Category — Baby Milestones

(I haven’t done a general health/habits post in ages, so bear with me if you’re not into this sort of thing.)

The girls turned 15 months old last week. I’m starting to feel like a legitimate parent with actual, like….kids. While sharing a park with some morose-looking teenagers a few weeks ago, I had one of those out-of-body experiences where it hit me: I was no longer that rebellious, chain-smoking, misunderstood teen; I was now “that lady with kids,” a total buzz kill, a bust.

Or whatever kids are saying these days.

Anyhow, moving along….

General stats

As of this morning’s well-check, the girls have finally broken the 20-pound mark.  Both are at about 20lbs 5oz, which puts them, as usual, in the 10th percentile (20th if you go by the WHO breastfed baby charts). Both are measuring almost 30.5 inches (50th percentile).

They’re fitting comfortably in 12-18 months clothes and are now in size 4 diapers.

Sleeping

The days of two, two-hour naps every day are behind us, sadly. During the past six weeks or so, their morning nap got later and the afternoon nap phased out. Problem is, now they get super cranky and tired in the early evenings. It’s a bit of a rough transition. Their general routine is:

7:30 a.m. – Wake, nurse
8:30 a.m. – Breakfast
10:30 a.m. – Nap
12:00 p.m. – Wake, sometimes nurse
12:30 p.m. – Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 p.m. – Out and about
4:30/5:00 p.m. – Evening meltdowns begin
6:30 p.m. – Bath, nurse, read books
7:00 p.m. – Bed

I’m thinking it’s time to move up bedtime. I just keep forgetting. Aside from the occasional bad dream or teething, they still sleep solidly through the night.

Eating

We’re down to nursing two or three times a day. They don’t drink much whole milk, though — maybe three or four ounces a day. They just don’t seem to like it much, which is fine with me because the organic stuff is expensive.

They eat pretty much anything in the way of solids — that is, when they’re not scooping up food and dropping it over the side of the high chair. I still haven’t given them any nuts, honey or soy. They’re pretty good at using a fork and spoon, though I don’t offer utensils all the time.

Personalities and behavior

I hate to continue to peg one twin as “the happy twin” or “the serious twin.” They both have their own sense of humor, likes and dislikes, funky moods.

Elise loves: sleeping, birds, swings, avocados, squash, sucking her left thumb (so much that it has a callous), bananas, being held, dance and music, Yo Gabba Gabba, reading

Althea loves: avocados, Yo Gabba Gabba, reading, sucking on her sleep sack (which both girls now use as blankies), bananas, swings, kitties, making people laugh, playing in the sand, pointing at different body parts

As I posted earlier, we’re going through a pretty exhausting clingy phase. And tantrums are becoming pretty commonplace, though they’re thankfully short and not terribly loud. Althea’s tantrums remind me of those weird fainting goats — she arches her body backward, then slowly and dramatically lays on the ground, carefully placing her head down so as not to hurt herself. Meanwhile, Elise opens her mouth into a perfect “O,” turns bright red and cries.

Milestones

The girls are excellent walkers; people actually comment on how mature their walking skills are. There’s none of the tip-toeing or awkward knee-bending of a toddler. They can go up and down stairs (well, when they notice the stairs), get off beds and couches by themselves and sit on rocking horses the right way (which was apparently a difficult concept to grasp).

They don’t have many words yet. Both girls say Daddy, but only Althea says Ama. They both say bebe (baby),  “bah” for ball and “peh” for pelo (hair). But they understand a lot. They can point to their hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, feet, hands, stomach and bellybuttons (all in Spanish, I might add!). They recognize that a baby can exist in various places and in various forms — as a picture on the yogurt container, or a cartoon on TV, or a real baby in person. They know when it’s mealtime and bathtime. They understand sientate (sit down), and they raise their feet to put on socks and shoes.

I know that they understand “no,” mainly because it’s their favorite word to use and their favorite command to defy.

Dear Elise and Althea,

Happy birthday, little chickens. We love you!

Feliz cumpleaños, nenas! Os queremos mas que nada.

Zorionak, neskak!

Sigh.

There will never be words. No matter which language, there will never be words to tell you how much we love you both.

xoxo

Ama and/y/eta Daddy

P.S. I edited this video no less than 14,000 times in the past three days. xoxo

It’s no longer one or two tentative steps. She’s walking across rooms now, slowly but surely. (Sorry for the shitty video quality — I caught it with my phone.)

Elise’s official first word: Daaa-Deee.

