Thirteen Months

Malcolm & Lucinda are 13 months old!

They're both getting really good at walking, and are almost running now.  Our effort to master eating off a spoon is progressing slowly, and they eat like typical toddlers.  One day, they love chicken nuggets, the next they throw them on the floor without taking a bite.  One day, Lucinda loves scrambled eggs and Malcolm hates them.  The next day, she won't touch them and he eats his - and hers!  I'm sure it will only get worse, but for now, meat's hit or miss, but they still consistently love all fruits and most vegetables.  They've done great with the transition to milk, and we're working on weaning off bottles and fully onto cups.  We're close to dropping down to one nap, and my goal is to do that before they start Saturday morning swim lessons in May.  They love to go outside and play on their swings, take a walk in the wagon, or go to the big playground at our neighborhood school (where Malcolm tries to eat mulch and Lucinda tries to play basketball with the big kids).

Lucinda's learned how to throw a ball, and loves to chase her big ball around the house.  She also loves the circus puppets I picked up for $2 at IKEA recently.  She brings them to us all the time, wanting us to make them talk and sing and grab her belly.  She also brings us books all day long, wanting us to read to her.  She likes her soft stuffed animals, especially her big blue dog, and loves to knock down the animal "pins" in their bowling set.  She's "talking" more and more, but it's still mostly jibberish and mimicing sounds she hears.  She's understanding a lot now, though - I asked her the other day to give a cup to Malcolm, and she did it!  When she goes to bed at night, before going to sleep she first tosses all of her toys into her brother's crib.  Maybe she's worried he'll get lonely?  She loves to put things away, and we're always finding stuff in strange places after she's been in a room (toys in our shoes, cup of milk in a drawer, cake pan in a trash can, puppet stuck under the cat...)

Malcolm loves to be chased, and to chase you, down the hall and around the kitchen.  He adores the cat, and would happily spend the day searching Bailey out, petting him, and signing "cat" proudly while pointing at him.  He's still working on cutting his first-year molars, and they're giving him a lot of trouble.  Poor guy - this week has been especially tough.  He has more separation anxiety than his sister, and is very attached to his mama.  He loves to look at himself in the big mirror in our room and gets a big kick out of rolling around on the bed giggling while we wrestle him into his pajamas at night.  He's also starting to babble more, although he's not regularly saying any words yet.  He loves his Baby Signing Time DVD, his mailbox toy, and he loves to put just about anything down the slide at the Little People Zoo.

Their second year is off to a great start!  They're happy and healthy and really enjoying the warmer weather and the chance to play outside.  They were too little to go outside much before now, so this is a new experience for them.  Hard to believe it's already April - we have a busy month of visitors ahead of us!