Phrases I Never Thought I’d Say to Another Human

Poor little thing. You have bumps all over your fanny.

Let’s keep our hands out of our vagina.

Keep your hands out of your doo doo.

Just let me put this vaseline on your bird.
Oh, don’t wipe it in your eyes.

Why won’t you just snuggle with Daddy?

Let’s not eat leaves. No, no.

Stop playing with your penis and drink your milk.

Puking Baby, Walking Baby, Clapping Baby, Dancing Baby

Monday morning when I got Emaline out of her crib, I noticed some kind of dried goop in her hair and on her jammies. I figured it was snot or drool. No biggie.
We started breakfast uneventfully. The oatmeal was mixed and heated, the milk was ready, the babies were half asleep, we were half asleep. Emaline would not even open her mouth to eat any oatmeal. She has been picky about what food she would eat, what food she would spit out, and what food she would even accept into her mouth. Most food she likes to squish around between her fingers and rub into her eyes. We found out the day before that she would eat waffles. She likes using her hands. As I was heating up a waffle, gave her some milk.
She drank the milk with purpose, barely stopping to breathe. She was a milk-drinkin' fool. She drained it. I cut up the warm waffle and put it on her tray. As I was backing away, this fountain of milk came spewing from her mouth. Sparing any more raw details, we went through a few clothing changes before her retching spell was over.
Aimee spent the morning at home with Emaline (I came home at lunch to relieve her). No more vomiting during that time. Instead, lots of snuggling. Our daughter is the independent one of the twins. Keillor loves attention, thrives on it. Emaline would rather explore and experiment on her own. Until she gets suck, that is. Then she is more clingy than a blanket fresh out of the dryer. Mommy and daughter bonded.

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As I said, Emaline is independent. She is also determined. Right now, she wants to learn to walk. She practices every chance she gets. We have documented six independent steps in a row before either grabbing onto the nearest piece of furniture or falling on her butt. She has two weeks from today to walk before her first birthday. I can't believe they are almost one.

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While Emaline is practicing walking, Keillor has been focusing on rythm (no vowels in that word, hmm). He has learned how to clap. Sometimes we have to remind him by clapping for him, but then he remembers and can do it on his own. 

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 Both babies are starting to realize that music has a beat you can move to. When we sing to them or when a song comes on, we sometimes catch them bobbing their heads or swaying to the rythm. Very cool.

Brushing Our Teeth

As I think I mentioned, we have added tooth brushing to our evening routine. While they both like the feeling of the bristles against their teeth and gums, they like to be in charge of the brushes. In order to ensure that teeth get brushed, we bought two sets of brushes: one for them to hold, and one for us to use. We used the same technique when we began using utensils to eat.
Emaline still likes to be in charge and would prefer holding both brushes.

We are one month away from birthday #1. As we near this auspicious occasion, we are thinking about transitions, especially the transition from rear-facing to front-facing car seats. They can sit facing forward when they are one year and at least 20 pounds. Keillor is already almost 22 pounds, and Emaline is just under 20, so we may reach that point on June 2. We need to--their feet are already touching the back seat, which they kick incessantly, pushing their seats against the front seats. As you can see from the photo, Keillor's feet resemble those of Barney Rubble from the Flintstones.

Emaline's feet are slender and long, but they are ready for walking. She can take a step or two before falling over. Aimee thinks she'll be walking in the next month. As I dropped her off at daycare this morning, she stood at the baby's first work bench that Tina has and used the table saw. She is definitely a girl after her Daddy's heart. We need to get one of those work benches.

Twins fighting over toys. This is only the beginning.