Making Progress...

We've been making major progress on Sam and Anna's big kid bedrooms, but are just a few wall decorations away from being completely done.  I have to scrap my original plans for wall art  beyond their wooden names (more on why later), and so that part is still not completed.

We separated Sam and Anna into their own bedrooms in late September when we made the transition to big kid beds.  It has gone mostly well.  The dressers we had used with the cribs went into Anna's room while Sam's room was dresser-less and a little sparse.  We were waiting on wood bed frames that were built by Grandpa Dan to proceed further with the room setup.  Then around mid-November we were able to bring the wooden bed frames home and begin the next step in the room transformation.

This weekend we were hard at work painting furniture (okay, Daddy was hard at work painting and assembling- I was hard at work watching toddlers and reorganizing rooms)- the two bed frames graciously made for Sam and Anna by their grandpa as well as two dressers for Sam's room we picked up at IKEA on thanksgiving weekend.  I wanted unfinished dressers for him so we could paint them to match his wood bed frame.  Sam and Anna have the same design for their bed, but Anna's was painted white to go with the dressers they've had since birth, and Sam's was painted a dark brown as well as the dressers. 

I got the plans for the beds from Ana White's  website, the same place I got the plans for the awesome learning tower we got last year, also built by Sam and Anna's grandpa.  In the rooms, they are more sturdy, substantial and well, nice than I thought they would be.  These beds are going to last Sam and Anna until they don't live with us anymore and buy their own furniture!  They definitely exceeded my expectations!

 

The new beds have created quite the excitement around here!

Monsters

It is not a new thing that Sam and Anna LOVE apples.  We recently started giving them the entire apple to eat, and they will both devour the apple down the the core.  Anna chips away at it like a beaver, while Sam gets impatient in his usual style, bites a big chunk off, and then eats the piece before returning the the whole apple.  They ask for apples or applesauce at almost every meal.  It's a good thing both us and grandma made a lot of homemade applesauce this fall!

Check out Sam's apple monster voice in the videos below. 

Anna doesn't do the monster voice, but you can see her cheesy grin in the last video while Sam responds to our question in the background.

Senior Sing Along

I asked my husband nicely if he would take time off from work to go with Sam and Anna and their day care provider to the senior citizen holiday sing-along for toddler music (since I couldn't) and he agreed to go and take some pictures and video snippets for me.  We weren't sure how well they would turn out once Sam and Anna noticed that he was there, but he did get some okay ones. 

 Look closely and you'll see Anna is front and center in front of the leader on the floor.  Most of the kids hung out around the edges, and the ones closer to her age even stayed next to their adult.

Sam is a big grandma lover, and so he decided to adopt this nice lady as his "Gran-ma!" du jour while they were there.  I guess he climbed up into her lap and stayed there for a while... apparently the little old lady just loved it.

Anna participated along to every song and motion, just like the big kids.  Sam was a little more hit and miss.

I think it is hilarious how Sam and Anna wave goodbye in the song, and then take off for the door!

Outside Videos

Sam loves pushing big things around (he's constantly redecorating and moving chairs everywhere we go), while Anna loves going for a ride: A win-win situation!... that is, until we have to go inside, and then mama's the one that loses (double the toddlers, double the tantrums).

Check out Anna's driving postion in the first video- one hand on the stearing wheel, one arm resting on the window. I wonder too, if she thinks she's steering the wagon while Sam's pushing her around in the second video!

Wordless Wednesday- Video Edition

Sam's newest favorite thing to do is roll all over soft things like blankets, pillows, and our couch, rub his face into the fabric and get really, really silly.

After a tasty but messy lasagna dinner, Anna says, "All done!" her new favorite thing to say. Usually she does a really good job signing it too, but this was the best I could get on video.

Wordless Wednesday- Video Edition!

Sam and Anna are really interacting now- these are some of the ways they love to play with each other!

The pacifier stealing game

Playing with wrapping paper is more fun than with toys

The screaming game- notice how Anna changes her tone of yelling to tell Sam to stop bouncing, and he does? I love it!

Racing down the hall

This momma forgot that videos can't be flipped. You'll just have to turn your head sideways. :)

Talking At 4 Months????

I took this video to document how Sam and Anna had that magical moment recently in which they started to discover each other. They've spontaneously held hands a few times in the past, but that was different. They now seem aware of each other as a person. Sam smiled at Anna the other day, and he only smiles at people. Anna babbled at Sam this week too. We're on the brink of a great milestone that not many babies get to experience: when a twin learns they have a built in playmate to go through life with. One that will be there every step of the way- learning how to eat together, crawl together, walk together, grow up together.

Little did I know that I captured something pretty darn amazing, until I watched it on our computer. It's about 27 seconds in- listen closely to what Anna says:




Am I crazy or did my 4 month old baby tell her twin brother "I love you"????? OMG- and she says it so purposely- she doesn't "say" anything else but that. First rolling over at 4 weeks (only 3 days old adjusted age, to boot), now talking in sentences??? I'm astounded by her genius-ness. ;-)

A Tale of Two Tummy Times

Can you tell who likes tummy time more?