I tried to take some cute pictures of Milo and Nora together. It's really hard. Witness the following:
And this:
They just never sit still. They're always moving. Usually, they're together getting in trouble, like this:
Or this:
I have ordered some latches for our cabinets and I hope they come soon because the babies have become obsessed with opening up all of the cabinets and pulling everything out.
One thing that's funny is how Nora and Milo always gravitate towards one another. Wherever they are in the room, they're generally in the same spot. If one kid finds something dangerous and fun to investigate, the other is right there to help out. Recently I took a walk with a neighborhood mom whose daughter is 3 months older than Nora and Milo. She asked whether I was ever able to get anything done when home alone with them. In her case, she can't do much of anything because her baby always wants her right there with her, playing with her. Nora and Milo aren't really like that because they have each other. Sometimes they don't even notice me because they're too busy scheming together, figuring out ways to stick forks into unprotected outlets.
They're interacting a lot now and I love to watch it. Tonight at dinner Milo was doing his usual charming trick of blowing his food all over creation, and Nora picked up on it and started doing it herself. Whenever Nora blew her food out, Milo just cracked up. Seriously cracked up. So of course she kept doing it over and over again, and he kept laughing. They'll do little things like that to make each other laugh, and when I see that I think, oh, okay, this is why we went through the hell of having two newborns at the same time. Now I get it. Having two is pretty cool.
In the past month Nora has started creeping along the couch and sometimes she'll let go for a minute and stand unassisted. She doesn't really seem all that interested in walking; I don't think she's in a hurry to do it. I'm okay with that, because they get around quickly enough as it is with crawling. Nora might walk before too long, though. I think once she figures out that it's a possibility, she's going to set her mind to it and get going.
Nora is saying "hi" now, which she'll sometimes say to Milo as well as to me, Jake, the twin whisperer, and the cats. She also says "all done" after I say it at the end of meals. Nora has also taken up "kitty", which I think she learned from Milo. Nora is generally not super interested in talking; she'd prefer to just move around. However, she can wave hello and goodbye, and she can clap, and she loves to imitate facial expressions.
Nora really wears her heart on her sleeve. She can't resist a smile, and any attention she gets just makes her glow with joy. On the other side, Nora can't hold it in when she gets upset. She'll kick her feet and writhe her body, and it all looks suspiciously like a little baby tantrum to me. So I guess we have that to look forward to. She's like a summer storm, though. Quick to anger, quick to get over it. Mostly she is sunny and cheerful and eager to let you bask in her cuteness. Nora charms everybody she meets. She even charmed the gruff GI doctor this time, who touched her chin and told her how cute she was.
These next three pictures show Nora with one of her favorite things, the sash on my robe. Like a cat, Nora loves any kind of string, drawstring, or cord. Notice in the second picture she's sort of hugging it. Sometimes she'll put it in her mouth and crawl around that way, like a little puppy. Boy, babies are weird.
Now that the kids are over their colds, all is well in our lives. Nora sleeps, and recently she's even been eating. I'm almost afraid to say that because I don't want to jinx it. Nora is fearless, eager to explore any new environment, unafraid to fall, unafraid to launch herself off of tall objects (hence her accident this week). She would spend all day climbing stairs if I let her. She's an adventurous little baby, but she's still young enough to want to return for a hug every few minutes. I'll take it for as long as it lasts.
Milo has changed a lot in the past month. Now he can pull up on anything and he too has started to creep along furniture. Milo has realized that he is bigger than Nora and he can stand up to her. So he no longer lets her steal toys, and he does a fair share of trying to steal things himself. In this picture below, Milo is holding the robe sash only because Nora is holding the other end. He has no interest in strings the way she does. But because she had it, he wanted it, and they engaged in a little game of tug of war. Eventually they came to some sort of unspoken agreement and spent the next 10 minutes shaking each end of the sash in unison like they were practicing their double-dutch technique.
Milo is so much more reserved than Nora. I have to work harder to get a smile out of him. He has to think about it for a while before he will reward you with a smile. On the other hand, Milo doesn't get as upset, either. He's pretty even keeled. There are a few things still guaranteed to make Milo laugh, though. One of them is when I say "Phew!". He thinks that's a crack up.
Milo is talking a lot. In addition to kitty, baby, and ball, he says "hi" and "all done". He's also saying "baba" which I think means bottle. We're trying to learn "book" now, and he's halfway there. Milo has also learned to put his hands over his head to show how big he is. When I say "How big is Milo?" he grins and laughs and puts his hands over his head.
Milo gets a big kick out of putting things into other things and taking them out again, over and over. We have a bunch of wooden blocks stored in an old metal cookie tin with a round lid. Milo can entertain himself for 15 minutes by putting the lid on the cookie tin, taking it off, putting it back on, and taking it back off. He also loves his new toy with holes for balls to go through. Milo will put the balls through the holes, and he'll also put blocks through the holes, and rubber duckies, and socks, and the other day I caught him trying to stuff a teddy bear through the hole.
Milo's favorite thing is taking a bath. He kicks and splashes and laughs over and over again. Nora, by the way, likes to try to stand up in the bathtub, giving me my 5th heart attack of any given day. Milo just splashes and splashes. It's great how tiny little things, like taking a bath, or getting his teeth brushed, or pulling off his own socks and shoes, gives Milo so much to be happy about. Life is really great when you find joy in something like getting your teeth brushed.
As the weather gets darker and colder I keep remembering what things were like this time last year. I remember how I couldn't walk to work and had to take the bus or drive. I remember all of the pain I went through in November because Nora flipped twice. I remember how quiet everything was, and how much I slept. Now it is never quiet, and I seldom get enough sleep. Man, life was boring last year. What did I do with all of that time I had on my hands? How did I entertain myself when there were no babies to laugh at?
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