The girls just turned twenty months, and we posted some pictures. We also thought it would be nice to pull out a picture from one year ago, when the girls were eight months. They were sitting, but they weren’t very stable.
Over the past month, Eleanor has cut her two top canine teeth. They’re not all the way in, but the teeth have definitely made it through the gums. These will fill the gaps between their lateral incisors and molars. Miranda has one of her canine teeth, but it’s just barely there.
This month, the girls have shown a lot more independence. Whereas last month they tried to monopolize Agnes’ time, this month, I’ve seen them wandering around the house a lot more. Eleanor learned to open doors, so she likes going from room to room to open and close doors. Miranda hasn’t been as interested in opening the doors. Eleanor also likes to open drawers. She seems particularly interested in the silverware drawer, so Agnes moved the knives in towards the middle of the drawer where Eleanor still can’t reach it. I’ve put a child safety lock on our pantry, but I still need to put other locks on the cabinets and drawers.
For the first time, Miranda has started really showing a preference for something. Before, it was always Eleanor that had to have something, but now Miranda really likes to carry around a bucket that we bought for playing in the sand. She calls it “bu-bee”. We have no idea what that name comes from since we’ve always just called it a bucket, but she and Eleanor have adopted the same name for it. I suppose this is where the idea of a secret twin language comes from.
Compared with last month, Eleanor now knows about half of the letters of the alphabet and she can count to thirteen, though you really have to listen closely to make out the sounds that she’s trying to make. She knows the colors of all of her crayons, and she’s shown a strong preference for things that are blue. She has to have her blue bib, her blue fork, her blue spoon, the blue sand sifter, which she calls “boo ker-kel” (blue circle). She loves playing with the Mega Blocks that we got last Christmas, and she can sit for quite a long time, building different things. Her favorite book is Hop on Pop.
Miranda really likes bubbles. She doesn’t run after them or try to pop them, but one day as we were heading to the park, she noticed that we had the bottle of soap for blowing bubbles and she insisted that we blow some. When we told her that we needed to wait until we got to the park, she threw a tantrum. It took a while for her to calm down after we reached the park.
Miranda is also more likely to wander away. We’ve found that when the girls are playing at the park, Eleanor will happily play in the sand for a while, but Miranda will suddenly stand up and start walking away. She’ll wander around and pick up rocks, pine cones, and other things on the ground. Miranda has a keen eye for ants–she’ll watch them for a while, then start to press on them with her finger. Fortunately, she hasn’t run afoul of a swarm of ants.
It’s funny to see how Eleanor and Miranda react to something new (and not scary). Eleanor will say “Waah!” (wow). Miranda will ask in informal Taiwanese “Heh-sha?” (what’s that?). They were doing this all the time when we took them to the aquarium.
Our daily routine for weekdays and weekends hasn’t changed much in the last month or two. The kids go to daycare on weekdays. On Saturdays, I sleep in a bit while Agnes takes care of the girls. Then, around mid-morning, Agnes takes a nap while I take the girls out to the farmer’s market. We’ve been buying fruit, bagels, and roasted corn. Miranda loves roasted corn. When we get home, we all go out for ramen for lunch. The girls take their nap, and we either take our naps or run some errands. When the girls wake up again, we try to make it out to the park for a bit. They end their evening with dinner, bath, brushing their teeth, playing, story time, and bed. Sunday is similar, but a little more ad hoc.
That’s it for now. We’ll have more pictures in another month.