Memorial Day

It was hot. It was fun. We played in the backyard with family and friends. I am currently too sticky to elaborate.
Here are Naomi and Dorothy (William's cousin)enjoying some tea.



Lillian, reading. (There seem to be a lot of those pictures on this blog, really.)



p.s. Lillian 'graduated' from physical therapy today!!

And then...

Claire came to visit us today. Apparently it's been a while and Lillian had lot of things to catch her up on. What you see here is probably only the last third of her tirade/storytelling.

I'm glad you get a few glimpses of Naomi, too, because it seems like Lillian gets all the good video clips recently. But, Naomi is either on the run or way too heavily interested in the actual camera to be captured.

(after two hours, video still has not uploaded. Will try again tomorrow.)

(after two days and 3 attempts, have learned that video is too large to upload. Seeking alternative delivery methods.)

Maybe now?

Sand, Take Two.

It went much better this time. We left Lillian's shoes on.



And, doesn't Naomi look like such a _kid_ in this picture?

Hey, Guess What!

Just like with so many things for Lillian, the switch flipped today. Just when I thought I'd be carrying this (very heavy) baby around for the rest of my life, she showed us all! She took a few tentative wobbles this morning, from her walker to the outside steps (one of her favorite outdoor activities is climbing and retreating down the stairs.) and again at the end of the driveway when she hijacked Naomi's walker toy. Then, this evening, sitting in the living room with Nana, we coaxed her from the couch to the stool and, lo and behold, she marched right on over. And then back. And over and back. And over and back. About 17 times. Then she looped around the living room to visit each of us without touching any 'bases'. So, yeah. Lillian walks.

Caravan

There was a time when we hung out with Nat and Amanda and we were just a party of four. Now, our numbers have doubled and the activities have certainly changed. Here we are, conducting our own parade down the street.



Here are the little ride-ons we got for the three little girlies (More and more, we suspect that through some twist of the space-time continuum, that Ivy and Naomi really are the twins)



Also...,



Peek-a-boo!!

Why It Is Getting Increasingly Harder to Capture Video

During the filming of this oscar-worthy scene, I have flipped the LCD screen on the camera around backwards so that Lillian can see herself as she goofs around. I was going to try and get her to do some of her animal sounds, but she got sidetracked by her impression of an old woman without dentures imitating a puppy. At least I think that's what's going on here. I'm sad that you're missing her horse impersonation. She chirps this totally deadpan, "nay." with the most casual inflection. I'll keep trying to catch it.

Tonight, after the amoxycillin dose (which they take like candy. Yummy pink liquid candy.)Naomi grabbed the tylenol bottle and shoved it at us, weeping and whining. She would not be stopped until William went to the kitchen, filled up the medicine cup with apple juice and "dosed" her, like, three times. Babies are weird.

The Artist Formerly Known as Droopy Drawers

A little box arrived today, addressed especially to Naomi. I opened it while the girls were napping and I'm still surprised that my cackling didn't wake them.

Pat found suspenders for babies. How awesome is that?

Here's the front view:


And the rear. She was rather fond of them, so we put them back on in between clothes and pajamas:

Weekends

They go so fast. We did lots of our typical weekend stuff, plus an overnight excursion to Nana and Papa's, and it still seems to have flown out from under us.

I'm also an irresponsible mother, for I have not taken a picture or video since Wednesday. The good news? The girls are still cute.

Tonight they ran the loop in the middle of the house with the walkers. Going in opposite directions, they'd shriek and laugh everytime their paths intersected.

I'll get back on the camera wagon this week, I promise.

Sand!

I want you to notice here that Lillian is doing everything possible to keep her toes out of the sand. Seriously. I have a feeling that, next week, she's going to ask the physical therapist how to levitate. She was very much not into the idea.



Naomi, on the other hand, jumped right in. Like she'd been doing this for years. I was mucking around with Lillian and by the time I got her situated, Naomi had scootched into the sand, gathered a bucket, shoveled some sand in, and was poking at it with the rake. She's a natural.



Also, hallelujah. William installed the second swing today. May there be peace in the world again.

More of the Same

The swing.



