Monday, February 22, 2010

The girls at work and play

At 10 1/2 months, the girls have become eating, crawling, exploring, non-stop motion-machines. Did we mention eating? Our little ladies eat A LOT, twice a day consuming enough peas, carrots and rice or millet cereal to stuff a sack, so to speak. Maybe it's because the colors of their food look like the Irish flag? Either way, they love the mush. It gives them more energy to nurse a few times a day, to pull themselves along on their bellies at any object in sight, and, as these pictures show, even to read and do laundry when they're not, apparently, discussing the day's menu.

We are confident they are working their way up to mastering another skill, sleeping through the night. For now, that's not quite happening though, but we did manage to get one quick shot of them at rest, before they awoke again -- time for more peas! Here we see our dear friend and family member Father Jim Stanley (the man who married us) visiting from Ireland two weeks ago to make sure Rory got her dinner the way she likes it, by the spoonful.

Crawling?! Yes, two-a-half weeks ago, they went mobile, and now already are ready for an obstacle course. More on that coming soon.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Big Girls

Rory and Danni are 9 3/4 months old now, and had their latest pediatrician's visit today. Rory is 27.5 inches long and 16.1 lbs, while Danni is 26 3/4 inches long and 13.825 lbs. The doctor is delighted with their growth, and took special note of the size of their heads, apparently a mark of big brains and meaningful growth. The girls tried out their new chess set on the way home.

The last few weeks the girls have become exceedingly active moving around on their bellies, and we, and the doctor, expect crawling is not far off. They are incredibly alert to their surroundings. They also have demonstrated tremendous grips, able with one hand to lift a book, a cell phone, a piece of fruit, and just about anything not tied down within reach. That is, lift it, study it, bring it to their mouths, and study it some more, as they are endlessly curious. We have placed ankle weights around the dogs to avoid surprises.

The last few weeks, the girls also have shown increasing interest in one another -- in touching each other's faces, ears, and hair, in watching what sister is doing, in smiling at sister too, and, in fact, in taking whatever toy the other is enjoying. But they are not possessive, so they allow the toy to be "borrowed" and after a moment of perplexity in which they seem to be thinking, "That's questionable," they move on to the next toy. Meanwhile, they are vocalizing constantly, testing out their lungs (very, very, very strong, and, maybe it's just us, but stronger in direct proportion to the hour of the night), trying out their vowels, and we are sure "Dada" and "Mamma" are coming soon.

Here's four new pictures, two of each of the little ladies soon to be sprinting through the house, with a large object, probably a dog, in each hand.