Twin Update

It has been a long time since I've done an update on the "babies," which we still find ourselves calling them - even though they are deeply entrenched in the "twos" at 27 months, with all that implies! There is rarely a dull moment when they're around. What's more fun than a bouncy running little two year old? TWO bouncy running little two year olds!

I don't know their vital statistics at the moment, but Katie continues to be considerably taller and heavier than Emma. They can be the best of buddies, and they can scrap with the best of siblings. I wished I had my camera with me when Emma grabbed Katie's hand on the walk around the block today. They tend to have personality traits of the older sister who named each. Emma is always willing to share, and is always helping Sissy with something - it is so sweet to watch.

Both girls seem to be ambidextrous. They take turns being grouchy, it seems. The nursery attendant at church is convinced that they have a conversation on Saturday night that goes something like this, "Okay, last time you cried when they dropped us off at the nursery, so it's my turn tomorrow!"

Emma is quite the little athlete - we think she'll need to be in gymnastics before too much longer. Katie, on the other hand, is more like her clumsy grandma - she has several scars already from her tripping exploits.

The only area in which they haven't quite caught up with the developmental steps is in their speech. There are some language "experts" who feel that there is a "twin language" - we have certainly experienced that with the littles. They jabber animatedly to each other and certainly seem to know what they're talking about. Worse, they look us straight in the eye, tell us a long story, and assume that we know what they're saying. The tendency is to say, "Yes, I know, I know!" when you don't have a clue! They must be really confused when they are told, "I know," when obviously we don't! They do increase in vocabulary every day, though, and we have high hopes that speech therapy won't be necessary. One article I read indicated that part of the issue could be that it is much harder to spend the quality time talking to them in the same way one does with a single baby - especially difficult when they are #3 and 4! And when the two older sisters are extremely verbal - in fact Care Bear and Feisty both had huge vocabularies by the time they were 18 months old.

One thing they have no problem in relaying is their extreme dislike of naps. All they have to do is hear the word and they say, "No nap!" But - Grandma insists on a bit of time in their little beds for my own sake. Sometimes they actually do settle down eventually and sleep. But not before they do this --

Note the diaper in the midst of the pile? Emma does this every single time - the only time it doesn't happen is when she has a one-piece jammie that zips or snaps from top to bottom. I have some adorable proof pictures, but I decided it would be better not to share them. But they're so cute!! I'll be glad to e-mail them if you'd like! (Just a note - do you see the bottom of the little sandal in the pile? What an intricate, beautiful design for the bottom of a shoe!)

These two little girls are absolutely crazy about Grandpa - and the feeling is definitely mutual. Emma seems to think that if she holds tightly enough to Grandpa, he'll protect her from the dreaded trip to bed - at nighty-night time too.

They love bath time - except hair washing time. Sunglasses in the tub - quite the fashion statement!




They are learning to love books, which makes this reading fanatic very happy. I have decided, though, to stay away from the library time for awhile - there are so many kids and moms/grandma/dads at the "laptime" story time these days that it seems to cause especially Katie to become quite agitated. It hasn't been fun for us the last few times, so I think we'll take a break.




They love music - driving around town in the minivan is such fun when all 4 girls sing along with the CD - or just sing their own songs, not always the same one at the same time.




They enjoy a bit of alone time, and it would be nice if they could have more of that.




They have wonderful giggles - Feisty had this bear mask that sent Katie into spasms of delight.




Emma appears to be a budding artist as well. She has been doing a lot of drawing lately - again, following in sisters' footsteps.

They also have potential as future soccer stars -

We've been taking walks around the neighborhood on nice days. We did that today. They are very curious and explore everybody's yards. They like to go up and knock on doors - most people aren't home.




Today Katie discovered the delight of this set of interesting steps - she'd run across each section of sidewalk, then jump down the step, to my bated breath. Amazingly, she never tripped. I kept saying, "Come on, Katie, let's go home." I thought she was coming, but she'd head back up and start all over again. They both were up on the porch when the lady of the house heard them and came out to get acquainted.





Altogether, they are primarily quite happy little girls who make our lives ever so much more fun.

Which is which??