Hellobee

It is so hard to believe that my last monthly update is here and the second of the twinblings will be celebrating her 1-year birthday in only two short weeks! The past month has been full of change as we make the official transition out of the baby stage.

Lilly on the left is 12 months old; Audrey on the right is 11 months old.

Physical

You may recall that both Lilly and Audrey were late crawlers (around 10 months) and so it is not a shocking surprise that we are still waiting on walking. After expending so much energy worried about their late crawling a couple of months ago, I am trying (and mostly succeeding) in being more laid-back about the fact that they are not walking yet. Helping to ease my anxiety is that I recently spoke to my own mother about the girls hitting their gross motor milestones a little late and she reminded me that I was also very late to the crawling and walking game. So at least they come by it naturally!

I also was told at our last pediatrician appointment that as long as they are showing progress, there is likely nothing to worry about. And both girls are showing progress. Audrey has been pulling up and cruising for a few weeks now, and currently loves to walk with a walker or holding both of our hands. Meanwhile, Lilly just recently started pulling up a lot and she is slower with the walker but still delights in it. It tickles my heart when both of them walk in the walker – they look so, so proud of themselves and let out loud giggles nearly every time.

Lilly with her walker; Audrey cruising.

The other thing I will mention in this section is that we decided to stop using the Baby Connect app over the past month. We had been using this from the start to track sleep, diapers, feedings, medications, and growth statistics. With the girls now on a very consistent sleep schedule, soiling fewer diapers, and eating well, we figured the time had come to part ways with the app. There have been a few things over the past month that we’ve done to really make it feel that we are officially exiting the first year, and this is one of them. It feels amazing to not have this obligation any more, and a nice bonus is that it gets us off our phones more often around the girls.

Social

I’m starting to get really amazed by the comprehension that I’m seeing with the girls, and I understand why people say that little kids’ minds are like “sponges.” It’s so true!

I was downright amazed one evening when the girls and I were looking at their baby picture book and they correctly identified the “sky” for me. Over the past month, it seems like their interest in picture books has grown tremendously and it is amazing to see the little wheels turn as I point to objects in their books and identify things that they see in their everyday life. I had been pointing out “sky” for a couple of days and one night it just clicked when I pointed to sky in the book and then asked them both “Where is the sky?” and they immediately pointed their arms up and out the window. Similarly, over the past month they have learned to identify their heads, tummies, hands and feet (most other body parts remain a mystery to them at this point!)

The girls love to “read” their picture books.

We’ve also noticed a shift in both girls in their weekly swim class. In the past, they would often cry when they were pulled under the water and they couldn’t comprehend some of the games such as a ring retrieval. But suddenly the girls are laughing about going under the water, and are picking up rings from the step and even dropping them back in to start the game all over again on their own.

The last change I’ve noticed over the past month is they want to put things back in their place. They have been obsessed with taking things apart and pulling things out of containers for a while now. They still like to do this, but now they also really like to collect things in certain piles and put them away in different spots. We have some “peek-a-boo” books and Audrey in particular really likes to put the flap of the book back in place; I will pull the flap down but she loves to immediately put the flap back where it “belongs.”

Everything is a toy right now. The girls love putting their toys inside this box.

Our nanny has been amazing (as always!) over the past month and took the girls all over the city of Chicago. The weather has been a little crazy here so we’ve had some very warm days and some very cold days. She definitely took advantage of the hot days with lots of park time, zoo time, and a visit to the water area in Millennium Park.

The girls visit the zoo.

And they visit the Bean

And they visit Crown Fountain.

She also gifted Mr. Starfish and me a weekend night away together and dubbed this the girls “first sleepover” as she came over and spent the night at our place with her daughter. I’m told that they played around in their PJs and had their first pillow-fight (because honestly, what’s a sleepover without a pillow-fight?!). It was a treat for the girls, but an even bigger treat for their parents!

Sleep

The girls are currently excellent sleepers. They sleep 12 hours each night and have two naps during the day. They like their sleep, and Lilly in particular grins ear-to-ear when she is told that it’s time for bedtime stories. Both girls will stand at the edge of their cribs to look at the pictures in their bedtime books. While Audrey will dutifully turn the pages when instructed, Lilly likes to stick her fingers in her sister’s ear. She thinks it’s hysterically funny; Audrey thinks otherwise.

Ready for bedtime stories!

Eating

The big news in the eating category is that we have packed up the bottles and are now exclusively using big-girl straw cups. We actually ran out of cups one morning about one week after we made the transition and had to give the girls milk in their bottles and they hated the bottles; I think Lilly even threw hers across the room! So, yeah, it’s official now – no more bottles.

We also made the full transition to whole milk and we’re done with formula. We did a couple of days of mixing formula with the milk and within one week, they were fully on milk. Lilly loves milk more than formula and has been gulping it down. Audrey, on the other hand, grew dependent on the warm formula and she made a lot of funny faces when she made the transition to the cold milk.

Audrey happily sips from her big girl cup.

Over the past month, the girls also made their first visit to the dentist. Based on the amount of screaming that they unleashed at that office, I would say this was likely the low point of their month. Still, it was great to meet with the dentist, get some pointers on their oral care, and also prepare for the looming arrival of their first molars this summer.

Lilly in the dentist chair.

Well, that about sums it up. What a year it has been of monthly updates! I love to go back and read through them as it’s amazing the growth and development that occurs in just one month at this age. I’ve so appreciated all of the tips and pointers and reassurance that this community has given me over the past year – thank you from all of us in the Starfish family!