18 Months

The babies are 18 months!  In the last couple of weeks especially, they have really turned into little people, understanding what we are saying, following commands, talking more and more, it's just been so fun.  They each say between 25-30 words and Brinley especially can mimic pretty much whatever we ask her to say.  They can each point out their eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, belly and toes.  They can each make animal sounds for sheep, lion (big roooarrrr haha), cow, dog, cat, chicken, monkey, pig (Cooper snorts really good), duck (and Brinley does hand motions for duck), and elephant (Brinley does arm motion for the elephant nose). 

Cooper really loves putting their dirty clothes in their hamper and loves to help take his shirt off when dressing. They love putting trash in the trashcan, really just helping and doing what you ask them to do. They are so proud that they know what we're asking and get so excited when they do it and we get happy about it.  Of course, they do not always do what we ask, especially Brinley in relation to doing things that are dangerous (standing on the top of their slide especially).  They now will grab your finger and try to pull you up from sitting to go do what they want to do.  It was cute at first but when you're just trying to sit and relax for a minute and they keep pulling on you and getting so mad when you don't get up, it can be annoying!  Especially when sometimes Brinley will not want anything in particular, she just wants you to walk around holding her hand. She's really into holding hands lately.  They love sitting in big people chairs now, so a lot of the time, she'll pull on you wanting you to get out of the chair so then SHE can sit in it! 

Brinley has started to "tell" us after she's gone #2 in her diaper. She grabs her diaper and says "diady" (Brandon's word for diaper) and wants to be picked up and changed immediately. She never goes #2 at nighttime anymore.  They are also very interested in us going to the bathroom, so we're going to get some little potties to start thinking about potty training.

They are REALLY into trains right now and love to say "choo choo" and do the hand motion of pulling the train horn.  They are amazed by Thomas the Train shows.  Cooper is pretty much amazed by all big machinery - big trucks (like his daddy's), tractors, loud cars, etc. He's always making the "vroom" sound when he sees one of these.  Trash pickup day on Friday mornings supply a lot of entertainment as the big trucks pick up our trash and make lots of cool noises.

They've finally really started to play WITH each other.  They chase each other and just die laughing and will start rolling around on the floor by each other which leads to Cooper tackling Brin which she thinks is hilarious, for a minute or two.  Cooper will crawl around on the floor, I think mostly trying to play with the dog which is another new thing, but Brinley will get all excited like he's coming to get her and will run into my arms screaming with "terror" giggling wanting me to "save" her.  They do this over and over. Again, most of the time Cooper isn't actually trying to "get" her but in her mind, he is :)  They also love to "scare" each other and jump from around the corner at each other or Brinley will crouch down behind his little chair and jump up and say "BOO"!

They are so into reading, it makes me very happy. Now they pick out books to take to their bed at naptime/bedtime and will sit in bed reading for awhile before falling asleep and will read some more when they wake up.  I love that I can tell them to get a certain book, and they know exactly what I'm talking about and will get it from the toy box.  They love the Peek-a-Who book, the Wizard of Oz book, the Clifford books, Farmyard animal counting book, and any lift-the-flap book.

They are still taking two naps a day, about 1.5 hrs each, and sleeping from 7pm to 7am. We tried to go to one nap and it was ok, but they were only sleeping about 2 hours at that nap (rather than the 3 in total with 2 naps) and then would be really cranky in the evenings and were having to go to bed earlier so we went back to the 2 naps.  We are much more flexible on it though and will schedule things in the morning and then they just take one nap that day and it's fine.  They are wearing 18 month clothing with Brinley wearing some 24 mos shirts (see stats below for why!) and size 4 diapers. They are still great eaters.  They use little forks most of the time and do great with those.

Their stats:

Brinley
Weight: 26 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile)
Height: 32 in (60th percentile)


Cooper
Weight: 24 lbs (25th percentile)
Height: 32.5 in (50th percentile)

And now pictures from the last couple months or so (I've been a bit behind on blogging!)



We had a family reunion and they just made themselves right at home in my cousins' house.



Cooper was obsessed with my cousin Josh's little girl Kate. He kept hugging and cuddling with her.

Both babies have been sooo good to our dog Miles and he to them. They've really started to cuddle together on the couch and play together.

Modeling their new Elmo (or as they say "melmo") and Pooh chairs

This was an awesome kids recliner that my friend Amanda had. Cooper loved it.

Always messing with the bows in her hair

snack time

Brandon wasn't feeling well that day, Cooper laid beside him on the couch for quite awhile.

Play date with their bff Davis

We took them to the circus at the Sprint Center. they did great and loved it!  Too much flash ???

I recently changed jobs and get to stay home on Fridays with them!  This is what we do on Friday mornings now :)

30 min of free babysitting by the KCPL guy!

 

Coop loving on his grandpa like usual

Trying snow cones for the first time and loving it!