I started a post when Jude and Zoe were 13 months old. I wrote 4 pages but never finished it or posted. And now today marks 15 months, a major milestone. Hmmm…makes sense now. I was wondering why they seem like such little girls suddenly. Evidently they are well on their way and mom’s not ready for it. That explains why they can suddenly understand and respond to just about anything I say. I was not expecting this so soon I guess.
Let’s talk about Zoe…
Zoe is a hilarious little girl. I have said it all along and it is becoming more and more true. She will look at you out of the corner of her eye without turning her head, and yet she still giggles because she thinks you don’t see her watching you. She uses her peripheral vision to expertly escape the minute you reach for her to change her diaper or dress her. She will frown at you, plead with you, whine at you, but also giggle and joke with you, and of course love you. Zoe pushes limits a lot. She knows what she should not do and when she goes and does it anyway she stops to wait for you to look right at her. How polite. I am happy to say that she went from being a full-time toy stealer and terrorizer of her sister to now playing more of a part-time role in that area. She will kiss Jude throughout the day and bring her toys in between episodes of bullying. No biting yet – please say we are going to escape that. Zoe is for the most part a very happy child who has become the much more independent of the two…at least currently. The tide will change. She flirts with strangers everywhere we go – this is one smart kid. She loves to play and talk to other kids. One advantage to having a twin is that you are much more social at this age than a singleton would be. There is little parallel playing going on…it is more in your face “play with me” playing…heh heh. Zoe LOVES her stuffed animals still. We have moved on from bunny…just left bunny in the dust. The current companion is one of those blankets with a head – Zoe loves the monkey. When we go to the Children’s Museum she gathers up as many of the stuffed animals as mommy will allow and stacks them beside me, coming back occasionally to hug them all before playing some more. Zoe listens pretty well. If I wrote a post just one month ago, I would be telling a different story, as my little girl went through some growing pains where she wouldn’t share, wouldn’t have anything to do with anyone else, and wouldn’t hardly leave my lap. Amazing how fast kids change! Zoe has 8 teeth broken through, with 6 that you can see well. She does not like brushing her teeth yet…but we keep trying. She is almost exclusively on whole milk now and still gets some formula day/night. She had no problems switching – this girl loves to drink. She makes mommy so proud. Zoe can say lots of words. My favorite is “cog” for dog. She is very good at repeating and has begun to say some words on her own. She is my little socialite with the great communication skills. After she goes to bed, I am very tired, but before I go to bed I always think I wish I could just talk to her a little bit more…it’s like I wake up with this great present every day. Love you Zoe!
Let’s talk about Jude…
Jude is still my little thinker. The determination and focus Jude has when she wants to do something or examine a toy just blows our minds. She is meticulous in her actions. She will stand and gaze around the room, taking in everything and then deciding which toy she will go play with and conquer. She will sit with books forever, turning the pages, pointing at pictures and just babbling. Jude doesn’t initiate the goofiness, but she LOVES to part-take. I see roles forming here. When Zoe does stuff, Jude follows suit if she sees it creates laughter. Jude loves to laugh, be tickled, and be hugged and loved. She is the more sensitive one (for now) but she also has the greatest pain with teething. Poor thing has had a horrible time of it – she has 5 teeth broken through and her gums are just bulging. Jude does not like to sleep. You have to force that child to get some rest. She has never changed from day one in this regard. She is so Josh – her mind is just going and going and going. She works really hard at figuring out how to work toys, how to escape the play room, how to communicate. Jude is the quieter of the two right now, but I just have this feeling that one day she will rattle off as much as Zoe. Her learning style is so different, even at this age. I really can’t wait until they are 2 and get to go to this preschool near us. Jude especially is going to have so much fun. Jude is very much mommy’s girl right now. I think she is experiencing some night terrors and we make a quick trip upstairs it seems every night right now. We just hug her and lay her back down and that seems to be all she needs. During the day, she is always checking in with me. She will stop playing, come give me a hug, then go back to playing. It melts my heart actually. She does have this bad habit for a few weeks of waking up at 5:30 am for the day. But she enjoys her playtime in her crib until mommy is ready to get her between 6:30/7 am. Jude has this look in her eyes like she is a much older child. She will gaze at you with this slight smile – you really wish you could know what she was thinking. She is my angel and I can’t wait to go grab her in the morning – every time we walk through the door she is standing in her crib. Her arms immediately shoot out reaching for us and she starts grinning this big grin. Even though she looks a lot like my family, her temperament and actions are the spitting image of Josh…it warms my heart. Love you Jude!
Below are a few other observations I have at 15 months. I am typing fast (girls are stirring upstairs) so literally these are the thoughts going through my head right now, and currently all day long:
- Both are still on a formula bottle when they get up and go to bed. 15 month appointment is coming up – hopefully we will be released from formula completely. We are looking pretty solid and they both eat well. During the day Zoe has sippies of whole milk, Jude does not yet – still practicing the taste, which she doesn’t care for.
- They eat well but since it has been hot have been a little more finicky. They love to drink water so no worries there. Some of their favorites are peas, carrots, tofu, avocado, pears, seasoned pasta, pancakes, and any kind of cheese. And occasionally when we go out, they LOVE French fries of course.
- They both sign for eat, drink, thank you, milk, all done, and potty. Zoe with more consistency than Jude. But Jude will do it if she is hungry enough. We don’t do a lot of signs, they are becoming so vocal I have kind of fallen off the wagon.
- They love bath time and sit together in the big tub. Baths are so much easier than they used to be – yay!!! They splash a ton…check out the video (from 14 mos.)
- They love their nanny Rachel who comes to the house 3 days a week. I am proud of them during this transition…they sometimes cry when she leaves.
- They LOVE the Children’s Museum, and we go often.
- Sometimes they play this kissing game. I don’t know how it starts…they just kiss constantly over and over and giggle. It usually ends because they bop heads and start crying.
- They are sooooo monkey see, monkey do. With each other, and with me. So I have to be careful…they can do so much physically now.
- Zoe is getting fast, practically to a run now…Jude not far behind.
- They don’t love the baby pool yet…very cautious around it. Of course I was hoping they would jump right in…heh heh. Oh well, we will keep practicing.
- They hate being contained in the playroom and I am working furiously to figure out a plan for them to have more run of the house – but they never walk in the same direction…hardly ever.
- They love their grandma and grandpas and got to see them this month…it was so great and they seemed cranky the few days after they left.
- They absolutely LOVE Bo and he loves them so, so much. If bath time is coming I let them play with him…he licks them to death as they dive onto his bed with him. And for that matter, they seem to love all animals, even trying to kiss an iguana through the glass at the zoo…which was great until it moved and freaked them out…heh heh.
- They are really good to take out to dinner, so Josh and I have done it more often. They are entertained by straws, water, food of course, but then always want to get down. Of course they get a lot of stares…hey, they are cute girls and they work it!
- More than ever I am anxious to get together for playgroups so they can play with other kids…searching continually for friends!
So much more I can’t think of right now. As for me, I have started a three day a week job. It is going well…more on that to come but I have to go or I will be late! Hope you all are well! – Betsy
(P.S. – I have a bunch of pictures to upload to smugmug. I will be doing that shortly. If you haven’t checked out our professional 1 year portraits, check out that gallery on the home page of www.maletz.smugmug.com)
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