18 Months

Once again, I’ve been slacking on monthly progress reports, so here you go. If you’re not into this sort of thing, then skip it.

The girls turned 18 months old last week. At their well-visit with the pediatrician, I made their next appointment for November. It almost blew right past me that this will be their two-year well check. TWO YEARS OLD. This makes me panic.

Anyhow. Moving on.

Eating

As I reported a little while back, I weaned the girls at 16.5 months (and promptly got pregnant on that same cycle). They just drink whole milk, some juice and water now.

Eating has gotten pretty casual with them. They graze most of the day, maybe sitting down for real meals a few times a week. This hasn’t posed a problem with eating out — they actually do really great when we eat out, only whining or fussing if they’re exhausted.

I think they recently came out of a growth spurt because there were a few weeks there where they were eating and drinking like insatiable hogs. In the past few days, it’s slowed down to a more manageable pace.

They will eat or try most anything we give them. We’re super lucky in this department.

Sleeping

Luckily, no complaints here either. They go to bed between 7 – 8 p.m. and sleep till 7 – 8 in the morning. I think they have dreams now, because someone will occasionally wake up in a state of terror.

Just one nap, generally 3 hours in the early afternoon.

Sizes

They’re both just over 22 pounds and 32 inches tall, so still in the 25% percentile for weight and 50% for height. They wear 18 month clothes, size 5 shoes and size 4 diapers.

Communication

This is one topic where I find myself comparing the girls to other kids and I HATE doing that.

I speak exclusively in Spanish to the girls, while Chris mixes English, some Spanish and some Greek to them. Then throw in more Greek, Spanish and even French with my in-laws and my mom, and we’re all over the place. I totally encourage it. Everything I’ve ever read encourages it. The pediatrician encourages it. I have ZERO issue with it.

But along with living in a multi-lingual family comes a delay of some vocabulary and I sometimes have to remind myself of that. Normally I don’t even think about it. It’s when I’m around other kids in single-language households — kids who understand all sorts of words and commands, who speak quite a bit — that I have to cover my ears.

Right now, I’d say the girls have about 20 words in Spanish and English that they can say, but they understand a lot. Good enough for me.

Challenges

This is a new topic for me in these monthly overviews because “real” challenges are just starting to emerge.

Behavior is a big one. Honestly, the girls have not been awful so far. Far from it, really. The things we’re dealing with right now is the occasional throwing of toys and food, some light hitting (to each other and to me and Chris, but no issues with other kids), and some tantrums (at bedtime and when we make them do something they don’t want to do — duh).

Mostly, we just take it in stride. Chris is pretty good about keeping his cool. I lose my patience sometimes, especially if there’s a lot of crying/whining involved. I just try to remind myself that this too shall pass, they’re very little still and don’t have the tools and vocabulary to deal with things. Pretty much 100% of what they do is completely, totally normal and is to be expected. Breathe. Cry. Repeat.

Personalities

Sigh, where do I start? They are just amazing little girls.

Elise is so sweet. She loves to love people and things. She loves her blankie, she loves Daddy, she loves sucking her thumb. She likes to rest and observe. When we walk into a new situation, she’ll often hang back and stand in one spot for a while, watching what everyone else is doing before making her move.

What’s most salient about her personality is how detail oriented she is. In a room full of activity, Elise will find the little piece of lint in the corner and will study it for ages. She’ll turn it over in her hands, talk to it, show it to you for your opinion. One time, she fell off a chair, flat on her face. She didn’t cry because she was instantly distracted by a little stick she found in the carpet. She LOVES to read, both to herself and being read to.

Meanwhile, Althea tends to be more outgoing and big-picture. She’ll wave “hi” to everybody around her. We walk into a new situation and she’ll charge right in, finding someone or something to play with. She sings and shrieks and bursts into laughter. She dances and claps. She puts on a show and makes silly faces. Her sense of humor is already evident, too, and she loves making people laugh. Her favorite person in the whole world is Daddy.

What’s interesting is that, just because Elise tends to be more subdued doesn’t mean that she’s more compliant. Of the two, Elise is more likely to not want to follow directions. If we’re at a park, for instance, and I start walking away to get everyone to the car, Althea will follow and Elise will stay back and do whatever she damn well pleases. She has a strong independent streak to her and likes to do things her way. Althea is more likely to imitate and do things when asked (well, as much as an 18 month old will follow directions), though she does tend to be more destructive.

I don’t want to categorize either of the girls as the “outgoing one” or the “quiet one,” because it’s simply not true. There are times when Althea breaks down and Elise is in charge. Althea often initiates kissing and hugging with her sister, even though Elise tends to be “softer.”

Just goes to show that, no matter how much we want to label twins, no matter how much we culturally romanticize the notion of twinship, twins — yes, even identical ones — are very much two different people.