Almost Two? You're kidding me!

Our little monkeys are almost two years old. Since I have spoken to you last we've been on vacation to the beach, had fun visits to see all the Grandmas and Grandpas and took a trip to the zoo.

Every time Maddie and Lizzy see or hear an airplane in the sky, we ask them where it's going. The obvious answer is... to the BEACH! All planes end up at the beach (and occasionally Grandma and Grandpa's house). This is the kind of lasting effect our recent vacation to Holden Beach, SC has had on my girls. They got to meet so many new family members like Great Aunt Gail and Great Uncle Jerry, cousins Sophie and Lily, plus Aunt Tara, Uncle Jamie and cousin Olivia. Playing with their cousins, building sand castles near the edge of the ocean, taking trips down to the local ice cream shop or just hanging out on the porch and swimming in the kiddie pool. There was non-stop excitement for them at the beach and we can't wait to go back again. Oh and note to self: do NOT get one of those double bike trailers for the girls... bad bad bad.

Trips home to Long Island are always eventful. We took an extended weekend and had the opportunity to visit with everyone this time. Pop Pop's house is always a big hit, lots of toys and things to get into. Grandma and Grandpa took the girls on a Blydenburgh Park adventure. Nothing like getting a little dirty to put them in a good mood. Grammie took us out to eat at Smokey Bones and who do you think was waiting tables that night? That's right, Scooby-Doo! Our main purpose for going home was to attend a wedding so that gave Erica and I an excuse to leave the kids with the grandparents and enjoy an evening to ourselves. We even managed to find time to visit with all our friends and their kids.

Halloween is right around the corner and we've got a special surprise in-store for you. Keep an eye out for pictures of what they will be dressed up like this year!

A few Mispronunciations

Buga = bug (this used to be bugabug, which was even cuter)
flopbop = flip flop

Lizzy has issues with M sounds - she can make them - she says "mommy" perfectly - but for some reason, on some words, the "M" gets lost
Monkey = cookie (or really more like "cuck-ee" - rhymes with luck)
Maddie = Daddy (this is very confusing at times)

Maddie calls Lizzy "Tizzy"/"Sizzy"

And somehow, the girls seem to be convinced that Asparagus is french fries (shhh, I'm not going to tell them yet.)

Aunt Gail sent the girls dolls for Christmas, and lately they've been in the car, and the girls LOVE them. Maddie will spend a good portion of our trip babbling away to the doll. You'll have to turn your speakers way up for this, my phone doesn't record video sound very well.



The girls have also started to notice their shadows. Here are a few videos of them bouncing on their (empty at the time) pool (don't forget to turn your speakers back down if you turned them up for the last video!!)

Just a Few Words

mommy, daddy, more, snack, kiwi, banana, please, cat, doggie/Cody, silly, dirty, go, outside, pool, car, block, box, socks, shoes, "See-See"(Casey at daycare), Nick (sometimes "Nock"), "Mimi"(Amy at daycare), cheese, water, truck, toys, book, Pop Pop, ball, flip flops, balloon, bird, uh-oh, potty, duck/quack, yay, NO, rain, wind, cloud, sun, wet, stinky, baby, Oso (special agent oso), tree, bug, star, mine, stuck, slide, swing, keys, bubbles, bye-bye, milk, cookie, I don't know, hat, snow, day, pretty, beads, hot, moo, baa, roar(like a lion), seat, "Momo"(Elmo), sticky, coat, let's go!

Say "Cheese!"

Just when we thought our daughters could not possibly get any more adorable. They do something like this: Maddie and Liz were excitedly streaking around the house in their diapers. Some unspoken signal was conveyed between them and it was suddenly time to climb up and play on Cody's chair. As in most occasions when they are being extraordinarily cute, I plucked the camera up and pointed to shoot. At first sight of the camera, both girls began smiling wide and saying "Cheese!", as clear as day!

Now, we have never encouraged the use of the word "cheese" in any prior photographs. (Besides, what is the likelihood they would even humor us at their age?) Our technique usually revolves around some sort of tomfoolery or wild antics to get the girls to smile. Nope, don't ask me where they pick up these behaviors... probably day care.

Official 18 month photograph for your enjoyment.



