All Things Haley: What A Year #4

First of all...HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!! Nana and Papa are enjoying a very, very well deserved vacation in Mexico right now so we don't get to tell Nana happy birthday in person until this weekend, so Nana- I hope you know that we're thinking about you and hoping you're having a fabulous time!

In other news, our babysitter worked out great today! She came over just before 10 so I stayed home this morning and played with the babies and fed them breakfast before she got here. Then I rushed into the office, had a few meetings, and then rushed home by 2:15 so she could leave. I wish she could do full days but she has a few things going on so we'll take what we can get! Apparently the littles were terrific for her and actually gave her a full hour and 15 minute nap at 10:30 this morning! Of course, when I got home and tried to put them down at 2:45, they basically laughed at me. Instead, we didn't have an afternoon nap and had to take a stroll around the neighborhood to calm them down when they were both ridiculously tired/fussy around 5pm.

Go figure.

I had a lot of fun with the babies today, though. Caleb has been reaching for more things, showing some great signs of spacial and object awareness! I try to take him to whatever he's reaching for whenever I can, because he can't quite do it himself. I remember back to when Grace was in her early reaching phase- she would reach for that paper towel roll like it was the most important thing on the face of the earth. So I'd take her over to it and let her explore it- touching the cold metal on top and the soft towel below it. Feeling the crinkling of the paper and pulling it out to see how it could unroll.

Today Caleb was reaching intently for his jumperoo like it was the most important thing on the face of the earth so I took him to it and he amazed me at his ability to hold onto the poll to steady himself with his right arm and then play with the spinning toy (the one he's always loved so much, even when he couldn't reach the floor so we had to put pillows under his feet as he sat in the jumperoo) with his left hand!!! That's terrific bi-lateral work, using both of his hands for very different functions!

Speaking of not being able to reach the floor in the jumperoo, have you seen how much these littles have grown? It's blowing my mind! Grace seems to be going through a growth spurt right now- she's eating more than 25 oz of formula on top of three full meals of solids (that usually consist of some sort of grain like puffs or cheerios, a veggie finger food like cut up green beans, some fruit like cut up watermelon, and a half of a jar of stage three baby food like spaghetti in meat sauce). Caleb is actually eating much less formula right now but loving his solids! He fluctuates in how well he'll take his bottles, but he's doing so awesome at eating off of the spoon now (no more biting the spoon like he used to) and is still able to get most of the finger foods into his mouth using a palm-grab. He's in all 12-18 month clothes, and the 18 month stuff definitely fits better. Gracie is so skinny that she can actually rock 3 month pants as long as we're ok with some serious high-waters. But she's tall and needs to wear 9 month outfits for her length (no where near as tall as her brother, but compared to how skinny and light she is, she's lanky!)

I think back to their tininess when they first came home and it feels surreal. Those frail little beings couldn't have truly been my babies. They were so very small and fragile- knowing how much they love to be tossed around now and almost rough housed with! I remember how scared I was to hurt them when they were so tiny...that first bath at home was terrifying for me. I was scared to lay them down on a hard surface like the counter covered in towels! Now I have Gracie falling all over the place in her quest to walk with confidence and Caleb throws himself back inevitably landing on his head at least once per day. No harm no foul!

I can't fathom what their next year will bring in this growth category! How fun to watch and see :)