So many fun developments

Every time something happens that I'd like to remember and blog about, I send myself an email so I don't lose track.  In the past month, it seems like so many new things have happened, and my inbox is filled with blog reminders instead of work emails :)  And ironically, so many of these developments are about Sydney.  We don't favor Sydney (well, I don't... Daniel and her mesh really well together), but she has picked up so many new things lately.  And her personality is so big, that daycare always has a funny story to report to us about her.  So I don't want to appear to be biased, because we love both of our sweet girls with all our might.  And I know, Ella is right behind Sydney in all that she's learning.  This fits their personalities to a t - Sydney is a go-getter and figures it out, Ella sits in the background observing and doing things on her own time.

The last I had reported in their 11-month update, both girls were crawling around like crazy.  Ella was great at pulling up, and Sydney was rocking out at cruising along furniture.  So much has changed - Sydney has started taking her first steps!  It started out about a month and a half ago that she would start to let go of whatever she was holding onto and just stand there - totally unassisted.  We knew she would start walking soon... but thankfully for this momma's heart, she did the standing-by-herself deal for a while.  About a week after their first birthday, she was sitting in Daniel's lap (he was Indian style... or to be politically correct, criss-cross-applesauce), and just like that she started to stand up!  All on her own!  Work on those thigh muscles, girlfriend.  She would then BARELY take a step.  I mean, we counted it as a "step", but she wasn't really walking.  Fast forward to two weeks ago, she started to take about 4 steps at a time.  (!!!).  It made my heart swell and break a little at the same time.  I wanted to cheer her on and push her down.  I figured that I'd do the right thing and encourage vs. stop her.  Good parenting decision, right?  And besides, I don't want to confuse her or give her trust issues that will forever screw her up.  So yeah... fast forward to this past week and she is walking a lot.  She's steadily gone from wobbly and preferring to crawl faster than she can walk - to really walking all over.  Last Saturday, we attended Samatha's bridal shower and the girls were wearing a very pretty dress that made it impossible for them to crawl, and it forced her to walk more.  Then that night, we spent some time with our twin-BFFs Hollis and Mary-Grace, and Sydney must have wanted to be like Mary-Grace because she's been walking more ever since.  She really concentrates and is slow and steady, but she's doing it!  We officially have a "walker"!

this is the day she took 4-5 steps consistently in a row... in this video, she was clapping, clapping, clapping - then walking!

And not to be outdone - Ella is almost there!  Just when my don't-ever-compare-your-twins-to-each-other head was telling my heart that Ella's legs were made of jello and she'd never walk, she started to let go of things and stand on her own!  I mean really - it was a big change all in about 48 hours.  She must have known I was getting ready to be worried, haha. 

The girls LOVE to play on the stairs, and Ella will sit on the edge and very, very slowly inch her way to standing up.  It's hilarious how she concentrates so hard on it

A month ago I wrote in an email to myself that "Ella can wave!".  Today, I'm telling you that they both wave!  Sydney will even say "bye-bye" and wave.  It really is the cutest thing, and I wish I had a picture to show you.

They both blow kisses.  Sometimes they won't do the "blowing" and just pucker up and do the "kissing" - but really, no matter what, my heart is melted on the floor every time.

Ella is blowing her kiss and Sydney is puckering up!

Here's a hilarious new-sound: growling.  Sydney loves to growl.  She doesn't bark like a dog, meow like a kitten, or chirp like a bird - she growls.  One day she was doing it, and to make it appear as though she's more advanced than she is, I said "Sydney, what does a lion say??" and of course, I timed it perfectly so she would growl.  Fast forward a few days, and we've taught her this "trick", which isn't a trick at all - it happens when Daniel picks her up from daycare.  And when he told the teachers our anecdote about the lion, they said - that's what we do when we read a story about dinosaurs!  Oh, silly parents, she's roaring like a dinosaur!  So now... to make her REALLY advanced, we say "what does a lion say??" (GROWL) and "what does a dinosaur say??" (GROWL).  Two tricks.  And, with God as my witness (*arms in the air*), this is an actual, un-edited, totally true conversation we had with Sydney.  So funny, that I hope we don't ever forget it--

Momma: "What does a lion say??"
Sydney: GRRRRRR
Momma: "What does a dinosaur say??"
Sydney: GRRRRRR
Momma: "What does Ella say???"
Sydney: "DA-DA"

We about died laughing.  Hysterical, and completely accurate.  She must be advanced.

I mentioned before how Ella loves shoes.  She will take any chance she can get and will crawl right over to the shoe bucket and pull them out.  She'll talk to them, chew on them, anything really.  And so two peas in a pod can fit so perfectly together, Sydney loves socks.  She finds them and carries them all around, and I have to find them.  I heard that her Daddy loves socks when he was little, too ;) 

Also, Sydney loves doors.  She loves to open and shut them.  If we're out on the porch and the door is open, she's over there messing with it.  If the playroom gate door is open, she's opening and closing it (sometimes right on Ella which doesn't go over real well).  When we climb up the stairs to go to bed, she gets to the top and messes with that gate.  It's funny what one likes and the other doesn't even pay attention to.

They both like to play with vent covers, crawling in the house and outside onto the porch, and wagon rides.

Sydney is a climber.  We find her climbing (or trying to climb) on things she shouldn't.  On the stroller-walker-thing, inside the toy box, and up the stairs.  At daycare, we are always getting another chapter in the "Sydney Chronicles", and often she's climbing in/onto something she shouldn't.  The chairs at the table when it's not time to eat.  The bookshelf.  She just looks at you so cute and innocent that it's IMPOSSIBLE to get mad.  I mean, impossible.

Speaking of daycare, and the "Sydney Chronicles" - she yells at the other (older) kids when they have something she wants.  I mean, straight up yells at them.  She hasn't yet been upgraded to the "big-kid" table because she cannot keep her plate on her tray (we're working on it...) and has to be strapped down.  Haha, this girl.  She "eats way more than a child of her size should", and "yells" when she wants more.  This week she climbed into the cozy coupe, shut the door behind her, and started "driving" with her feet.  She's so grown up.  But she's so sweet.  During naptime the other day, Ella started crying and Sydney popped her head up, checked on her, and laid back down.  Those two <3  I'm jealous all the daycare workers get to experience all of these awesome things while I'm at work, but love to hear stories.

And not to be forgotten - Ella is made of pure sugar.  She will lay her head down on your shoulder (belly, leg, whatever body part she can).  She hugs and kisses and loves to snuggle.  Every single time, her Daddy literally MELTS and has an audible "awwwww".  If she's laying in bed next to you, she'll snuggle and share your pillow or lays her head down on your back/belly.  LOVE that sweet spirit about her!

All of these developments for us has just spelled out F-U-N.  Things are so fun.  I wake up two happy girls, and put to bed two happy girls.  We're always smiling and laughing.  It's awesome.

Note to self: next time update the blog when something new happens.  It's way easier, and besides, your memory sucks.