A Month Older

This week the kids turn a month older. Elliot is now 17 months old and suddenly we are realizing that he is a toddler. Here is what he's up to.

• Talks a lot but still refusing to say words other than "doh" for "dog." When he wants us to do something, he leads us to what he wants or reaches up. When we say, "What do you want Elliot? Can you say the word? Do you want up? Can you say 'UP'?" he refuses to say it. When we walk away from him he tries to cry, makes fists, and pounds them in the air. It's kind of funny. We ignore these mini-tantrums; they are usually short-lived.
• Favorite toys are his sister's mobile and swing. He always signals to us to turn them on. Thank God for rechargeable batteries.
  
• Can "read" through books that are not board books without accidentally tearing the pages now. He's never been a destroyer (at least not yet).
• Runs instead of walks... everywhere.
• Likes to ride escalators.
  
• Likes to walk backwards.
• Has this "tic" where he pulls his shirt up over his belly. He does it all the time and it's really cute.
  
• Loves to be sprayed with the hose or run through fountains but not crazy about pools, even wading pools.
  
• Eats pretty much everything we eat.
• Doesn't smile or laugh much in public -- he doesn't want anyone to know he is having fun. When he is home it's another story. My mom tells me I was the same way as a toddler.
• Plays around other kids, not really with them, including at Gymboree class and playdates. But he likes to watch them.
• Will shove his way into the shower (with his clothes on) if we don't shut the bathroom door. He loves to take showers with us.
• Loves to play in the rain. Good thing we have had an unusually wet summer.
  
• Likes to grab and eat fruit out of the produce drawer in the fridge, especially plums.
  
• Looks at or points to Chloe's head when we ask him where she is. That is about as much as he acknowledges her. But he is very gentle with her when she is in her swing or bouncy seat around him. We have never told him he needs to be careful around her, he just seems to know.
  
• His four molars are about 1/4 of the way through, and he still has 5 other teeth to get (not including his 2-year molars). He still has "teething days" but not as many and they aren't as bad.
  
• Loves the colorful wooden tube puzzle on the play table at the Pottery Barn Kids store.
  

Chloe is two months old today, and here is what she is up to right now.

• Smiles at anybody who talks to her.
• Coos a lot and we love it.
• Likes to watch her brother play even though he basically ignores her. She smiles at him.
• She giggled in the tub the other night. We haven't heard it since but it was adorable. Can't wait for more of them.
• She is a fast eater. She can usually eat a full meal in 15 minutes. And she is chunking up just like her brother did as you can see by these chubby-faced photos. We love chunk.
• Her eyes are definitely turning blue, and so far her hair is staying dark brown.
• Right now she goes down for the night by around 7:30-8 with without much effort on our part. (The first 8 weeks required that we soothe her to sleep and it could take 20 minutes or 3 hours.) She wakes once in the night to eat, usually around 1-2am, and wakes up for the day around 6am. I haven't started dream feeding her yet but will do that in the next few weeks. That's when I feed her in her sleep around 10:30 -- just enough to tank her up for the night. I tried it a few times but it seemed to upset the rest of her night's sleep.
  
• She is a noisy sleeper and grunts and groans, especially when she has gas. She doesn't really wake up but she wakes us up. She is still in her bassinet in our room, but I foresee a move to her own room in the next few weeks.
  
• During the day she is a sleeping champ. She takes a morning nap, an afternoon nap and an evening catnap before her tub. For all of these, I can put her in her bassinet when her eyes are just getting heavy and she will fall asleep on her own. And we are almost there for bedtime too.

A few other tidbits...
I had my follow-up appointment with Dr. Polon this week. Everything with me is fine and back to normal except for a few pounds to lose. We were chatting and I told him that Drew and I aren't sure how we got so lucky as to have two sweethearts for babies. He said the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I thought that was a nice thing to say. We do feel very blessed to have two healthy, safe and sweet babies. The only bummer about not being pregnant is not getting to see Dr. P all the time, he is a great doctor and a funny guy.

Our good friends Cory and Jennifer stopped by this weekend during their visit to Austin. They are living in London right now while Cory is stationed there for a work project. They are taking advantage of traveling Europe while they are there (aka living the life I used to dream of living). If you want to check out their travels, here is a link to their fab blog that Jennifer updates regularly.

The only bad news we have of late is that we had to say goodbye to our nanny, Stacey. She has been a big part of Elliot's life (and ours) for the past year. When she started with us last August, Elliot was just a chunky baby sitting in his Bumbo seat. She came by today one last time to take him to his Gymboree class. She is moving to San Antonio to start a new life. We will miss her so much and wish her a lot of happiness.