Cora is completely walking now. She hasn't mastered running and she is no stranger to falling down. We notice that when she gets tired, she falls even more. We call her our bruiser. She will walk around the corner with a red spot on her head, and neither of us were there to see what happened. She loves to play chase. She loves when Frank scares her. I often whisper in her ear, "where's Daddy?" She squeals and goes to find him. "DaDa" is still the most favorite word to use, as it applies to a lot of things. Sometimes, she will even say, "Da-Dee." Curious George is "juh." Dog is "duh." Thomas the Train is "Tuh." And she can almost say "teeth" when it's time to brush teeth. She says it with a smile so we can see all seven of her teeth. Cora loves to bounce to dance. She shakes her head no when she doesn't like something, too. She just began signing more, although she just uses her two pointer fingers. We understand. We so value the communication.
Sutter has been signing "more" for a few months now, which is a half clap, half point the hand. So he half has it, but we understand. He often uses it in place of food, as we haven't begun working on that sign, yet. When he wakes up in the morning, he will sign "more" as if he is saying, "OK, I'm ready to eat now." I can't blame him, as I often wake up hungry. He sometimes signs it when he is on the playground, too. He just learned how to go down the slide by himself. He loves it. He gets off, crawls over to the steps and goes back up to the top again. He has taken a few steps here and there. I think he is just a few weeks from walking. He babbles so much that it sounds like he asks questions, as his sentences end with a slight inflection higher. He loves to play by himself with his toys or read his books. But he still likes to be held...a lot. He may be gaining independence, but he still needs to be held.
The reality of having two kids going through similar milestones at approximately the same time is really starting to set in with me now. I often hear other people at the playground exclaim, "you're a saint," or "double the trouble." While those statements come from a place of sympathy or exhaustion, I suppose I'm starting to understand that it does take an extreme amount of energy to keep up with the demands of these little ones. They have only begun to start playing with each other, although that needs a constant referee. They will start off separate, perhaps gravitate to what the other one is doing, and then promptly try to take it away. The other fun game that they play together is opening and shutting the door. Eventually, one of them gets slammed in the face or knocked over. It's all part of learning to live together, but it's non stop.
They require an ongoing change of activity, too. I'm often looking at blogs for ideas on how to continually entertain them, without having to buy new toys. I know we have a lot of toys here, but I want to find creative ways to entertain them. I build walls with blocks, and they knock them down. I hide toys in baskets for them to uncover. And we play chase. Lots of chase. It's fun and keeps me moving. I wear my fitbit everyday and at least cover 5 miles just walking with them and playing around.
I've been exploring all of the parks of SF to find the ones that are toddler friendly. They must have fences, no sand or bark, and decent parking. There are three that fit that bill and two are near my house. The kids eat the sand. The bark is terrible to walk on at this age. In a few months, we'll be hitting up the other parks. For now, I appreciate what we have.
Frank & I have been taking the kids around town on the weekends. We have even ventured out to eat a few times. That's always a race, but I really enjoy not cooking for a meal or two. Plus, I get a glass (or two) of wine. Takes the edge off the madness of keeping the babes entertained for the 45 minutes we are at the table, leaving cheerios and peas all over the ground.
In my heart of hearts, I would blog everyday. I love reminding myself of what they've done, what we've done, and what we can expect. The reality is I'm pooped by the time I sit down after they go to bed at 7:30. I enjoy my reality tv shows and love to check out. High five if you feel me.
Here are a few photos from our session in the tunnel at home. They love to play with the tunnel. They also love to look outside from their perch on the couch. There are lots of things to see here.
