The Twins Update - Eight Months Old

Now that Zoe and Leo are starting to get well after having been sick for so long, they are going through an enormous leap in their development. We have two sitter-uppers!



 

Zoe is catching up to Leo quite a bit, both in size and developmentally. He is just a tad bigger than she is, but most people think she is bigger because she is more chubby. Leo has completely stopped working on crawling. I'm not sure if that is due to the illness or because he's just been so happy to sit, but it means that they are both doing most of the same things. They love to sit up, they love to stand with a bit of support, and they are crazy for their exersaucer and their hanging bouncer.

Zoe's latest cuteness is that she loves banging things to make loud noises. Give her a hard surface and a hard object and she goes crazy.

Leo's latest cuteness is his way of asking to be picked up. He opens and closes his hands and kind of twists his wrists at the same time.

Zoe virtually stopped eating solids for the past month because of the sickness. It's been very stressful, because she started out so well. But just in the past few days, she is regaining an appetite. She likes chicken and ham. Leo has been eating through it all, and he is starting to look as chubby as Zoe. He likes beef and ham and, well, almost everything.

Spoon-feeding these two is proving to be very difficult. Until recently, they didn't sit well enough to use any kind of chairs but the Bumbos, and I'd find myself using one hand to alternate spoonfuls of food between them, while using the other to kind of hold them in the seats, wipe up spills, and keep them from grabbing all the objects on the table. If Sam is home while I'm trying to do this alone, it's insane: they want to look at her, so unless she stands right in front of them, they will twist around in their seats dangerously. Now they are finally able to sit in the high chair and it is so much easier, but I only have one. I hate to have two huge high chairs in our tiny house, but I don't see any other way. They're just not strong enough for the booster seats you strap on to chairs and I don't want to continue with the Bumbo insanity. I'm heading to Amazon.com as soon as I'm finished with this post.

To my dismay, they are nowhere near ready for finger foods. I want to be done with the spoon feeding as soon as possible, but they are not interested in pieces of food on a tray. They won't even look at it, let alone try to pick it up.

I've been using the jarred baby food almost exclusively because I've been too overwhelmed to cook at all, let alone make my own baby food. But I'll probably get back into that over the next month. It will be good to give them some chunkier foods again, like I did right at the start.

We also tried sippy cups for the first time a few days ago. They each took one sip of formula successfully and then both told me the same thing: "Mommy, I CAN do it, but I definitely don't WANT to. Now give me my damn bottle!" But I know that once they realize that they can hold the cup and feed themselves, they'll change their minds.

And finally, finally, they are moving off of the 3-hour cycle. I can't believe they've been on it for so long. I don't remember it being this way with Sam for more than a few months. Some weeks ago, they gave up the nap after the penultimate feeding at 6pm, staying awake until bedtime around 8:30pm. And now they seem to be moving towards two long naps a day. What a relief! Now I can take them out so much more easily. Yesterday, they came with me to drop Sammy off at school, then we went to the grocery store, and in the afternoon they came with me to pick Sammy up and then for a quick trip to the playground. Poor Sammy has been stuck in the house with us all winter, except for when I've had help. I've had to say "no" to her so much that it hurts, especially when the sun is shining and we can see all the other kids playing outside. But the only way for a single person to transport two babies at the same time is to put them in a stroller, which is an arduous, ten-minute process on the front end and the back end. And when you can only stay somewhere for 20 minutes before you have to get home for a nap, it's hard to get motivated. Longer, less frequent naps also means that my time is less fragmented. Maybe that will help my mind to become less fragmented as well.

I've still not been taking as many photos as I'd like, but the few that I have from this past month are great ones. Two completely different, but equally adorable babies: