The Twins Update - Seven Months Old

Today, at 2:42 and 3pm, respectively, Leo and Zoe turned seven months old. Two days ago, our dog, Toby, turned seven years old. Two days before that, I turned a multiple of seven years old. (I'll give you a hint: in dog years, Toby is older than I am.)

I haven't taken a seven-month photograph and I probably won't. Leo and Zoe are sick and have been almost continually since early February. I'm sick. Sam and Adam have been sick. I'm just not in the mood. In fact, I've hardly taken any photos at all in the past month.

But some friends came for dinner this weekend and took this great family shot, so we'll just call this the seven-month photograph.



Because of all the sickness, I don't think either Leo or Zoe has progressed as much as they would have while healthy. Leo can sit up a bit better, but if anything, Zoe seems weaker when attempting to sit. Zoe was just entering a vocal phase when this latest cold hit - she was doing these long, loud screams, just playing with her voice - but it didn't really go anywhere. Leo hasn't been babbling as much lately either, and he doesn't try to crawl like he used to. We have less smiles, less giggles, less awake-time than we did a month ago. It's depressing.

They are doing some new things, though. I think they are both trying to mimic us now. I've gotten Zoe to stick her tongue out at me a couple of times. When we play "clap your hands," I can almost hear the gears whirring in Leo's head as he tries to send the signals to his hands to bring them together.

They've been eating solids for most of the month. We've tried a lot of foods and they like most of them. Their favorite is banana and rice cereal mush, and neither of them like squash much. We've been feeding them a lot of beef, which I pureed and froze, but they've also eaten tiny bits of steak right from our plates. It's really hard to spoon feed two babies. Leo wants to grab Zoe's bites and Zoe keeps getting too tired to sit up straight, so a lot of the time I have to kind of hold them in their seats with one hand while spooning with the other. I'll be happy when I can put a bunch of food on their trays and let them shovel it in. It is pretty funny how their eating reflects their personalities. Leo is all bluster, making his grunting "I WANT" noises, grabbing at the spoon, and grabbing at Zoe, but he gets so excited that ends up letting a lot of the food fall out of his mouth. Zoe is slow to get started. With each new food I think, "Oh, she doesn't like this one." But then after about five bites, she decides it is good and gets in a rhythm and ends up eating more than Leo.

They've both spent some time in the jumper thing that hangs in the doorway, but neither one has figured out how to really make it bounce yet. I remember Sam going nuts with that thing, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Zoe is getting really good at rolling. I have to watch her more closely than Leo because she's the one who keeps ending up under the furniture. She can also get around by just kind of slithering, but most of the time she goes in the opposite direction of her intended target. And that's another thing about Zoe: she is goal-directed in her movement, while Leo just wants to move for movement's sake. Zoe sees something and tries to get to it (and often succeeds). Leo just moves and ends up in a new place, which seems to excite him. Leo also loves being jostled and moved around quickly - it makes him laugh. Zoe doesn't care for that as much. It's still easier to get a laugh out of Leo than from Zoe.

The one thing that does make Zoe laugh is Sammy. Zoe worships Sammy. It's almost impossible to feed her if Sam is around because she is so focused on her. Sam does all kinds of wacky things to make Leo and Zoe laugh, and she gets more laughs out of Zoe than the rest of us combined.

Leo sleeps with his butt in the air and his thumb in his mouth, and it's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. He's already mature enough that this sleeping pose makes me see him as vulnerable and babyish.

This upcoming month, Adam, Sammy, and I are going to Hawaii while my parents take care of the twins for a week. It's a good time to try it - they aren't fully mobile yet, but they have a solid routine and sleep through the night. It's the calm before the storm.

I hope to have more to report next month, and lots more photos.