17 Months

Look who turned 17 months old today!  Our girls are doing so great.  Sabine "awakens" a bit more every day.  She finally will allow herself to full on belly laugh while being tickled and she will bend and tilt her head, with a big smile on her pretty face, as she makes eye contact with me.  She is awakening and it is wonderful.  Marlo is a full on smarty pants.  This morning as I was unbuckling everyone from their car seats out front of Hugo's preschool, Marlo tried again and again to push the button for her top latch.  Both girls will climb into their own seats.  She watches and then copies everything I do.  She wipes the table with a napkin, Kleenex, or a sock.  She loves trying to dress herself and she'll follow me around the kitchen and close the cupboard drawers for me.  Marlo also pulled about out about 15 hairs from the back of Sabine's head in the midst of a toddler fight.  She then wanted to kiss Sabine on the lips to make it better. 

I've found that the word "out" is more effective with the girls than the word "no".  Now Marlo walks around saying "out" with authority in her baby voice.  And for the life of me, I can't get the girls to call me Mama.  They both holler out "Ma" whenever they want to find me.  Lovely.  I keep patting my chest and saying Mama and they smile and say "Ma"!

Marlo Walked!

Miss Marlo walked last night right at bedtime!  Will she remember this in the morning I wondered?  I was tidying up the bathroom when she waltzed right up to me.  I was taken by surprise, I had thought she was Sabine and sorta ignored her.  Upon a double take, I realized my mistake and happily freaked out!  She beamed up at me, like the bright star she is.  I had really thought it would take her another week or two to be upright on her two chubby feet, but nope, I was wrong. 

Today Marlo mixed crawling, her invented knee walk, and true walking throughout the day.  She is still hesitant on her feet.  She has more difficulty with the initial stand up than her sister Sabine.  She'll bounce up and down, up and down trying to make it to a standing position in the middle of the floor.  Practice makes perfect. 

Sabine Is On The Move!

What amazing progress our Sweet Sabine has made in the past few weeks.  We were told by the developmental ladies that the best thing we could do for her floppyness was lots of floor time, all the time.  Boy were they right.  The girl gets up on her knees now and rocks forward and backward, forward and backward all - day - long.  She'll poop herself out and stretch out flat to rest, but back up on her knees she'll go.  She has even perfected the the Downward Facing Dog yoga pose, only instead of facing down, she'll hold her head up and look you in the eye.  Cesar spied her taking a little nudge forward with a knee today.  Amazing.  The girl is on the move, has left her sister in the dust.  She goes after toys, has a fascination with a floor fan and all electrical cords in sight... help! We need to do some serious baby proofing on this floor.  I don't remember Hugo getting into much, except for Cesar's computer bag.  Sabine is a curious one.  You can see the wheels just a turning, humming even.

Now about Miss Marlo, she needs more tummy time.  Since we realized that the girl could sit on her bum and stay upright, we've planted her on the floor surrounded by toys.  She doesn't fall over, which is great, but she doesn't move either.  She has perfected the art of sitting upon her bum.  The problem with this, is that she doesn't know how to get down onto her tummy or from her tummy up into a sitting position.  If she is sitting and a toy is just out of reach, she'll bend and reach just sooooo far and then right herself back into her safe, sitting position.  More tummy time for Miss Marlo is on the agenda.

I invited Hugo to walk down to the mailbox with me before dinner.  He'd been a little cold in the house earlier on in the day, so we had put socks on his feet.  So, when he met me outside with his flip flops on, I noticed he was also wearing his socks.  Interesting choice.  I told him I needed a picture of his feet.  He told me he wanted to dance.