Mostly September, October and November 2010

Just like the posts devoted to Mostly June, July & August 2010, I realize this post will seem very similar to the Meet James and Julia at 6-12 months ones. It was poor planning on my part. The other posts were meant to be more about their personalities at that age. This one is more about what date they first cruised, stood unassisted etc. I tried not to have too much overlap between the posts. Enjoy?

"Happy fall!... over!" (12 months)

Visits
My parents visit off and on per usual. Papa loves showing off the babies, especially when we eat lunch in downtown Los Altos, and if anyone makes the mistake of smiling at them, he wheels the twins right over to them. Bubby visits twice, once with Grandpa Herschel, at Thanksgiving.


The babies try to stow away in Grandma's luggage. (11 months)


While eating at AG Ferrari, Papa leads by example. (9 months)


"Bring on the turkey!" (11 1/2 months)

We take the twins with us to the Winter Twin 2009-2010 barbeque (we end up following James around as he crawls everywhere), and to Googleween (Google's version of Halloween for babies). We also visit the pumpkin patch twice.

Daddy moves the blanket at the twin picnic. Looks like he has a stowaway. (10 months)


Julia and Daddy at the twin picnic. How is it they so often have the same expressions?


James warily eyes Toto at Googleween. (10 1/2 months)

In Julia's version, Dorothy gnaws on her ruby slippers three times to go home. (10 1/2 months)


Julia tries to eat her first dirt clod. (10 months)




We had so much fun we made a second visit to the pumpkin patch so Papa could come.


Health and Doctor Visits
In September we see a our pediatrician about the babies' bad diaper rashes. Apparently they have yeast infections! Poor little guys. At the beginning of appointments the nurse measures their heads. The pediatrician always rechecks James's head himself to make sure it's not growing too fast and that he doesn't have a condition like hydrocephalus. That's how you know you have a big head, James. Meanwhile the pediatrician casually mentions that Julia has "preemie head" - a head that's narrower due to pressure from a certain brother in the womb. The babies get their flu shots and surprise us by not crying or showing any reaction. What kind of magical flu shots are these?


Julia treats a pediatrician's office like a rock star treats a hotel room. (9 months)


Julia discovers a fun house mirror during her trip to Kaiser. (9 months)

Crawling
James learned how to crawl at the end of August and spends September honing his skills. He is adept at crawling over the obstacle course of Boppies, towels, toys, and Bumbos like a soldier army-crawling on his stomach through mud under barbed wire. He also is a multi-tasker and likes to carry toys in his mouth while crawling.


James and Papa crawling. (9 months)


First picture of James crawling alone. (9 months)

James multi-tasking. The best part was when he'd occasionally reach up and spin the disks while carrying the toy with his mouth. (9 months)

James likes to try to make a crawling getaway and giggles whenever he crawls somewhere he knows he shouldn't. When the door is open to our bedroom, James will try to crawl as fast as he can to get inside and then to Mark's bathroom. He will smile and look at me before he takes off, and if sees me trying to stop him he'll giggle and crawl faster, often with his legs giving out from under him.

James sometimes crawls to me and climbs up me for a hug, which I think is so sweet. When I mention it to Mark, he tells me he just likes to climb people. I think, "Naaa..." but then later I see James trying to climb Julia. (For the record, she's not thrilled.)


James howls at the moon while climbing Daddy. (10 1/2 months)

Papa has Julia lie across his legs and because she doesn't seem to realize it's tummy time, she doesn't hate tummy time like she used to. In mid-October Julia starts scooting a tad - a few inches or a foot here and there. A month later she really wants to get to her new xylophone toy and to get to it she sort of crawls for the first time (her first real crawling is a few weeks later though). By the beginning of December she's constantly going from sitting to being on her tummy. Much like James before he started crawling, she also flips onto her tummy a few times when she's supposed to be napping.

Speaking of which, James continues to love flipping over. He's like a potato bug that hates being on its back. He tries to flip over in his crib, on the changing table, even while drinking a bottle, which because of the effect of gravity on milk, isn't very successful.