When Daaa-Deee comes home from work, she squeals with delight: “Daaa-Deee!”

When Daaa-Deee helps her out of the car, she sighs a contented “Daaa-Deee.”

When Daaa-Deee peeks into the room to greet the girls in the morning, Elise mumbles an excited “Daaa-Deee.”

Daaa-Deee works hard for his girls — all three of us. We love you, Daaa-Deee.

Sigh. The last month of infancy. Though they’re not toddling yet, and hence probably can’t be referred to as toddlers, they’re something a little older than babies, right? Some kind of crazy baby limbo. Anyway. Updates.

Feeding

Still nursing four times a day. They have a big breakfast, while the rest of the sessions get shorter and shorter, maybe three or four minutes long. The girls launch themselves off the nursing pillow and just want to play. I’ve started wearing a  nursing necklace again to keep them on long enough to empty my boobs, which has helped some.

They go through six jars of baby food a day, as well as some finger/table food. I clip a lot of coupons.

Sleeping

Nothing new here — two naps a day, sleeping through the night still. I think that they’re wanting to stay awake longer between the morning and afternoon naps. Time to tweak the schedule.

Milestones

Standing unassisted is soooo four weeks ago. Now we’re cruising around and, as I posted a few days ago, Althea is practicing unassisted steps. I think she’s a ways from walking still, but she’s definitely interested.

Something strangely cool is that they LOVE drinking from a straw. They actually drank an entire juice box EACH. It seems so grown-up to me. How can I possibly have two kids that know how to drink from straws?

We recently attended some birthday parties — one for another set of twins, one for a big group of us from mommy group (early first-birthday party for us). The girls had pizza, juice and cupcakes and sat in little chairs at a table. It was effing adorable.

Oh, and they’ve decided to protest Winblows. We’ve got a couple of budding geeks here.

Sizes

By my non-technical calculations, Elise is about 18 pounds and Althea’s about 17.5. They’re in 12-month size clothing now. Still size three diapers. I’m convinced they’re never going to grow out of them. I wouldn’t mind so much, but the baby on the diaper box is  so freaking creepy looking.

No video or pics yet, but Althea took many unassisted steps today. She started a couple of days ago, but it was obvious tonight that she’s on to us. Determined, purposeful steps. Cue terror mixed with pride and excitement.

Althea’s been on the go for a couple of weeks. She’ll push anything — books, boxes, this walker-push-toy thing. Elise likes to watch because man, why walk when mom can carry you around?

Much to my surprise, the girls turned 10 months old last week. Double digits. Edging uncomfortably close to a year old.

I’ll add some boring details, but I can sum it all up by saying that they’re amazing.

They laugh, they cry, they chase each other, they give goofy looks. I love wrapping my arms around their little bodies. I love seeing their smiling eyes when they wake up in the morning. I love hearing their squeals and shrieks of delight. Everything about them makes me giddy with love and joy. I never knew  I could love this much.

Feeding

The girls are down to nursing four times a day. We go through five jars of baby food (and I specifically say “we” because man, some of that shit’s pretty tasty) and about 3/4 cup of cereal a day, not to mention slivers of bread with cream cheese, teething biscuits, puffs and Mum-Mums. I occasionally give them bits of what I’m eating. The most exotic thing they’ve tried is spanakopita. They are half Greek, after all.

Really, though, I haven’t pushed the solids super hard. I’m starting to realize that they should probably learn how to eat real people food kind of soon, especially since my boobs are getting tired (that’s a whole different post).

Sleeping

I am incredibly grateful that they still take two decent naps per day. I am incredibly even more grateful that we’re having a good stretch of sleeping through the night again, despite teething and milestones and all that other baby stuff.

Milestones

Things are getting pretty interesting in the milestone department.

Both have been standing unsupported occasionally for a few weeks now, but they’re now practicing it on a daily basis, several times a day. It’s AWESOME. I love love love cheering them on when they let go of something and visibly work their muscles and equilibrium to stand on their own.

One really cool thing that I need to get on camera is that Elise is catching on to hand movements. She’s understanding the motion of clapping, even if she doesn’t get that the hands are supposed to slap together. For her, it’s more like a mushing together of hands and fingers. But she tries.

Also, when they’re done eating solid food, I always tap the bowl, proclaim that it’s empty and then brush my hands together and announce “No hay mas!” — “No more!” Elise is starting to imitate it.

Elise now has six teeth and Althea has five. They’re drooling like crazy again with all the new teeth coming in.

