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Eli and Emry Jane turned 18 months on Christmas Day, but due to scheduling and vaccinations, they did not have their “18 month checkup” until last Thursday. They have reached the stage where they are terrified of Dr. Jones and absolutely furious when he does the exam. Daddy came to the beginning of the appointment to help out because they were due for 2 shots and it is REALLY hard to comfort two screaming babies after shots. I have done it solo several times! They are exactly where they should be developmentally– not that we were concerned. They are FINALLY starting to BOTH sleep consistently through the night (Can I get a Hallelujah?!) We have gone about 3.5 weeks with Mommy only having to get up a couple nights to soothe Eli, including one time when I went up there at 3:30 in the morning and Eli was sitting BETWEEN the two cribs, trying to help his toy dog “Scout” escape the crib also! Emry Jane has been a great sleeper for a while now… and it’s about time that Eli finally decided that he didn’t need Mommy between 2-3 am. The extra sleep has apparently made Mommy crazy. According to Tommy, I often talk in my sleep about the babies. Recently, I accused him of rolling on “the baby” in the bed (and the babies don’t ever sleep in our bed with us!) while I was asleep.
We have transitioned from bottles to a small amount of warm milk from a sippy cup first thing in the morning and before bed at night. The night that we got home from our “Tour de Southeast” I threw the bottles in the trash. Tommy had vacation from work for the next week and I told him, “We are in this together. No bottles.” The babies did great with the transition. They eat everything that we eat. Sometimes they are picky about new types of meat (we just recently tried pork loin,) but all fruits and vegetables are game. They are on a raspberries and mandarin orange kick. Good thing Cuties are in season! They still enjoy fruit/veggie pouches (our new favorites are the combo Simple Truth ones that Kroger sells for $1) Baby Goldfish and mini Club Crackers during snack. They both ask for “nack” when they are hungry and it’s absolutely adorable. They have also gotten really good at using utensils. We give them utensils with most meals. They get frustrated with forks if they are REALLY hungry and cannot get enough food to their mouths fast enough.
We are slowing moving away from cloth diapering. We are away from home so often now that it is no longer as convenient as it was when they were little. Our church nursery, their school, the gym… any place where they are not directly in my care requires them to have disposable diapers. Plus, my children make a LOT of messy diapers and I really want to be done with smelly diapers in the wet bag in their bathroom before we put our house on the market in March/April.
Eli weighs 24 lbs. 10 oz. (50th percentile) and is 31 5/8″ tall (15th percentile.) Tommy says that he is going to adding “Please Lord, let Eli be tall” to his prayers, just like his Dad (Granddaddy Jer) did! That 15th percentile does mean that we are just now transitioning to 18-24 month pants for Eli. The waists always have to be tightened (What did people DO before adjustable waist pants?!) Eli hates hats, hence the sadness in the picture above, but he loves most everything else. Any type of ball is his favorite thing. He throws everything. Unfortunately, that also includes food. He throws things at us, even if we aren’t ready or paying attention, so we have all gotten multiple baseballs upside the head, haha. He also likes to play with these plastic dinosaurs of Noah’s and making them roar. He LOVES to read, especially his “First 100 words” board book. He will sit there for several minutes turning the pages and “reading” by identifying the objects that he knows or saying the sounds of the animals. We are working on animal sounds right now, using their bath toys. His favorites are “moo,” “neigh” and “baa.” He can identify a bunch of body parts (including head, toes, fingers and his favorite: belly) and says about a dozen words. His newest words are car, snack and baby. He does not talk as much as Emry Jane. We are working on saying and signing “please” right now…and he knows exactly what we want him to do/say but enjoys refusing to do so, usually with a smile. Ugh. Defiance starts early in toddlers. He absolutely LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He climbs on everything. He will push the kitchen chairs out so that he can climb on top of our table…and knock down anything on top! We lovingly call him “Denis the Menance” when he decides to go Destructo in the kitchen, haha.
Emry Jane weighs 21 lbs. 3.5oz. (25th percentile) and is 29 3/4″ tall (2nd percentile.) Baby Girl is just barely on the chart! No surprise there with such a short Mama and Auntie Amy! Tall genes do not run in our families. I’m okay with her staying pint-sized 🙂 It definitely means that we get lots of wear out of her clothes! She is still wearing 12-18 months in everything. I sized up to 18 months in new ruffle leggings that I bought her recently and I have to roll them up on her, haha. Emry Jane as a strong, feisty personality. I have no idea where she would get such a personality. *cough cough Auntie Amy. Her newest phrase is “Mean Mommy” and she greatly enjoys telling her brothers and Manning “No. Stop!” She busted Eli’s lip at school last week by pushing him off a mat that they were both playing on. We have our hands full with this little one, for sure! Even though, Mommy is mean. I am currently her favorite person in our family, with Noah as a close second. If Daddy tries to hold or feed her, a meltdown ensues. Her longest phrase so far was when Daddy tried to feed her the other day and she said: “No. Mommy, my bite,” trying to tell him that only I could feed it to her. We walk away from her tantrums and I really hope they are short-lived liked Noah’s were. She also can identify a bunch of body parts and enjoys being read to. She got a new “That’s not my Princess” book from Nana at Christmas that is her current favorite. She talks a lot. She can say between 15-20 words. Her newest words are Noah (very clearly!) please, teeth, night-night and bite (when she wants food, thankfully she is NOT biting!) She loves “Toodles” and the Hot Dog Dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Her hair is now long enough for ponytails, though basically just a spout on top of her head, and for pigtails. She is great about wearing clip-in bows with her ponytails. Now, I need to make several pigtail bows for her.
I would also like to say that Noah has been an extremely helpful big brother lately. He has been asking to take them to the playroom and play with them while I clean or cook dinner. Sometimes he still tends to play a little too rough, especially with Eli, but, as a whole, he is so sweet with them. They really enjoy taking bubble baths altogether in our big tub. We only do it on special occasions (because they tend to get bubbles ALL over the bathroom,) but I try to savor these moments. With Noah being 6 years older than the twins, I know that his interest in them will fade as he gets older. One day he will be “too cool” to play with the babies…and I hope that day is far, far away.
christianson6 