The Terrible—er, Terribly Fantastic—Twos

The kids are two, and although we're surprised that we've all survived this long, it has absolutely flown by. The kids are pretty different, and although it should come as no surprise (different gender, no more alike than other siblings), it's interesting to note the distinctions in their personalities and development.

Communication: They both chatter quite a bit, but Tanner talks almost constantly. ("Moon. Moon. Moon. Daddy. Moon. Daddy. Daddy. Moon. Moon. Car. Car. Car." You get the idea.) Tanner gets stuck on words he likes to repeat (see parenthetical) and he knows most of his colors, but while Jane guesses most items are either "pinkie" or "blue" (or sometimes "pinkieblue") (we are now wondering, only slightly seriously, if she's colorblind), she comes out with random words we didn't even know she had (one day she pointed to my purse on the table and said "purse" out of nowhere). Tanner tends to remember things from day to day (if you put Eucerin on him one night before bed, he will ask for it by name ("you-ee") every night after that for the next two weeks), and Jane has recently started saying "yes" instead of "yeah." They are both getting the hang of manners ("pees" and "fank koo"), although they are still reluctant to talk to Target cashiers.

Playtime Preferences: As much as we still get agitated by all the ridiculous marketing schemes geared toward boys and girls (why are all the doll toys pink?), the twins' preferences do tend to run down the imaginary gender line. Tanner loves to play with the new train set, and he loves building stuff with his Duplo Legos. Jane loves to play with her dolls. Both kids love books and love to hear stories. Jane does get into Tanner's new raceway toy, and Tanner does play with Jane's new princess palace, so at least they're getting some diversity.

Clothes: Jane seems to enjoy wearing dresses (or maybe she just likes saying "dress" and getting her tights out of the drawer), but they both will wear anything we put on them. They both are wearing 2T and 3T sizes, depending on the brand and fit. Tanner's pants tend to be a bit short, so we are often asking him where the flood is even though he has no idea what this means or why we think this is funny. They tolerate winter hats and mittens fairly well, though we're still working on helping the thumb find its "special" spot in the mitten. They seem to like wearing coats (and Tanner likes to give the blow-by-blow on who is wearing a coat at any given time: "Tanner. Coat. Janie. Coat. Daddy. Coat.") and sometimes try to put them on themselves (often getting a hand in a pocket before asking for help).

Sicknesses: Jane seems more affected by colds, and Tanner seems more affected by stomach bugs. They have both had their share of coughs and runny noses so far this winter. We've used the nebulizer on Jane several times, to get rid of some wheezing and try to improve her cough. We are constantly finding random bruises and cuts on both of them, although more so on Tanner. The kids sure do like to stay active.

Attachments: Tanner is extremely attached to his blue puppy, and this has led Jane to be somewhat attached to her pink doggie and yellow duckie. Tanner loves to touch noses with his puppy, and he seems very comforted by the little guy. Jane likes her doggie and duckie okay, but she'd probably be happy with any stuffed animal we gave her. They both still like their pacifiers at naptime and bedtime, although we think it'll be harder for Tanner to give his up. Janie is going through a mommy phase right now, and Tanner is similarly going through a daddy phase. But they both tolerate the other parent pretty well.

So that's the rundown. Happy second birthday, kids!

Christmas Day Family Photo

Christmas Eve Family Photo

Tanner's First Sentence

The kids can put two or three words together ("Daddy car" or "Janie bug Mommy"), but this is Tanner's first correctly conjugated sentence. It's so impressive that we made him say it twice.

P.S. A "mule bite" is something Grandpa T loves to give the kids -- it's when you squeeze the leg just above the knee, and it usually tickles like crazy.

Dance Fever

This is how we entertain ourselves on cold December days.

Thanksgiving Family Photo

Vocabulary Progress

The kids are twenty-two months old today, and they've got about forty to fifty words each. Quite a turnaround from a few months ago, when we were worried about their vocabulary. There are too many words to list here, but we'd like to share our favorites.

Tanner:
"bon-yay" = Band-Aid
"nonny" = naughty

Jane:
"kee-ko" = here you go
"mon" = c'mon

Halloween Family Photos

Chatty Patties

The kids had their 19-month appointment (disguised as their 18-month appointment) last week. The doctor is pleased with their builds (she proclaimed Tanner "all muscle"), their eyes and ears (though she called Tanner's ears "very hairy"), and their development (she said Jane's mobility appeared to be "great"). Though the average eighteen-month-old has about six words and our kids don't necessarily have that many (Tanner especially), she saw how talkative they were (in their own language) and said we shouldn't worry about their lack of vocabulary yet.

And now (drum roll, please) for their first words!

Both of them can roar like a lion, which they've been doing for months now (though they kind of whisper the roar) and which they learned from Elmo on Sesame Street. No, I'm not ashamed.

Tanner's first word was "car," which he says with a Boston accent ("cah"). We think he actually might mean truck.

Jane's first word (other than "Mommy," "no," and "no way" -- those aren't very fun, so we're not counting them, although Tanner has yet to say those) was either "baby" or "ball." We can't really remember. It's hard enough keeping track of the whereabouts of these chitlins, let alone what words are coming out of their mouths, you know?

We've realized that if Tanner's first word was "car" and Jane's first word was "baby," that follows right along stereotypical gender lines. These kids are pretty much offered the same stuff (they both play with the truck and dolly from GG & T, for example), so it's fascinating to see the inherent stuff come through (Tanner much prefers the truck and Jane much prefers the dolly, though Tanner is also obsessed with a friend's pink doll stroller at the park). We're curious to see what happens as they get older. For now, let's get some words down!

Very First Ice Cream Cones!