regularly shopping with Abby on Sundays, but I’m glad our weekends can be free for other fun activities.

Gwen figured out a new toy.

How many helpers does it take to make a birthday cake?

She can’t stop! We’ve been doing this for 15 minutes already.

With some encouragement, we finally got the walker on video.

Wow

Actually, both babies understand a lot. While straightening up the playroom, I asked Josie to help me by putting the toy cookies in the cookie jar.

She stared at me blankly until I pointed and said “This is a cookie.” She then proceeded to put every cookie she could find in the jar.

Gwen then came over and helped.

Wow.

Gwen is a baby genius. She understands far more than she can say, and can already follow “complicated” requests. Case in point: she started to fuss while I was folding laundry today. I tried to distract her by asking her to go get one of her toy fire helmets (one of her favorite toys), and she did! I later asked her to find the other stuffed cat (she was playing with one already), and she did that too! She crawled right over to her toys, tossed a few aside, and held out the other cat to me. Josie and I were astonished.