Catching up with D & Owen!!

This one is about the "little" guys, but I just can't risk forgetting to document this little gem from last night. Ethan was sitting on one of the island chairs playing with his cars, dropping them from the island into his Cars suitcase, which was open on the floor below. One car missed the target and landed on the floor...so Ethan said to me, "Mommy, can you put that car into my suitcase? That would be very helpful!" I immediately looked over at Liz and I think both of us were simultaneously trying not to laugh...or cry. It was so sweet. I went over and put the car in his suitcase and he said, "Thank you, that was very nice" I made sure to thank him for asking me so nicely, and for being so polite. Oh. My. Gosh. That totally makes up for some of the other things he's been yelling lately...like, "Leave me alone. I know what I need to do" Okay, are you 3 or 13?!

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D & Owen were 14 months old on Feb 8th!! This is a total hodge-podge with no rhyme or reason, but here is the latest!

I'm going to pinch those cheeks, Owen!


Dylan looks so cute in a hat, I can't wait for Springtime!!

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Dylan is 100% walking now. I think since about early January...maybe late December. It seems like it's been awhile now. It's so cute. He's actually starting to really pick up some speed too...coming in for running hugs. It helps that he's now bending his knees when he walks...for awhile there it was a stiff-leg waddle, but it got him from A to B.

Owen could walk if he wanted to. In fact, the past few days he has been taking a few steps here and there when prompted. He can free-stand, and walk along objects, but I think he's a little too cautious. He's a speed demon with the crawling though!

There has been a LOT of talking lately. They are big on the "D"s so of course, they can say "Dada". Dylan will say "Mama" clear as day sometimes, but not as much as other words. They do a lot of "Mum"...but it's usually when they are blowing bubbles...you know, with all their drool....cute?? They also say "Uh oh", and "bye bye". One of my favorite things right now is when they climb into their little play-house/tent and wave while saying "bye bye." They are clapping lots too, and playing "peek a boo"...so cute. For the most part, there is just a ton of babbling, yelling, screeching...they definitely have something to say. A favorite game of mine is to ask Ethan what he thinks they are trying to say to us, and he will typically come up with something very funny, or sweet, like "Dylan is saying he wants to hug me."

We throw a blanket over the play-house tent and it's like a cave...they love it.

They are so snuggly and affectionate...crawling or walking over to check in and give us a hug, before going off to play again.

They are super physical...one thing that I could live without is them climbing up on the couch. Owen just recently started doing this and he is SO proud of himself when he gets up there. He doesn't yet really respect the edges of the couch though, and has to be watched really carefully. We usually put up our flexible play gates to block off the couch, leaving us nowhere to sit!

They are just like their older brother in that they LOVE vehicles. Playing with the little cars is fun for everyone if Ethan decides to be good about sharing. We have like 500 little cars...I'm trying to convince E that there are enough to go around for at least 3 boys!! They like to drive them around on the floor and I swear they are making car sounds now. Owen cracks me up when he drives two at once, because he is just a little boy on wheels and knees crawling around. We also have 3 riding vehicles in our house (crazy!)...a tractor, a motorcycle and a Spiderman-mobile. D & Owen are getting big enough to get up on these and ride them around a little bit. But, they aren't that great about the dismount...and sometimes think it's fun to stand up on them. Another thing to watch out for!!

Owen standing on the motorcycle and making Mommy nervous!

Owen makes the funniest faces...he is super expressive. One of the best (and most comical) is his cranky face when he furrows his brows and makes an over-the-top pout. He is such a even-keeled kid these days and so smiley, that it is just hard to take the pout face seriously. Owen is also an eating champ. I can't believe I just wrote that!! It used to be so hard to feed Owen when he was a baby. He oftentimes drank less formula than Dylan and was really finicky about it...feedings took forever!! Now that they eat all "real" food, he's a monster. Sometimes I get worried about how fast he eats, but he never seems to have any issue with too much in his mouth at once. He's like a chipmunk with room to store food in those cheeks of his! He's not very picky and will pretty much eat whatever is on his tray...I think he might close in on that 3-lb difference to Dylan sometime soon!

Owen's cranky face

Dylan still has a great appetite, but is pickier. He will simply turn his head away and refuse to acknowledge the spoon...or, if it's finger food, throw it on the floor with authority! If he keeps this up, Owen will definitely close that weight gap! I like to refer to D as my gentle "giant"...he is really sensitive, needs a lot of attention, will hang on my legs and check in for hugs more often than Owen, who is pretty comfortable doing his own thing. D is really into his blankets, or "softies" as we call them (because that's what Ethan refers to his blankets as). He is usually carrying one around, or draping it around his shoulders or head (Confession time: the other day he had the blanket draped over his head and walked right into the garbage can...and I laughed...he wasn't hurt, and it was kinda funny!), and then he does this thing with his tongue that I can only describe as sucking on a pacifier without the pacifier. Whatever it is, it's adorable.

Dylan with one of his "softies"

They are into "reading" books, playing the piano, listening to music. They also put Ethan's music players and play-phones up to their ears. They know how stuff works and they want to do EVERYTHING!!

Owen's favorites are the books with the googly eyes...it's true, they are fun!

They are pretty good sleepers. Still rocking the nighttime sleep, and taking two naps, most of the time. I think we are right in the middle of the two-naps to one-nap transition. That was closer to 18-months with Ethan I think, but they can really protest their afternoon naps some days, and then I have some REALLY tired babies on my hands. And, as much as we try to push back bedtime, it still falls around 6/6:30. And they get up around 7 (but it was 6am a few times last week...oy!) Owen sucks his thumb when he's going to sleep, and Dylan does his "tongue thing."

Like I wrote above, they are pretty good eaters and are eating "real" food...we still do some Gerber Graduate meals and Gerber fruits and veggies, but for the most part they are eating the same food as us. What limits us now is that they can't use utensils yet...I guess I just haven't been that brave yet. SO much mess!...like there isn't enough now with finger-food eating! I think their hand-eye coordination is probably getting close to being good enough to try this out. I can't wait!! Dylan drinks whole milk, and Owen drinks 1% now. Owen was having some spitting up issues when we switched from formula to milk, so we thought that he might be lactose-intolerant or something. So, we switched to Lactaid. Still had issues. So, we switched to Soy Milk. Then he got a fever and broke into a rash...could have been coincidence, but why risk it?! One day there were no other options in the house, so Gramma tried 1% and we've been good ever since!

Lunchtime was a disaster today...Mommy let the boys eat her pasta bake...with red sauce!! Sometimes you have to get messy!!

Each of the boys is so different and it's amazing to see their personalities! It will be interesting to see if our theories pan out...Ethan, the musician, Owen, the thespian, and Dylan, the jock. Whatever it be, each one of them has their own way of just making me melt to pieces!