Sizes

They’re in 9-12 month clothes (which are oddly hard to find) and still in size three diapers. They’re weighing in at just over 17 pounds.

Personalities

The girls are both exuberant and full of love and life. But in general, Elise is the more contemplative and serious girl, while Althea has the sense of adventure and abandon.

Elise is more calculated in her endeavors. She might not always be the first at something, but she seems to perfect things first. Althea, on the other hand, bulldozes her way around. If she sees Elise with a toy she wants, she’ll bolt all the way across a room to steal it from her.

Perhaps pictures might tell the story better.

Elise? A little introspective and happy.

Althea? Toys in the attic.

Hi! We’re now nine months old.

9 months old

Eating

We nurse usually five times a day — sometimes four, sometimes six or seven. The girls now get two full jars each of baby food a day (so four total — per day), along with about 1/4 cup of cereal each. This  means my stash of baby food is being rapidly depleted day by day. They’ve also tried toast and bagels with cream cheese, which they both love. Chunky food is definitely NOT on their list of favorite foods. Small pieces of undefinable dirt and crumbs from the floor ARE on the list.

Sleeping

Elise continues to have problems sleeping. She usually always wakes once within a few hours of going down for the night. She refuses to be nursed and I can only sometimes get her back to sleep on her own. The past few nights, Chris has taken her on short walks outside. That does the trick every time. I suspect it’s a combination of developmental milestones and being off routine (with family visiting).

Luckily, Althea sleeps through Elise’s screaming.

They do one 2-hour nap in the morning about 2 hours after waking, and another 2 hour nap about 2 hours after that.

Personalities

The girls do a lot of things alike and/or at the same time, but they are very different people. Elise is becoming our slightly more serious or introspective girl. In general, her physical movements are more calculated and thought out. She’ll watch Althea do something for several days before attempting it herself. When Elise sits up, she’s balanced and planted in place. She’ll study things and when she’s uncomfortable, she turns toward me for comfort.

Althea, on the other hand, shrieks and squeals and laughs like a mad woman. When she sits, anything can distract her, causing more than a few encounters between the tile floor and her skull. She climbs and conquers and attacks. Though she’s independent in many ways, she still wants comfort and attention from me and Chris.

Milestones

Althea has her two top and bottom front teeth in. Elise has her bottom two front teeth in and one top front tooth. Her second top tooth is STILL torturing her, but out of nowhere, her left eye tooth appeared. (By the way, anyone who says that teeth don’t bother with nursing is a liar.)

Their hair is growing quite a bit these days. I’m not much of a girly type, but that wispy baby hair is just begging for little bows and clips.

Both girls can stand for quite a while. A couple of times, Elise has been standing with a toy in one hand and the other on a wall and tried to grab the toy with both hands, only to fall on her butt. The other day, she released both hands from the wall and fell after a second. Although Althea’s generally our more athletic baby, I have a feeling Elise will be the first to stand on her own. However, Althea will be the first to climb Mt. Everest.

They talk a LOT these days. Dadada, mamama, tetetetete, ch, k, ba, brr, beh, ahhh, ohh, ehhhh, th, ssss, la, le, and so on.

I’m kind of freaking the hell out. I don’t understand how it’s possible that we’re approaching their first birthday. I see them as these helpless newborn babies still, but every once in a while I glace at their figures in their cribs and realize how long they are, how much they’ve grown, how they’re starting to look like little girls.

Althea - 9 months

Elise - 9 months

Grocery shopping with twins is a different animal than shopping with one or even two kids of different ages. With a singleton, you can put the baby in the shopping cart seat or plop an infant carrier in the cart and go. With kids of different ages, you at least have one that can walk, even if he does have be on a leash or muzzle. But with twins, you either rig yourself up with a baby sling and a carrier, or wait until there’s someone around to help.

Unless you’re going to Sam’s Club.

Everything at Sam’s is bigger, including the shopping carts. It’s the only place I know of that has shopping carts that can accommodate two babies at once. Thank you, Sam’s.

Chris and I were able to brave this trip without a stroller and get all of our massively sized goods into the car with the girls.

Also, we have family from Spain visiting for the rest of the month. We headed out to the beach and caught this classic photo. Sure, we all look lovely (even though I’m wearing a fucking TANKINI), but we had to feed the girls a six pack to get a good shot.

THE BOTTLE ARE EMPTY I SWEAR.

Although I have every desire to update frequently with all the adorable photos we’ll be taking, I know I probably won’t and will suffer a traffic hit for it.

Anyway, la familia says “hi!”