November

Our internet has been funky this week and I haven't had anything too exciting to post about. I thought I would take the opportunity to write down some little things for myself...cute baby things I want to remember.
One Friday morning a couple weeks ago we woke up late and realized we had forgotten to take the trash out for pickup. We had lots of extra bags of leaves to get out to the curb so we both jumped out of bed, pulled on some clothes, and hurried to beat the garbage truck we could hear booming around the neighborhood. While we were downstairs we let Clover out into the backyard. We came back up stairs, Ben jumped in the shower, I got the girls up and let them play while I brushed my teeth and put my contacts in. About three minutes after leaving them in the bedroom I peaked out to check on them and only Rosie was there. I looked for Evie on the other side of the bed, in the hall, the nursery, in the extra bedroom, but she was nowhere. I yelled to Ben that Evie was gone and dashed down the stairs to find out where she had escaped to. That little adventurer had gotten through the gate at the top of the stairs, down the stairs, through the family room, out the door (which I assume didn't get latched shut after letting Clover out), and into the backyard. I found her busy as can be in the frozen sandbox in her pajamas acting like this was all apart of the normal morning routine. Scary at first but pretty funny. Evie is soooo fast and for now is the more outgoing of the these two sisters. She is our rough and tumble girl who loves to clobber and be thrown up in the air and onto the bed. On the flip side, Evie also LOVES to be read to. She picks up books and walks backwards into your lap. Evie is also much more interested in TV. She will sit on the couch and watch an entire episode of Mickey Mouse Club, happy as a clam. She plays hard but knows how to sit back and relax.My sweet Rosie doesn't like TV all that much and will only really watch the opening song before taking off to do something else. Rosie doesn't have a very long attention span and usually won't last an entire book either without trying to wriggle free...but I think she is getting a little better. She is much more content to read to herself. I find both girls everyday sitting on the fireplace with a stack of books jibber-jabbing away. Rosie is also a big cuddler. She has become very attached to one blanket in particular and holds onto it tightly before leaving her crib. She walks everywhere holding it to her face, constantly tripping over it. Rosie also loves laundry and playing dress up. She finds clothes all over the house and is always putting them over her head to try on. Super cute.
Both Evie and Rose have a lot to say and love to talk, talk, talk but neither have very many words at 16 1/2 months old. I've done some reading about this and it is common for twins to develop language a little slower. This is because of their prematurity at birth, their use of Twin Talk (where they are content to imitate each other rather than adults and develop their own kind of language) and because it is simply impossible for parents to give each child as much individual attention as singletons (this last one makes my heart hurt). But in time they will catch up and I'm sure they are going to be just fine. They do say mom, daddy, dog (or do-), hi, and no-no --albeit a little haphazardly. Oh man, it's tough being a mom. I'm constantly tempted to compare my cuties to other kids...other kids who already know dozens of words.Something I really NEED to do some reading about is teaching toddlers about sharing and taking turns. Rosie and Eve are playing with each other more and more and it is so fun to watch but it also means squabbles are starting to be a frequent problem at our house. We were at Babies R Us this week and spotted a little toy stroller that a friend of mine has that the girls always love playing with. So we decided to get ONE...and I'm still deciding if that was a mistake. Our girls have tons of toys including lots of similar things that you can push around the house so we figured one was enough and it's good for them to learn to share. Well, there have been lots of battles since that first night. Evie is most definitely the loudest when it comes to quarrels but Rosie will resort to fighting dirty. She is now officially a biter. Not good. (perhaps the only good reason for letting her keep that binky a bit longer). In other news:
My brother in-law Chris got a job offer which is really exciting. We are helping them move into an apartment this weekend. I'll be sad to see them go and miss all our dinners and movie nights together but luckily they are only a few minutes away. It will be lovely for them to have their own space.
Ben and I have been working on our dining room...or mostly Ben. He is such a hard worker and I think it's going to turn out really great.
Last weekend we went to Ben's annual work party up the canyon and I fell in love with my new favorite treat. They had a chocolatier come up after dinner to do a chocolate presentation and of course pass out samples. These are divine. English Sea Salt Caramel Lollipops.
I actually had lunch with Ben today and we took a special trip to visit the chocolate shop to get me another. It was a gorgeous Fall day and the girls loved playing in the leaves. How perfect my new favorite treat is so close to Ben's work...I'm thinking we may need to have lunch dates more often (even though it is NO Nonsense November and I am counting calories after a horrendous sweet-eating October. But there must be some indulgences.)