Life with Jack & Zach: 17 Months

To begin, I am so behind in updating our blog. So much has happened since the beginning of October, and well that is another post. In the meantime, I want to share an update of the boys. I started drafting this post when they turned 16 months. They are now 17 months as of this past weekend; November 6^th. In any event, here we are. The boys turned 16 months on Wednesday, October 6^th. I find that I say this often, but man is time flying by with these boys. We feel like they have changed so much in such a short amount of time, well, it appears with me they change daily. I am behind on posting an update of where they are at, what they are up to, etc. Since I started back at work, I just look at them and wonder did they happen to grow when I was gone these past 8-9 hours. In any event, the boys are doing well as usual. I took them on October 7th for their well check up and all is in good order. Although I don’t know if I can say that I was by the time we left the doctors office! Normally I have one other person with me to help because of shots, but not this time and boy was this a time I wish they were in the non-mobile stage. HA! I feel like the boys are still peanuts but they are right on track for weight and height. In fact I always get reaction from others that the dynamic duo are big (tall) for 16 months. With that said, the boys continue to make themselves known around the complex. Little do they know they are quite popular!

Getting back to their well check-up appointment over a month ago, their stats are good. Jack and Zach are pretty much equal with respect to weight and height. Both boys are at 23lbs and currently stand 2’7” tall. Jack does have a slightly bigger head. J We do have to take Jack to see a Dermatologist in PEDS. He has another dermoid cyst, what we think in two different locations. He had one removed at 9 months that was located on his brow bone. Dermoid cysts are benign and nothing to worry about; however, the one on his brow bone could have easily ruptured and inflamed his eye. Since we knew that they were crawling and would be walking soon we decided to have it removed at the time of their circumcision. I decided we should go see a specialist only to make sure they are indeed dermoid cysts. **That is a different post and have the cutest picture to share!

What are the boys up to with respect to eating, playing, sleeping, likes, and dislikes?

Eating…so Jack is our eater and will try anything we give him. Zach on the other hand will let you know instantly if it is not on his ‘normal’ list of foods then forget it! Since in one month Zach has done a 360 and has been open to trying new foods. They love oatmeal, Daddy’s pancakes with blueberries, French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, PB&J on wheat, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, melon, apples, peas, carrots, corn, nutragrain bars, apple juice (Mots for Tots), milk, raisins, yogurt, cheese, and goldfish. There are other items they enjoy too but for the most part these are the foods they love—probably missing some, but they love their fruit and veges. Since the past two months they have mastered self-feeding using a fork and spoon. Man has times changed. I recall staying up late so many nights making pureed carrots, sweet potatoes, or other items only for them to all of a sudden have different taste buds the next day and not want anything to do it. Ah…the good ol’ days.

Sleeping. For the most part they are still on the same schedule since goodness…I think it goes back when they were 4 months. Well, their entire evening schedule has been the same since they were 4 months. Although with kids it will change periodically due to teething or bad dreams—mostly teething! (Not for too much longer since the last of their teeth have finally popped…AMEN!) Almost every night we give them a bath. I clean up the apartment, put toys back in their place, and get jammies and evening milk ready, while Steve does bath time. It is so fun giving them a bath together now because they splash each other (us) and play. After bath and jammies we try to read as we did several months back but as they get older the more they can do on their own! HA. So, we basically try to have quiet time…no playing whatsoever. We have our evening milk (they love their milk warmed before bed…) and off to bed we go. Bed time will fluctuate and it depends on their day. They are in bed around 7-7:30. They sleep on average close to 12 hours. They will generally wake around 6:45, sometimes just past 7:00am. Of course since we turned back the clock this past weekend, they are just now getting back to normalcy. Jack is a good sleeper when it comes to nap time. Zach on the other hand, well, not sure what goes on with him. We tried to navigate towards one nap a day but it was evident that as evening approached they clearly were in need of two naps. So, we will cross that bridge when we get to it and from my understanding you will just know. They sleep really well for us in the morning. Their average nap will last two hours. There have been much shorter naps, but we can expect them to nap from 10-12, maybe until 11:30. Their afternoon nap varies; sometimes they don’t even take the nap for unknown reasons. Their afternoon naps are more erratic and shorter. Our thinking is if their afternoon nap lasts for a ½ hour then that is fine because we all feel refreshed if we take a quick cat nap! I know in due time we will go back to transitioning away from two naps.

Well, our boys are just that…all boy. They enjoy each other’s company and that makes us happy. We are at a point where we can do things around the apartment, clean, laundry, etc. knowing they can keep each other preoccupied so we can get to a few things. It is so fun to watch them as they investigate new things. Specifically their understanding of the world that surrounds them is fascinating. Because we are still in the apartment we are cautious of where we let them walk. We have been letting them walk to the elevator and to my car as well as down to the park. Zach knows where to lead us…goes right to the elevator. Jack…well, just feels free and so he will run anywhere. They are both good about listening if they are headed in a direction not meant for them. They love playing outdoors and lately as we clean up from their dinner, and prep ours; we let them play out on the patio. They know they cannot go outside without shoes. One of us will say let’s go put our socks and shoes on and each time either both or one of them will run into their room and look up at the shoes. It is just fascinating to us that they comprehend the things we ask of them. Since we started with twins, not ever having children before, I don’t rely too heavily on books or the internet (because every baby is different) and so we just go with our instinct and think if they can do it great, if not well then we keep at it. They love to show us their belly button. Jack will lift up his shirt and smile so big…hilarious. It is even funnier when they are wearing their one piece jammies and try to figure out how to show us their belly button. Dogs are still the hot item. There is a doggie store at The Irvine Spectrum (amazing mall) and so we will take them often to look at the puppies. It is always jammed packed with people and the boys get a kick being able to pet the puppies. They now can climb up on chairs and the couch. With that they also know how to get down from them, which is even better. J I feel like they change/grow so much in one day! They are in their testing phase. Ahem. They are also in another stage called monkey see monkey do. Whatever one is doing the other chimes in. We are learning to ignore it, knowing it will soon pass. They are simply looking to get a reaction out of us, but of course if it is something serious then we intervene. The last time they learned how to do raspberries while eating, we ignored their behavior and within a week it stopped. We also realized that continuous praising for the good things/behavior, the less testing. We also are learning they like to do things on their own now; don't know if I am really ready for them to be independent---to an extent.

I have attached some pics of them at 16/17 months. Enjoy!!