There's talking. Oh yes. Talking

I love, love, love both of my lovely children.  And I love, love, love the fact that they're outspoken and opinionated, even at their tender ages.  But really?  Do they ever stop talking? 

Animalia's vocab is astounding.  In fact, I probably forgot about the word "astounding" until she reminded me of it this morning while she was describing how frozen water is ice.  "Isn't that astounding?" she asked.

Madi's is too-- for a 19 month old.  Yesterday she told me "I want that chocolate milk."  Sure, it wasn't perfect from a pronunciation standpoint.  Chocolate was more like "chocwat."  But really?  Everyone around understood exactly what she was saying.

They both talk to each other and themselves when they're alone.  They climb on top of me and talk to me.  They do less talking with their dad, mostly using him as a jungle gym.  Mads follows her sister around constantly.  Animalia sometimes demands her privacy.  Everything is normal at our house except for Mads' constant itchy rashes (heat rash? eczema?) and her allergy to mosquito bites.  And oh yeah... Animalia, it occured to me the other day, is turning 5 this year.  Time flies.

Checking in, every once in a while

At her 18 month checkup, Mads was 27.4 lbs and 35.5 inches tall.  She's huge.  She's smart.  She's full of personality.  She talks like crazy-- last night she said "Noooooooo.  I don't want that."  Clear as a bell.  I know she's my very own but I'm still totally impressed.  She loves books and music and babies and animals.  Her favorite foods are pasta, cheese, and a mash of beans and rice together.  She asks for "mas" cheese sometimes and it cracks me up every single time.  Also, she's very much in a monkey see, monkey do phase which means I constantly have to tell Animalia not to do certain things because the baby is right behind her, immitating her.  Like "please don't do a handstand because the baby is going to hurt herself copying you."  Animalia is mostly patient with this.

Animalia is amazing and hilarious and lovely too.  She's an excellent big sister most of the time.  We still work on the sharing things occasionally but she loves her "Teeny."  She's creative and smart and interesting.  Last night, she wanted me to tell her a bedtime story.  The story was about four princesses who slept when an evil princess came and said "You will sleep for a thoooouuuuusand years."  She even titled it, "The story of the four princesses who slept and came before the Sleeping Beauty legend, writed by Maya Manow and illustrated by Amalia Castillo Manow and Herminia."  By the time she was done describing the story, she was almost asleep.  A couple of words from me and she was snoring.

I can't believe how quickly time passes.  I'm just getting to that dangerous point where I hardly remember holding a tiny baby and where smaller babies make me pine a little.  But just a little.  I can't imagine having three to get ready in the mornings and still be able to get to work on time.

I'm so not good at this anymore

My life is a blur. The girls are growing and learning every single day and I just can't keep up with it all. There are TONS of pictures, mostly on my phone though, that I should print and/or save and/or upload but there's no time to just sit in front of a computer and do it all.





Mags, 15 months old, says lots of words: Tata (her favorite person ever), Mama, MOM! (she yells it when she wants my attention), Da, DAD! (see MOM!), Aya (Amalia), papa (food), pa (pan/bread), caco (cracker), school, salsa, sushi, book, uh oh, fah (fall), ta-dah!, caca (vaca/cow, not what you think), coco (when she's hurt or when she's dirty). She makes animal sounds too, meowing, barking and quacking at the appropriate animal pictures or the animals themselves. She makes mad faces for fun and we act like she's scary. She runs laughing when I tell her that I need to change her diaper and sometimes gets away during the process. She throws her diapers into the trash for us. She's a slippery little one, a fast little girl. And she understands everything. She's also very "helpful." She loves dresses, just like her big sister, and when she's wearing one she'll twirl. She's a love but sometimes she has an enormous temper.



Animalia, 4 years old, makes us laugh every single day. She's smart and verbal. I think she gets frustrated with kids who don't have the same vocabulary that she does. She uses words like "frustrated" and "upset" to describe her moods and sometimes she wants to be left alone. But most of the time she's creative and clever. She plays submarine at the dinner table, eating her dinner while pressing imaginary buttons and pulling imaginary levers. It's actually not as disruptive as it sounds. She writes her name, has been for quite awhile, have I blogged about that? She still loves books and princesses and her family.