Standing
By 9/24 James had been trying to stand for a week. On this day he kneels and curls his foot under his knee and he makes it, while holding onto the changing table... and then he makes a mess of the shelf he can now reach by emptying the basket of diapers one at a time. Then he nearly spits up into the empty basket. Two days later when I enter his room in the morning, he greets me, already standing in his crib. By 9/30, James can cruise from one end of the changing table to the other, usually to get to the wipe box.

On 9/2 Julia briefly stands by herself - no hands or furniture. A few weeks later Papa holds Julia's hands above her head and gets her to "walk" for the first time, which makes her squeal with delight. We all try to help Julia learn how to pull herself up to standing, and she tries and tries, and just can't. Then on 11/6 I put her in a sitting position a little farther back than usual and she does it! (The victory is short-lived because she's not able to replicate her success for several more weeks.) By the next day she's already cruising, albeit slowly.


Julia's doing a pretty good job on this standing thing... oops. (9 months)


Julia tries to pull up... whomp! (10 months)

They both constantly cruise around the room from the changing table to the Pack N Play, and - the tricky part - across the divide to the crib. They also like to cruise along the walls of the Zoo, and on 12/3 James rests against the wall, no hands.


James cruises from one piece of furniture to another for the first time, while wearing his Buildasaur pajamas. (They're of course a combination of two things boys love - dinosaurs and tools.) (10 months)


Motor Skills
James has been holding his own bottle for awhile, but at the end of September Julia starts holding hers as well. Julia has good fine motor skills and is able to activate the sound on her monkey book. She also picks up puffs one at a time with her thumb and index finger whereas James tends to eat them with a swipe of his paw. This also explains why his chair is so messy after a snack.

Diapering Poo Talk
Julia is 2 for 2 on number 2 in Armadillo Willy's changing table visits. I declare that it's her favorite place to poop. On her third visit we realize she's pooped when we arrive home so we assume that we weren't vigilant and that poop was aimed at her favorite barbeque joint.


Julia gets ready to do some damage at Armadillo Willy's. (10 1/2 months)


James is oblivious to the destruction going on beside him.

One day Julia brings on the A-poo-calypse - it's impressive when one diaper is so bad the poo gets on two babies. (In the flurry of activity getting poo off Julia's forehead - how did it get there by the way? - Grandma puts Julia's poopy pajamas on the side of the changing table and James grabs them.) It's also a bad sign when I think that James looks like Poo Hitler during this incident, but thankfully what I thought I saw turned out to be a shadow over his lip.

One day I go to pick up Julia and I can see poop all the way up to the top of her diaper. Like any good mom first I get the camera. My mother is appalled. (In my defense I never actually posted the photo even though it was a good one.) Incidentally when I go to change Julia I'm scared if I lay her down it'll smoosh out so I take her clothes off while she's standing and scoop out the poop from above.

Enough Julia poop shop talk, you say, what about James? Well, one morning he has a turd that make it all the way to the foot of his pajamas.


Teeth
James's first tooth is sighted coming in on 9/14. Nearly a week later we see the one next to it coming in as well. Unlike Julia with teething, he's a tad fussier and needs to be held more. And then four days later we notice that James has two more teeth coming in on the top. I start brushing their teeth with a washcloth.


Julia showing off her chompers while preparing to eat her favorite food: lint. (11 months)


Eating
In early September, they both drink water for the first time - Julia at Quizno's - and they start using sippy cups a week later.

On 9/15 the babies eat in high chairs for the first time, instead of their Bumbo seats. Four days later they try finger foods for the first time, in the form of apple puffs. James gets the hang of it and likes them. Julia's not so sure... Less than a month later it's clear Julia wishes all her food could be in puff form. Mark says Julia will major in puffs and James in slapping things. "I think they have those majors at Cal State schools."






James and his purple puff eyebrow piercing. (9 1/2 months)


"Yogurt? I don't THINK so." (9 months)

James definitely drives feedings and is very vocal during them, making the entire process very stressful to everyone involved. He cries during the feeding, and also if I get up to get more food. It's clear food is not coming fast enough for James's liking. I'm sure it's because he wants to hurry up and get to the milk, which is served at the end of meal (as our pediatrician recommended). I end up making up songs about the different foods they eat to calm them. Two of my works of art are below. (My other best ones are about apples, beef and spinach, and blueberries.)

