Updates

William:

• Very suddenly William decided to use utensils to eat.  He is quite good at it considering he's really only had a couple weeks practice.  Most entertaining is that he really likes to put solid food into things like yogurt and oatmeal.  For example at lunch today, he wanted to put raisins and strawberries on to his spoon once he scooped it.  
• Will continues to amaze us with his vocabulary.  Just like with Natalie, I am keeping a list of his first 100 words.  Currently, he is at just about 50 words, not including words we've gotten him to repeat once or twice.  Most recent editions include shoe, see, whee, burp, and cracker.  
• Also of note on the language front is William starting to link words into two word phrases.  Most noteable are "more please" and "bye bye Dada."
• William is working on interacting with children other than Natalie.  In particular, the last week he has been trying to play with a little girl from our play group.  He also tries to get Natalie's best friend's little brother (11 months) to play with him the way Natalie or I would.  
• William has eleven teeth, though three of them are just starting to show.  He is working on five more - three molars and two canines. 
• When he does play with a puzzel, William can match the pieces, but not rotate them into the slot.  
• William loves small items such as magnets and craft pom poms.  He hardly ever puts them in his mouth.  
• William's favorite toy right  now is a little owl (about inch and half tall) from when I was a kid.  He carries it around saying "owl, owl."  Playing with this toy he has shown us he knows a few things.  He loves to hide the owl and reveal it.  We also hide it in pockets, his shirt, sleeves, socks, etc.  When he loses the owl, which happens a lot, he often looks for it somewhere it was before, like under his crib. 
• William has learned to push own the door at playgroup and escape into the lobby.  (Natalie still doesn't do this).  
• William understands most directions we give him.  Examples include telling him to get items, to go see people, which rooms of the house to go to, and how to move (like sit or stand). 
• William  knows our routines well.  He comes running for dinner and knows to get his shoes to go out.  He is really starting to get to say bye when he or someone else leaves.  Other examples include tilting his head in the bath to have shampoo removed. 
• William loves his Sesame St books and dolls (handed down by Natalie). 
• William seems to live the color green the best, especially when coloring or painting, both of which he appears to really like, though he still tries to eat them from time to time.  
• William can hop.  Its one of our favorite things to watch him do.  When he dances, he hops in a circle.  
• William has learned to imitate tucking himself in and laying down to play "nap."

Natalie:

• Natalie surprised me today by asking for the first time ever if I was allergic to certain foods. 
• Natalie continues to do awesome with learning her letters.  Everyday we talk about letter sounds, even if we don't always focus on the letter of the week.  
• Recently Natalie has struggled with the idea that more than one person can like something at a time.  
• Natalie is interested in gender.  She talks about her loving me and William loving Daddy because of gender.  She asks if a song is sung by a girl or a boy (thought usually she knows herself) and sometimes demands to only hear girl songs. 
• Natalie loves to help cook.  I've started giving her responsibilty for pouring things without my help.  She stirs without slopping. 
• Natalie usually loves to help in anyway, especailly if it is an adult like job such as cleaning.  
• Natalie's favorite game recently is playing mother to her dolls.  She's played this for a long time, but now she gets very detailed.  She likes to give her doll check ups, brush its hair, change diapers and clothes,  put it to bed, give it toys and blankies, share food with it as it sits in a high chair in the kitchen, push it in the stroller, etc.  
• Natalie sat with Santa!  But she forgot to tell him what she wanted.  So, we wrote a letter.  Natalie is very influenced by ads on TV and by toys she sees in the store.  We were able to talk to her about what she wants and narrow it down to a doll.  She saw many dolls she wanted in the last couple weeks, so I got her to say a doll so Santa could pick one.  Also, when we were at the store and Natalie saw a bunch of toys she wanted, we were able to talk about them and say we already had a tea set and dollhouse, so we didn't need new ones.  Its reasoning like that which Natalie shows that impresses me, but is hard to remember day to day.  
• Natalie is awesome at 24 piece jig saw puzzles!
• When forced to, like now with the child lock on her door, Natalie can play by herself for a long time.  I've been listening to her sing and make her toys talk for at least an hour and a half.