They get along fine most of the time, they give each other hugs and kisses. Sometimes they fight over things and sometimes Mags just wants her big sisters attention. Sometimes there's rage and we have to separate them but those times are relatively rare. Mags just wants to do everything her big sister does.

First Steps

Magdalena is learning how to walk in fits and starts. She's experimenting with the whole thing I guess.





Her first steps may or may not have happened on Thursday, September 23. She took a couple toward someone while reaching for something. Then they happened again the next night when I was late coming home and she sort of accidentally walked to her dad, crying for me. Then they happened a few times and then she fell on her face.

Update: She refused to walk for about six weeks after that, finally getting her confidence back up about a week after her first birthday. I didn't know babies could learn lessons at that age :)

Skinny Minny

"You have to eat," Da tells Animalia, "because you're a skinny minny."
"I'm NOT A SKINNY MINNY!" she says, clearly angry. "LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THESE THIGHS!"
She points to her thighs. They're skinny. "Mom, do I have big thighs like my sister?"
"Yes," I tell her, trying to comfort her rage. "Your thighs are enormous."
I'm lying.

Teeth and other tricks

Saying "dientes" makes Madi show her teeth.

Saying "caritas" makes Madi make this funny crumpled monster face.

She does both for food. She does everything for food. She throws tantrums for food. What can I say? She likes food.

Her top two front teeth are coming in.

Madi says...

Madi says mama when she's sad or when she wants me. It's nice.

Frightful!

"Amalia, make potty. I can tell you have to go."
"No! I won't go that way."
"Why not?"
"I have to pass Mads."
"What's wrong with Mads?"
"There's a frightful smell!"

More words?

So Magdalena has been saying papa as in food for a little bit now and lately she's started to say ma papa. It could just be a new sound, although she's been saying mama when she cries for awhile now. But that seems like just a sound. Ma papa... I don't think she's saying mama. I think she's saying "mas papa." More food. All her first words are going to be food related. I bet she says frijoles before she says mama.

First word

Her first word is..... Papa! Not papa like dad, papa like food. Of course it is, "teeny."

At first I wasn't sure. Maybe she was just making that sound, so I watched and waited. Sure enough, she started to say it again, pointing at a bowl, and then making that lip smacking hungry sound that some babies make. Papa. Really?

Eight month measurements

20.25 pounds. 29.25 inches. Big.

She climbs now

And now Mads climbs. Up flights of stairs. She's only seven months old.

Her first crawls

On May 21, 2011, we saw her first real crawling "steps." She'd been dragging herself for about a month.

It happened right after storytime at the library. Made me remember that Animalia's first real steps, walking steps, happened at storytime too. Maybe I work too much. Or maybe these girls are just inspired by my amazing storytime skills.

Teeny bo beeny who eats like a weenie

Animalia made up that title.

Mads is 27 inches and 17.75 lbs at her six month checkup.

She is no longer the tiny little thing we thought she'd be. No, she won't be her Nana when she grows up.

A week later

A week later, Madi is sick or something. She hasn't really eaten for almost a day so I take her to the doctor. I explain the issue, no eating, etc., and she is weighed and measured. She's gained a pound and an inch and a quarter in a week.





The doctor says," Maybe she just stopped being hungry" and I can't help but laugh. This is now the punchline to many jokes about how awesome she's growing.

Almost crawling

The almost crawling started, after rolling and dragging herself for a few weeks, a couple of days ago.

Mads pushes herself onto her hands and knees, rocks back and forth to gain momentum, starts moving her legs just right, but still doesn't know what to do with her hands. She falls on her face.

The actual crawling will happen soon. Sooner than we're ready.

My sunshine

"Please don't take my sunshine away."

--Animalia, telling a visiting Tío not to take Mads with him.

Happy Easter

Post-Easter coma.

4 months

At four months, Mads weighs 15 lbs and is 25 inches long. She's almost her sister's size at the same age. So much for being petite!

Anxiety

Teeny has major separation anxiety. She has major crying fits, big tears and all, when I'm not with her. I don't even have to be holding her. As long as she can see me and maybe reach me with her big toe, she's fine, happy, relaxed.

These crying fits are a major source of anxiety for everyone but me. Her poor dad... poor nana... eh, I don't think it bothers tata as much. When she's into a fit, there's almost nothing that can distract her for more than a breath, although being taken outside seems to help some.

It makes it that much harder to leave her, knowing that she's torturing people who love her.