The Apricot Song

Apricots - they're small and they're orange
Apricots - nothing rhymes with orange
They're kind of like a peach and they have a small pit
They're tasty when they're dried
Apricots are another food you have tried

Yogurt Starts with a "Y"

Yogurt starts with a "y"
Not many words do
Like yak and yellow and yardstick
All these words do

Yogurt starts with a "y"
Not many words do
Like Yentl and Yonkers and Yiddish
All these words do

(Other notable words that make an appearance: Yogi, yoga, Yoda, Yemen, and Yasmin Bleeth.)


By early October the twins move up to three feedings a day. Julia is a good eater for awhile and actually eats meat and vegetables. But there are other times that, like James, she keeps crying during their meals, even when served her favorite foods.

The babies try barley teething biscuits for the first time. Julia daintily chews on hers like you're supposed to while James gnaws through it like a beaver and we have to retrieve big chunks from his mouth so he won't choke. Bubby and I have to retrieve them from his mouth. The babies eat jarred Thanksgiving food.


Even babies get Thanksgiving dinner. Flavors from left to right: Apple Turkey Cranberry, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Cinnamon, and Pumpkin Apple.


Sleeping
My book says that 9 month olds know how to get you to pick them up from their cribs and rock them to sleep, which makes me think "You little fakers!" I promptly change their naptime ritual. Now after putting them down I only go back in after five minutes of crying (I know - not long), and say "I love you" and rub them briefly and then leave without picking them up. If they cry another five minutes I do the same thing. Usually it takes 10 minutes and then they're down for the count.

By November, James, and to a lesser extent, Julia, require relaxing in the form of singing and rocking before a nap or they won't nap. Otherwise James gets too keyed up and keeps getting up to stand. Sometimes I end up taking a 5 p.m. walk to eke out a nap from them. Generally the babies' temperaments were affected very little by teething, but one day Julia keeps me up for two hours in the early morning when she's getting her third tooth on top. When she refuses to nap that day she ends up melting down in the Andronico's parking lot and at bedtime. That's when she screams and when I calm her, James cries - standing in his crib. So I put her down to lay him down and she screams, and repeat. This also happend at nap time the next day. Ah, the joys of twins.

Julia finally gets her own crib (instead of a Pack N Play) in mid-October. But she doesn't get to use it long. Following Bubby's suggestion, in early November I put the Pack N Play in the other room to separate them at nap time. They both take their morning nap for the first time all week! A Thanksgiving visit by Bubby and Grandpa Herschel followed a few days later by moving Julia's sleeping place around (we give her a separate sleeping room for night time so the twins won't wake each other up, and then a week later move her into our room when my parents visit), all affect Julia. Julia screams for several hours several different nights, and James joins in once. Once I try putting Julia into the swing to help relax her, but since I haven't used the swing since she's gotten bigger I don't anticipate the seat flying back due to the extra weight and she ends up falling with her whole body landing face down.


Language
On 9/2 James starts waving bye bye (usually when Grandma sings Happy Talk to him), and Julia follows suit the following day (and cannot be stopped thereafter), giving a nice send off to my parents as they leave for Alabama. James makes his first sign on 9/14 for milk. It happens during their solid feeding and I don't know what to do since it's not their usual time for milk so I do nothing. I feel bad about ignoring their attempts to communicate so the next time he signs milk, Grandma and I sign it back and both babies recognize it and they start crying so we give them milk.

By mid-September, both babies say "Mamamama" for me occasionally. My mom says that James often says it when I'm not there and he's upset and wants to be held by me. One day Julia tries really hard to say "Mommy" but it comes out as a two syllable screeched hodge podge. By early November Julia likes to say "Dadadada" a lot, while James tends to stick with "Mamamama." He also starts saying "Papa" for my dad.

