18 months!!

Yay - we turned 1.5 years old on September 26th. Their birth, just seems like yesterday!

-We are down to one nap. Usually the kids get up between 0730 and 0830 (sometimes 0900 if they have slept late - which is very rare). So, we do lunch at around 1130-1200 and then they are off to nap by around 1230-0100. They nap 1.5-3 hours. I think they are still mastering this whole thing, because they are sometimes very exhausted by the end of he day (depending upon how the day has gone by).

-S-i-p-p-y! Yes, RM is drinking from straw sippy all his milk (including before bed), for RT... we have finally settled for a Nuk soft spout 6 oz red cup. Yes, that is the only one she will take! I purchased a bigger one of the same kind, and nope, she won't drink from that. I think she is a little shaken with the loss of her bottle, and me eventually flipping (in the third week) and trying multiple sippy's after two weeks of close to zero (straw sippy) milk consumption. We stopped night time bottle (switched to sippy) at the beginning of third week - which was a trigger for RM to start accepting his straw sippy, and a slow progress for RT to let go off her bottle dependency. So, I guess I will give her some time. I want her to get her milk and I can not tolerate her taking less than 5 oz milk a day for days together. The duo is not a very big cheese eater, and yogurt I can only give so much. I am hoping that eventually she will try to experiment with RM's straw sippy.

-We can point at our heart, cheeks, chin, knees, pee-pee and butt, besides the hair, head, nose, ears, eyes, teeth, hand, feet, belly, belly button that we could already identify.

-They love to fart and laugh!! Before they start laughing, they will make the fart sound by their mouth! RT will occasionally tell that she has poopoo'ed, but RM has consistently told "Pooo" the last couple of days. We are not planning on potty training any time soon. I have no intentions of having 2 naked toddlers running around with some poopoo disasters happening just yet! They need to be more aware of their bowel movements.

-Sometimes, one will hold the others hand and lead them to me, especially if I am calling out for them.

-They hug, kiss, and caress each other and us a lot more frequently... pushing and a little hitting is also a new tool they have discovered to get the other one away or grab something the other one has. RM has gotten a lot more aggressive, and as a result, RT's toy grabbing has reduced.

-We kiss everything we like, from a food item on the tray to a character/animal on a book or DVD.

-One of our favorite songs is Robots are Dancing on a Baby Genius DVD. They dance like a robot and have started identifying robots in books. It's hilarious - the way the dance!! We did not show them any tv till they turned 15 months, and I do abide by the recommendation of no tv/less than 2 hours tv a day till they turn 2. Though, I think there is a fine balance between showing them stuff on these children's DVDs. They have picked up on so much that my brain could have hardly imagined.

-RT can sit at one place going through books or playing with a toy for a very long time, and RM is bouncing around from one place to another constantly. It used to be the other way round.

-They love to drop Mommy's cell phone behind the couch (between couch and the wall). I have to move the heavy couch at least once or twice a day to get my phone. Some times they just lay their hand on my phone before I can figure it out!

-There vocabulary has blossomed this month! I am not much in to counting the number of words they speak, but they pick up any random word they hear... or repeat something completely unusual. It's amazing how much it changes every month. They can associate words with actions and purpose much more now than they had ever before.

-We already have complete set of teeth. So no more counting till we get to the last 4 set of teeth around 2 years.

-Our Pediatrician appointment was yesterday (rescheduled) Oct 03, 2011. RT weighed 23.91 lbs (50 %ile), is 33.4 inches tall (I don't think they got her height right - might be a little taller than that), and head circumference is 19.2. RM weighed 26.6 lbs (75 %ile), is 33.4 inches tall and head circumference is 19.8. We have stayed consistent with our %ile's. I was a little concerned with their weights, especially RT's after her diarrhea, colds, picky eating habit, transition to sippy. But she is doing fine (touch wood). We got our flu shots for the season. Our next appointment will be at 2 years!!

We will be going on vacation this month and I am in a prep mode! :)

The Sippy Saga!

