20 Months

The girls turned 20 months old last Thursday so I thought it was time for an update on our life now.  Lately it has occurred to us that we no longer have little babies, but little girls.  They each have such a distinct personality and I love how different they are.  We see them play together a lot more now, they love ring around the rosie and we have seen them hold hands and try to do it even when we aren't there to facilitate.  They also chase each other around or play bumper cars with their little ride-ons, it is great to have the house filled with their laughter as the play together.  Of course laughter is not always in the air, sometimes it is intense fighting.  They seem to know the boundaries of each child but they don't always respect those boundaries.  Usually the fighting is over a toy that someone wants or that someone took from them.  We are working with them on communicating with their words to say 'no' instead of biting or hitting when someone is taking a toy they are playing with.  I really think we have made some progress with teaching them not to steal toys from each other.  Another benefit to this age is that they understand what we ask and in some instances they can tell us what they need.  We can ask them to get their shoes, coat, socks, etc. and bring it to us and they will.  They also help clean-up their toys.

Emma is our petite baby, she has itty bitty chicken legs that I just love (probably because I've never had itty bitty chicken legs myself).  She is probably the most social and loves to have people come visit, she is very happy most of the time.  We have found that she loves to draw, she will sit and doodle with the magna doodle for a long time, she holds the pencil well with both her left and right hand so we are wondering which she will be, left or right handed.  Emma also has a favorite book, 10 little ladybugs, she loves to look at the pictures and point out the different animals like duck, turtle, bird, etc.  She is pretty good at pronouncing the words.  Speaking of words she talks in a high pitched voice when she is excited, we can't understand the high pitched noises, but her sisters seem to comprehend some of what she says.  She has lots of words and has learned how to say and sign 'help'.  This is so that she can ask for help instead of biting her sisters.

Olivia had a bad teething experience for a few weeks, she was pretty cranky which is unusual for her.  She is usually very happy.  Olivia is still our hoarder and it is so funny to watch.  I really need to video tape her hoarding stuff.  She loves to hoard shoes and socks especially, though at my parents her favorite thing to hoard is the remote controls (they have like 6 of them for 1 tv).  Sometimes she will gather the objects all in a pile and then sit on them, she then reaches under her butt and pulls one item out and plays with it, then after a while she will stick that one back under her butt and pull out another to play with.  The hoarding only becomes a problem if it is something her other sisters are interested in also.  I think maybe that is why she likes the socks and shoes, because the other two don't really care if she hoards those things.  She is also very particular about things, she likes to line every one's shoes up side by side in pairs. 

Our youngest Savannah is by far the most vocal, she can repeat almost anything you say and pretty clearly too.  She also asks questions and seems to know what's going on.  She likes to sit on my lap the most and I love just having a chance to hold her, she is very loving and seems to want extra attention right now.  I am a little scared though that she is starting the terrible twos a little early.  We have had several instances where if she didn't get things her way she threw a fit.  That's easy enough to ignore at home, but in public that is a problem.  Savannah is very loud when she cries and we have known from the day she came home from the hospital that she had a temper and it had a short fuse, well that is still true.  Something that surprises me about Savannah though is how generous she can be with her toys.  I have seen several times her playing with a toy and then another child comes and asks for it and she just gives it to them and runs off to find something else.

I will try to have some Easter pictures posted soon.