We can't even get in the car anymore without one or both girls catching a glimpse of it. Naomi always has the same reaction--arms held out like a zombie, whispering, "Dat. Daaaat." And they're not terribly good at the concept of taking turns yet, so it gets a little dramatic everytime we go to make the switch. We do have another swing waiting to be hung, but we need to get more chain first. I'm sure if I told the girls that, they'd be marching off to Home Depot themselves. Lillian with her push walker, of course.

She continues to refuse to walk independently. (Lord help me, this child is stubborn. For anyone to whom I have ever been this obstinate, I apologize. Nothing like having your own character flaws magnified 1000 times in front of your face.) She threw an unholy fit at her physical therapy appointment today when we tried to get her to move around using a harness that holds her torso. It was all kicking and yelling. She just gets nervous about losing her balance and has really convinced herself that she needs to be holding on to something in order to walk forward. Now that she's rooted so firmly in that belief, it's hard to shake her out of it. As the therapist and I learned today.

Swing!

Spring/Summer is finally here. And we've been taking full advantage. We enjoyed a walk to raise money for breast cancer, an awesome Mother's Day Dinner at Nana and Papa's, and lots of good time in the backyard. You'd hardly know that both girls have an ear infection. In fact, I didn't either. They had their 18 month check up today and after wielding the little brain-inspector light, the doctor pronounced each of their right ears to have a mild infection. I asked if I was a bad parent for not noticing this. He soothed my fears and said that lots of kids never present any symptoms. So, amocycillin it is.

Here's Lillian enjoying the swing (with a death-defying cameo from Naomi and William)



p.s. Happy Birthday Nana!!

Celebrations

Ivy Jane turns one tomorrow, so we spent this beautiful Saturday at Nat and Amanda's to celebrate. She was a delightful babe-in-spotlight, just exploring and charming all over the place. Our girls didn't come to join until after most of the party was over, as their naptime takes precedence over almost anything, birthday parties included. But, they made the most of the lovely day in the lovely yard, climbing and swinging and making really weird faces at friends.

Here's Ivy, smiling at her cake. It's about as much interaction as she mustered with it.


And, if Ivy's turning 1, that means that the Lillian and Naomi are 18 months. (Poof!) That was the sound of my mind exploding. They are not babies anymore! They are so, so, very much toddlers. (Except for Lillian not walking yet. In that, she's still a baby.) They have wildly fluctuating and very severe opinions about just about everything. They are goofy and demanding and do lots of things that I don't understand. They thrive on repetition and, at the same time, are transfixed by the newness of the world.

Also, Lillian has amazing eyelashes.

Favorite Things

We cannot take Lillian out of bed without her demanding to see this quilt that Grandma Rand made for the girls. Here she is, doing a little independent review of the bottom row.



Also,now that the weather's changing, sometimes it's hard to find exactly the right pajamas.

Yes.

Yes, those are my underpants around her neck. Don't worry, they're clean. Upon finding the laundry basket in living room, Naomi immediately dug out 3 pair of underpants and immediately put them over her head. And then she hit on the idea that this was funny and kept at it for a long time. She's making this face for Nana--it's one of her new favorite expressions. I call it "The Surprised Turtle."

Intermission?

Sorry that it's been a week since I last posted. It turns out that preparation for, execution of, and recovery from a 48 hour trip takes a whole week.

William and I skipped town this weekend to attend a wedding in Maryland and left the girls to take care of Nana and Papa. When we returned Saturday night, Lillian was so tired that she fell asleep in her high chair during dinner. She's never done that before, so I think they all did a good job of wearing each other out.

It occured to me that I should try to make a list of the words Lillian says now, since she keeps adding more.

Mama
Daddy
Baby (times 1,000)
Dog
Eat (which sounds like tee)
Kiss (which sounds like tiss)
Papa (which sounds like pa......pa)
Bubble
Play
Ball
Some version of Naomi that sounds like "may-may"
Some version of Lillian that sounds like "ninnian"

She imitates lots of words that you say and still does signs for "milk", and when she opens a book, she does ths long crazy string of sounds.

Naomi is more of a signer and when she says words it's in this crazy whisper. We've taken to calling her Gollum. It's charming.

And since I've been irresponsible with my picture-taking this chaotic week, here are a few bonus pictures from Easter, taken by Nat and Amanda.

Honk! Ivy greets Naomi


Naomi, in all her frippery.