10 Months (and one week and a day)

Since I took pictures on Valentine's Day (Sophie and Michael's true 10-month birthday), I was unsure if I'd bother with the 10-month sticker ones, but today I decided to go for it. I had the day off, so I was on my own without Mike to act as clown. Apparently my fake laughing and fart noises brought out the sillies.

It started out pretty serious...

...then Sophie pulled off her sticker...

...so I stuck it back on and started making noises...

...and nothing is funnier than each other's giggles!

Wave hello to my adorable geniuses!

Michael may be saying "mama" for real, but I'm not totally convinced it's more than appropriately timed babbling. He also said "Oprah" the other day out of nowhere. We weren't watching it, and I wasn't telling him to live his best life, so I think that was just a fluke as well. While their speaking abilities are just emerging, both babies are getting pretty social in other ways.

Michael and Sophie have their own signature waves. At this point if you just say, "Hi, Michael!" you're likely to see him do this. Sophie's arm sometimes needs a little help getting in the air, but once she's waving, she seems to love it!

Geniuses, right?

While we've played with their toy phones together quite a bit (pretending to ask Daddy to bring home hamburgers on his way home from work and telling various grandparents how much we miss and love them), I was excited when I spotted Michael holding the little purple one up to his ear yesterday and having a spirited "conversation" all by himself. Sophie did the same thing later in the day. Of course, by the time I slipped out of the playroom and back with the camera, this is all I could record of Michael.

Ok, not that impressive, but if you saw him just a minute before this you'd agree he's probably a genius.

The cure for thirty-thritus

I suspected this would happen.  I woke up this morning with thirty-thritus (symptoms include turning thirty-three, not really caring about that, and seeing going to work as less important than life at home for roughly 24 hours).  The only cure for such a condition is hours and hours of uninterrupted Michael and Sophie time.  Good thing I had the foresight to leave sub plans on Friday!

I don't normally take my birthday off of work, but these days I'm driven to relish in baby time when a reason (beyond just loving them and knowing how quickly this precious time will pass) presents itself.  So here I am relishing.  I can't think of a better way to show Sophie and Michael love on Valentine's Day than by spending more time on the floor playing, singing, and snuggling with them. 

And here's a bit of my morning with my little valentines:

Along with my 33rd birthday, this is Michael and Sophie's ten month birthday!  I'll probably attempt the typical monthly photo with the onesie stickers, but Mike and I made this one of our little "love bug" and "heart breaker" happen before he headed to work.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mini-Toddlers

These babies are growing too fast for me to keep up with in this blog!  Here are some updates:

We have teeth!  Sophie has one and a half, Michael's first one made its appearance this week, and we're all pretty tired again.

We're working on finger foods, sippy cups, and spoons!  

Both are fans of puffs for snacks (like Cheerios), although Sophie seems to have the hang of it a little better than Michael so far, perhaps thanks to teeth.

We're offering them chunkier pieces of fruits an veggies at meal times, but neither is loving that. They seem pretty eager to get food in their bellies, and mushing it up with their gums seems to annoy them a bit. Part of that may be due to us waiting so long to make this transition. I felt introducing cereal and purees at four months as their pediatrician recommended was jumping the gun a bit and just haven't been in a hurry to put chunks of food in their mouths. It still freaks me out a bit. The adjustment is probably going to take some time for all of us! 

Other developments include Michael finding a love for (don't giggle) playing with balls, particularly a little yellow and purple pair that came with a Christmas toy.  He loves clapping them together, and after they watched me toss one in the air a few times and catch it one night, my mom and I noticed Michael kept holding one out in his hand.  My mom agreed that he seemed to be waiting for it to jump up out of his hand and into the air like it did out of my mine the night before! There's also a big, bumpy ball at the child care center that Michael loves so much he "yells" at the other babies who try to take it.  Throwing, catching, and sharing are some things to work on, I guess!
 
Sophie still can't get enough of "walking."  Put two hands in front of her and she immediately grabs your thumbs or index fingers, urges you to pull her up (it's all in the way she looks at you), and is on the go in a hurry.  If you want to stop this game, you'd better have good alternative to offer in its place or she gets MAD. 
 
They both cruise along furniture a bit, play together rather than just near each other, love touch-and-feel books, wave hello and good-bye sometimes, dance adorably to music (Michael added a little head movement this week -- think Axel Rose), and are really growing into mini toddlers before our eyes, amazing us with every little change. 
 
(I hope to add a video my mom took on Thursday morning of Michael waving bye-bye to Mike followed by his new dance move once I swipe it from her.)