They both have different sounds they love to make. Julia's are raspberries. James loves to make a sound with his lips hitting together or clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He smiles if you imitate the sounds he makes. Sometimes he makes loud and long i-yi-yi-yi-yi noises in the middle of the night. He likes to make a gravelly froggy sound. (We call it many things: possessed frog, gargle, beached whale, lion roar.) Sometimes he pauses when he's almost done with a bottle to make the sound and then nonchalantly continues drinking.


Papa and James have a conversation. (10 months)

Books
James and particularly Julia LOVE books. After I read them a bunch, I offer them the pile and Julia goes nuts trying to scoot to it. She particularly loves touching the Noisy Peekaboo book. She makes happy noises when holding books, too. When the babies aren't read to we keep the books away from them, because they like to take big chomps out of books. (Writing this now I feel kind of guilty that we did that, but seriously we have a Julia-bite in the corner of her Ambulance book that looks like a shark must have gotten into the house.) We hide books behind pillows and blankets because they otherwise FREAK OUT when they see books. After awhile they figure out our hiding places.

When I read flip-up books, the twins take turns (usually anyway) flipping up parts. They get to know the books so well they even know where the hard-to-see flip-up part is on the triangle page of Flaptastic Shapes (I've had to tell adults where to find it). Julia loves the stringy tail in Tails and she pets it again and again and makes a long zombie sound ("ehhhhhhhhhhh"). James puts his mouth up to the fat fish and the elefish (an elephant-like fish) in Hooray for Fish as though he wants to eat them.

For about a month whenever James reads a book with a mirror he gets really close and puts his mouth up to it. Julia kisses her reflection on the mirrored cube toy.


Julia's my lovey dovey. (9 1/2 months)


Affection
I play a game with the twins where I hold them up and say "James/Julia is standing and he/she... gets a kiss!" They like it and James sometimes nuzzles me. By November both babies are starting to hug us at times, especially James. And a few weeks later they both like climbing in my lap at the same time.

One morning my mom tells me that James kept looking down the hallway for me. When I come in he says "Mamama" and wants me to pick him up.


Interaction with Each Other and Sociability
Most of their interaction these months still involves taking toys from one another, which they do now more than ever (as seen in this video). James is kind of a toy bully and Julia usually lets him take her toy, but sometimes will retaliate or distract him by pulling his hair, plucking out his pacifier, or clapping her feet together when he gets close.

By November they smile and laugh and babble to each other more.


"Julia you want this cup? Yoink." (11 1/2 months)

Conversation over breakfast. (11 1/2 months)


James is the Coppertone baby, and Julia's the little dog tugging at his bottom. (9 months)


Julia and James "talk" to each other. (10 months)

At about 7 months, James would cry if his toy was taken away. Julia remains very easy going and still doesn't cry when this happens to her. By the end of October, James gets very fussy whenever he's stopped from something he wants to do, much like a 2 year old. Despite the babies having a lot of stranger anxiety at the Google Picnic in August, they don't seem bothered by the thousands of people at Googleween. One day at Neto's, an older gentleman gets too close to James which causes him to cry. When I explain this to the man, he comes at James again and says "He's not crying because of this?" and gets in James's face again. James howls. Stupid old guy.


Playtime
My parents teach the babies to hold the crib railing and bounce to different songs. James's is the theme from "Bonanza" and Julia's is "Pop Goes the Weasel."

Some of the games they like (other than those mentioned in this post):

• So Big
• Being held upside down
• Our pretending to eat their feet
• Grabbing my feet (James)
• Roughhousing with Papa

The babies enjoy playing in the backyard. Julia isn't crawling so she likes sitting with Papa on the picnic blanket. James likes to crawl around and pull out big clumps of grass. Papa calls him our Lawn Mower. Even more than the grass, James likes to crawl on and hit the concrete. Once after crawling all over the place, he started coming over to me smiling - which was sweet - but with muddy hands! Sometimes we blow bubbles which Julia likes, but James just stares, possibly afraid that they will hit him in the face again.


