Growing Up So Fast

Ta-Da... Rory climbed up all by herself
Abby has shed her clothes for the morning and is now following her sister

Abby loves to sit on the toilet and watch Daddy or Mommy get ready

(hopefully she will like to sit there when it's time to potty-train)

Abby is passed out with her Daddy. She's such a Daddy's girl!!

It has been so incredibly busy around our house here lately. The girls are growing so fast! It seems that they wake up each day and accomplish ten new things that they weren't doing the day before. Tomorrow, they will be 15 months old. Is that even possible? They are so busy all the time that Michael and I run after them constantly. Both of them are climbing on anything and everything that they get near. Rory loves to climb on one thing and then another like steps. She has no problem climbing to stand on tables, chairs, the back of the couch... etc. I just never know where I'm going to find her. She has also taken to climbing into her toy box and sitting in there for an hour or so at a time to play with the toys. When she first gets in the box, she will throw out all of the hard toys that hurt to sit on. She will then arrange the stuffed animals in the box into a nice little padded seat for herself and proceed playing with the remainder of the toys in the box. This works out nice because Abby will play with all of the toys that Rory throws out onto the floor. We only have problems when Abby wants a toy out of the box. Usually, I have to break up a fight when that happens. Abby is climbing just as much as her sister. It's too funny, though, because the whole time that she is climbing on things you can hear her mutter under her breath "no, no. get down." She knows that Mommy is going to tell her to get down off of certain things, but she just can't stop herself from climbing on them! Today, Abby was climbing on some baskets in our living room that stack on top of one another. I heard Rory saying "Abdibigail... get down." She couldn't quite say her sister's full name, but she knew that Mommy doesn't allow them to climb on the baskets. The girls have both learned to take their own clothes off, as well. While this is a huge feat for someone their age (and I am very proud of them for accomplishing this), it gets a little interesting when I am trying to get them both dressed in a time-crunch. I will get one dressed and then, while I am dressing the other, the first will take her clothes off. Then, they will switch on me. They think that it is hilarious! We are working on animal sounds right now. The girls both know what sound a puppy makes and what sound a kitty cat makes. Rory, however, knows a couple more. When asked what sound a puppy makes, both girls will say "ruff-ruff." When asked what sound a kitty makes, they will say "meow meow." When asked what sound Papa (my dad) makes, Rory says "grrrrr." When asked what sound Mommy makes (her daddy thought this was especially funny), she says "no-no." Ha ha. The girls are also getting good at telling me what they would like for a snack. When they get up from their afternoon naps, I will ask them what they would like. Normally, we have animal crackers and juice. Rory, who has heard animal crackers called "crackers" and "cookies," will say "crackies, juice." Abby says "kakers, juice." When they prefer milk, they will tell me "mik." It's not perfect, but they definitely get their point across. Both girls call each other "sisser." They can say each other's names, Abby and Rory, but they prefer "sisser." I put little bands on their cups that are different colors to help tell them apart. The girls know which one is their cup and will say "sisser's" when they pick up the wrong cup. That doesn't stop them from drinking out of one another's cup, but at least they know that it's their sister's cup that they are drinking out of. Rory has become extremely affectionate here lately. She loves to give kisses and hugs all the time. Abby, on the other hand, is still fairly reserved with her affection. Rory will follow poor Abby around the house pinning her down to give her hugs and kisses. It's a little funny, but I have to try to explain to Rory that Abby is done with kisses and hugs for the day. There are so many more things that I could tell about that they are doing now. It's so much fun to watch them learn, grow, and interact with one another more and more each day!