Grandma came for an extended weekend and spent some quality time with us and the girls.



Activities included the Children's Museum, lots of outdoor playtime due to the beautiful weather and even a night all by herself with Maddie and Lizzy. Erica and I went to a graduation party for one of our neighbor's kids and Grandma stayed home to watch the girls. Despite our cautions as to how the girls can become very dramatic and cranky, everything went very smoothly and they had a wonderful time together.

We have made some noteworthy discoveries this month. Not least of which is that dancing can be really fun, especially if you can shake your thing on the dance floor!



Erica and I are installing new floors for the dining room and office area later this month. Throughout the process of choosing which to use we brought home samples which the girls delighted in dragging out and stomping around on. They are going to go bonkers when they realize that we will have wall-to-wall dance floors!

Summer is in full swing and what collection of "fun in the sun" toys would be complete without a pool and a water table?



Just to get a feel for how they would react, we put everything up on the deck first. Setting up the pool turned out to be quite an ordeal. (Thanks to my mom for insisting on getting us an electric air pump to inflate it. I think I would STILL be pumping had we used a manual pump.) Next came the water and let me tell you that you're not going to want to swim in it right out of the hose. CHILLY! Many, many pots of hot water later we finally decided to give it a try with the girls. Daddy loved the pool. Madeline was OK with the pool. Elizabeth, ehhh, not so much. She did stop crying long enough to take this picture though so I have some hope for the future.

Who knew that corn could be so delicious and enjoyed in so many ways?!



You are not imagining things, they have discovered the joy of eating corn on the cob. Sometimes you really just have to throw caution to the wind, sit back, and be amazed at the results. You would think humans have some sort of innate ability to eat corn on the cob the way they skillfully handled those.

Plenty of additional pictures over on Flickr from this past month. See you soon.

Dropping off a few Movies!

This is an older one, but still cute!



Lizzy chatting with Daddy - this must have gone on for 10-15 minutes:



Maddie playing outside:




And here we are at 17 months old! I can't believe they're almost a year and a half old!

Hard to post!

I know, I know, we haven't updated in ages... It's definitely a lot harder now that the girls are older (and more mobile). In most ways it's a lot of fun - watching them run all over exploring everything, but it's definitely a bit harder - they get into more, they notice each other more (not always, or even often, a good thing), just generally more chaotic.

Lately, the girls seem to have fast forwarded to the terrible twos, at least occasionally. We're definitely seeing more tantrums and more fighting. Learning not to hit, I think, will be a long process (probably full of tears). There's a lot of fun in our house though. The girls are constantly running around, babbling - we're pretty sure they've invented their own language - they're certainly still not speaking any English (though I'm ANXIOUSLY waiting for it.... trying not to get too worried. Kids talk in their own time, and twins are known for talking later... still - any time girls!)

In the last month, we had a visit home, which didn't go as well as we hoped. Unfortunately, both girls came down with colds as we arrived, so we were dealing with cranky babies out of their element. Sorry everyone! Next time will be better - hopefully with the weather getting nicer, we won't be dealing with the constant colds we've had this winter!

Here's one of the few pictures we managed for the trip. Grandpa is showing the girls pictures on Grandma's mp3 player - thanks Pop Pop for that suggestion! It worked great so the girls weren't afraid of Grandpa!


We also had Grandma and Grandpa Carlson come out to visit us here! By then, the girls were better, so we had a really fun visit!

We got to visit the mall and ride the carousel:





Visited the Children's Museum again




And Gary and I got to go out to a real grownup restaurant, all by ourselves! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!

Finally, I leave you with our official 16 month shot!

Late Video

I know we promised video a month ago, but... well... life happened.

We had our first unwanted milestone - Lizzy was hospitalized for a nasty case of croup. She's totally fine now (and, indeed, was totally fine by the time we were admitted to our room for the night), but that's never a fun thing to do. (Madeline also had it, but a much milder case)

The girls had their 15 month appointments. Elizabeth is 20lbs 2oz, Madeline is 20lb 12oz (they have maintained that 10oz difference pretty consistently since birth. Only a few visits were they any different than 10oz apart!) They are right on track with everything except talking - they're a bit behind there. But the doctor isn't worried - twins tend to talk later, and they are definitely communicating (they sign pretty well - when they want to - and make their needs known (pointing and making sounds), and vocalize a lot - the doctor even said Maddie's daDAAA for Cody (or doggie?) counts as a word!)