RT is a very-very fussy eater. And along with diarrhea, cold, teething... I wasn't sure when I was going to get them both to give up their milk bottle (Baabaa). Then one fine day (Friday, Sept 9), enough was enough... and I just decided to give them the straw-sippy for milk (they have been drinking water from straw-sippy for a couple of months now).

The first time they were not really pleased. But, RM sucked it up (drank the milk in real sense). RM fussed a couple of times for the next few days, but then eventually had his milk. He seems to be doing fine with straw-sippy for milk (now).

RT took a week to be willing to accept the sippy. She used to push/throw the sippy cup and wanted nothing to do with it. Lack of milk and (below-average) food consumption through the day time, didn't really let my heart take the bottle before bed away from them (she is a smarty, and may be that prolonged the transition). We had decided that we were going cold turkey and taking the night time bottle away too by Thursday (if she hadn't already switched). Anyhow, Wednesday dawns and there came a "cold" (lots of runny nose and miserable little RT). Daddy was working from home that day, so he offered her the bottle to get her through the cranky day. I didn't want her to associate the bottle with me any more. Then, Thursday was a day of either a TIPPING POINT for her or a BREAKING POINT for Mommy. Three bites of rice cereal breakfast, followed by 1.5 oz milk, and four bites of chicken for lunch... that's all RT had till 0300 pm (along with a semi-runny nose). I was about to break down and give her the bottle... and bam! She finished 5 oz of milk from her straw-sippy! She has willingly taken 2 oz and 6 oz of milk after that (on Friday).

I hope this continues and I can report a bottle free household at their 18 month birthday (I am hoping that I am not speaking too soon).

Opthalmologist Appointment

RM had his appointment with the Pediatric Opthalmologist on Sept 2, 2011. They checked for Lisch Nodules and looked at his Optic Nerve (markers for NF). Everything looked clear and we are supposed to follow up once a years.

Something else I learned (our Ped never quite mentioned), if there is any kind of squint (Strabismus) in the family (grandma and cousin), then a child is recommended to get their eyes checked up in the first 3 years. So we will be getting RT's eyes checked sometimes too.

Aaah - Naps!!

I am having a very tough time with the transition from two naps to one! I didn't even realize when they dropped from three to two. But this one is taking for ever!

When we are out and about, RM falls asleep right away in the car at around 1100'ish, where as RT can stay up till 0300 -partying away all the while. When at home, RT just can not hold it together around 3 hours after waking (1100'ish) and RM just can't sleep till its past 1200-1230! Aaah! I have tried to stick to a schedule, they still both go in together... but it is not necessary that they will sleep at the same time - RM can be up for almost 1-1.5 hours after I put him in (sometimes fussing, sometimes blabbering, and sometimes crying). RT will normally need a second nap if she sleep this early (1100)... and since RM stays up for almost 1.5 hours, sometimes he has hardly had a 45 min to 1 hour nap in the morning and will nap again. If I let them sleep individually (as and when they want), I don't want to have naps from 1100 am to 0500 pm (approximately 1100-0100 RT, 0130-0300 RM and then 0400-0500 RT again )! This whole thing probably sounds messed up/confusing.

With all the rains and the temperatures dropping, it is already starting to get difficult to go out in the evening, and with their naps... we end up in a house arrest! Mommy doesn't like it and neither do the babes!

Thanks for all your comments about the naps, toy snatching and other recent posts!

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Just to be a little clear... we usually don't step out in the morning (only on weekends if there are lunch birthday parties etc - which is when RT has proved that she can party till 0300 pm without a nap)... so things stay consistent. The kids are not hungry for lunch at 1100 if they have gotten up at around 0800 am, and had breakfast and milk. :( And RT gets so fussy around 1100, that it is difficult to keep her entertained with anything - may be she needs party style entertainment every day! So, if I think of taking them out (play dates) in the morning, RM will definitely doze off in the car. They both have such different personalities! Hopefuly its just a matter of time... Mommy needs to cool down!!