James de-grasses our yard, one clump at a time. (9 months)


Grandma gives Julia a flower. (9 months)


James crawls on his favorite surface - concrete. (9 months)


Bubbles are drawn like a magnet to James's face. (11 months)

Papa likes to show the babies trucks and tractors where they've just started building 53 new homes, literally next door. James watches squirrels in the backyard very intently with Grandma one day. (Of course the squirrels in our area are infamous. One once tried to wrestle a muffin out of a 4-year-old's hands.)


Grandparents and grandbabies watch the bulldozing going on next door. (10 months)

One day Mark has a slumber party with the babies in our bed and tucks them in with blankets. He gets them sleepy and then puts them down for naps in their cribs.


Slumber party with Daddy! (10 months)

Foods Introduced
(All are from baby food jars except cereal and yogurt)

Raspberries*
Blueberries* (big fans)
Prunes*
Pasta
Turkey*
Blueberry/sweet potato puff stars (Julia REALLY likes)
Barley and spelt (multi-grain cereal)
Corn*
Plain yogurt (not a hit)
Chicken* (hard to tell what they dislike more, Chicken Apple Compote or plain yogurt)
Peach yogurt
Apricot* (a hit and they like my song)
Banana yogurt
Cheese (jack)
Turkey (deli meat shaved thin)
Potatoes*
Broccoli*
Lentils* (both do not like)
Spinach*
Beef*
Banana rice rusk (Baby Mum Mum)
Barley teething biscuit
Cranberry* (and later dried)
Garbanzo beans*
Raisin* (and later cut-up)
Pumpkin*
Dates*
Onion*
Tofu (first non-Puff finger food victory for James; Julia won't try)
Rice cakes
Cheerios

*from baby food jar

Weights and Lengths

12/07/09 (birth)
James - weight: 5 lbs., 9 oz.; length: 17.8" <5th percentile; weight for length: ~75th percentile
Julia - weight: 4 lbs., 9 oz.; length: 18.1" <5th percentile; weight for length: ~10th percentile

1/07/10 (1 month)
James - weight: 7 lbs., 2.9 oz.; length: ~21"
Julia - weight: 6 lbs., 4.4 oz.; length: ~18 1/2"

2/08/10 (2 months)
James - weight: 9 lbs., 0.0 oz <5th percentile; length: 21 1/4" <5th percentile; head: 14 3/4" ~8th percentile; weight for length: ~25th percentile
Julia - weight: 7 lbs., 11.5 oz. <5th percentile; length: 20 1/2" <5th percentile; head: 14 1/4" <5th percentile; weight for length: ~17th percentile

3/06/10 (3 months)
James - weight: 11 lbs., 2.6 oz. ~10th percentile
Julia - weight: 9 lbs., 8 oz. ~5th percentile

4/08/10 (4 months)
James - weight: 13 lbs., 14.5 oz. ~30th percentile; length: 24" ~18th percentile; head: 16 1/2" ~44th percentile; weight for length: ~60th percentile
Julia - weight: 12 lbs., 4 oz. ~21st percentile; length: 23" ~10th percentile; head: 16" ~42nd percentile; weight for length: ~58th percentile

6/07/10 (6 months)
James - weight: 18 lbs., 2 oz. ~62nd percentile; length: 26 1/4" ~48th percentile; head: 17 1/2" ~73rd percentile; weight for length: ~80th percentile
Julia - weight: 15 lbs., 6.5 oz. ~45th percentile; length: 25 3/4" ~50th percentile; head: 16 3/4" ~51st percentile; weight for length: ~44th percentile

9/17/10 (9 months)
James - weight: 21 lbs., 3.5 oz ~55th percentile; length: 29" ~62nd percentile; head: 18 1/2" ~87th percentile; weight for length: ~65th percentile
Julia - weight: 18 lbs., 7 oz. ~50th percentile; length: 27 3/8" ~50th percentile; head: 17 1/2" ~61st percentile; weight for length: ~50th percentile

12/6/10 (12 months)
James - weight: 22 lbs., 15 oz. ~53rd percentile; length: 30 1/2" ~75th percentile; head: 19" ~93rd percentile; weight for length: ~59th percentile
Julia - weight: 20 lbs., 12 oz ~48th percentile; length: 29" ~50th percentile; head: 18" ~70th percentile; weight for length: ~62nd percentile