18-19 Months

Our toddlers turned 18 months on March 17th. They are learning more and more each day and amaze us in so many ways. It has been a long winter for us all!!! Luckily gramma and papa got us Gymboree gift cards and Aunt Andi and Uncle Kevin got us a gift card to the Ozo play café. We are so happy that the weather is starting to turn and we can play outside and go on walks.

Ozo Play Cafe

Chalk time at Ozo

Playtime at the playground in Mt. Adams

Our 18 month check up went very well this time- only 1 shot!!! Anna and John still clung to both of us, but were a little less leery of Dr. Parks than the previous visit. We of course bribed them with toys and snacks:) Here are their 18 month stats:

Anna-
Length-2 ft. 7.5 inches
Weight- 24.5 pounds
Teeth count- 8 teeth (4 on the top and her fourth tooth on the bottom just broke through)
Words- hi, da for daddy, car, ooos for shoes, crocs, b for brother, b for baby, do for dog, cheese, bu for bus, pa for pop, mi for milk, kittie sounds like chee, to for top, choo choo, tweet tweet for birds, quack quack for ducks

John-
Length- 2 ft. 9.75 inches
Weight- 27.2 pounds
Teeth count- 12 teeth and working on his eye teeth
Words- oh toodles from Micky Mouse, car, da for dad, crocs, bu for bus, pa for pop, mi for milk, choo choo, to for top, tweet tweet for birds

Towards the end of their 18th month, A and J's language skills have really taken off. Anna is more verbal than her brother, but he says his fair share of words too. They love pointing to cars and buses when we are outside. They sound like they have a Boston accent when they say the word car- not sure where that came from, and they call buses "bu." They both still have a love for babies, kitties and doggies. Anna is extremely nurturing and loves taking care of her brother.  Since she almost always wakes up first from naptime, Anna loves taking John his water and snack when he wakes up. She shares everything with him and compromises with him many times a day!  She's a really good big sister to him!!

I was telling my friend the other day that I don't know why we have spent so much money on toys because they seem to play with everything but toys these days! They love trying to break into the toilet, tear toilet paper into the tiniest pieces possible, spread laundry all throughout the house, play with recycling, and one of the most popular activities is taking apart the pieces of the sippy cups and bottles. All of these activities keep them busy and content for a small time:)

They've enjoyed playing out front on our porch and have fun sitting on everyone else's doorway and enjoying their snacks and water.  We have to steer them away from the stairs that lead down to the sidewalk, but they are usually pretty good about it. They have become masters of the stairs, both inside and out so they think they can do anything:) Anna and John are very cautious on the steps, so no accidents so far. Fingers crossed on that one!

Hanging out on their favorite stoops:)

Outside dining :)

Playing out back. First day in shorts!!

Pretty cool!

Oh my goodness John and Anna are absolutely obsessed with shoes. They love wearing their own shoes as well as each other's. John especially loves wearing Anna's light up, glitter shoes. We have to pick our battles and some days he wins. He actually wore these shoes to the mall one day. Oh well!!

A and J's love of cleaning continued over the past few months, although their idea of cleaning usually ends up making more of a mess!!! They like carrying around empty spray bottles and a paper towel to clean just about anything. I have to say that it does keep them busy while I attempt to clean! They also like using wipes to clean, but we try to use those sparingly.

Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!

We are ready for summer! We will be moving at the end of May and have lots of packing to do. We still aren't sure how the move will go with two toddlers in tow. We love our new neighborhood and can't wait to move!! So long Mt. Adams... hello Oakley:)