Anyway, here are just a few videos to tide you over until I get the latest pictures off the camera!

Lizzy (left) and Maddie (right) sharing the shopping cart. This is actually a scene that more often than not ends up with them fighting over the handle with the loser screeching.


Maddie dancing to the frige farm. We had a better one but it's sideways and I don't have a good enough editor to fix it ;)



...I don't know what was going on this night, but the girls found it hiiiiiilarious to hit themselves in the head.

Lizzy


Maddie




Madeline pushing Lizzy around in the shopping cart. Though I think we actually plopped Lizzy in there that day, she can get up in the cart by herself. (Madeline is not so brave)


Elizabeth feeding Cody goldfish. I suppose we need to discourage this at some point, but it was pretty darn cute to see. Cody, of course, loves this, and has become even MORE patient with the girls than he was before.

Twenty Ten and Toddlers

A new year brings new laughs, new adventures, new milestones, and a new sense of wonder. Madeline and Elizabeth are now 14 months old and really doing well. Their individual personalities are starting to take shape as they continue to discover and learn new things.

Imagine the sound of laughter filling the house when our daughters find joy in the facets of life that we might consider mundane. Cody barking, playing peek-a-boo, rolling a ball back and forth, reading books or chasing each other around the house are just some of the activities that prompt a smile and a chuckle.



Over the holiday break, we paid a visit to our many relatives and loved ones back on the east coast. Maddie and Liz are such seasoned travelers already that the flight went very smoothly. Our adventure began at Grandma White's house on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we exchanged presents at the Grandma and Grandpa Carlson's house and then made our way to New Jersey. Erica's Aunt Lori and Uncle Vic were wonderful hosts to us and our girls. Everyone was very excited when we were able to stop by Great Grandma Gempp's house for a little while before heading back to LI again.

Saturday was a day to relax and spend time with our friends the Lathams. Sunday more visitors came to the Carlson house. Monday we spent with Pop Pop and Mema Munson and then Tuesday was time to fly back home to Chicago. Throughout all this excitement and commotion, our girls were just laid back and happy as can be to have so much attention and love. They held up better than I did when the flu hit me hard on Sunday. Luckily noone else got sick and we are so glad to have spent the holidays among family.




Elizabeth and Madeline are walking every chance they get now. Once they figured out that it was much quicker and more efficient to simply walk everywhere, there was no stopping them. It's really adorable to watch them toddling around the house. Very often you will see them carrying around one or more objects that they have picked up in their path. Don't be surprised to see Tupperware, toys, shoes, even boxes and dog bowls in hand when they come around the corner.

Spoons and plasticware are the next challenge Liz and Maddie are faced with. They definitely get the logistics behind the whole eating with utensils idea, but often it dissolves into abandoning them for the trusty ol' hands. As you would expect, we do most of our practice on the kitchen tile floor, hah!



More and more teeth keep popping up and causing our daughters to be pretty uncomfortable at times. It looks like our most recent round is almost over and each of the girls have 4 molars!

Still no "official" words to report, but they continue to put more syllables together and really sound like they are trying to hold a conversation at times. What I wouldn't give for a baby language translator on so many occasions. Thankfully, despite the lack of speech, they have been picking up more and more sign language to help us know what they want or express what they are seeing or doing. Baby Signing Time is by far the most entertaining show right now (which is saying something because they usually could care less about the television). Maddie and Liz get so excited when the title sequence comes on and start clapping and dancing.

One of my favorite things about this age is that they are beginning to mimic us and do what we do. It's hilarious to watch them study you and then attempt to do it themselves. Just last night I was smooshing my face against the glass of our office door (oh c'mon you've all done it!). Suddenly they both started doing it back at me. Erica and I were laughing hysterically and they thought it was the best thing on earth.

It's not difficult to get caught up in the way the girls look at the world around them and share in their sense of wonder at everything around us. I believe that we could all benefit from some time spent in the presence of children. Stay young at heart and if you're all really well-behaved we'll post some videos for you to enjoy :)