June 10, 2009

Dear Cole and Owen,

This month you have made huge strides in the mobility department. You are both up on all fours, rocking back and forth for long periods of time. As of press time, neither of you have made any forward progress although you are both adept at moving backwards and pivoting. This has precipitated a lot of child-proofing that we have been putting off. We're almost prepared for your full forward motion but it would be good if you could wait just another week or so as the new gate that I ordered won't be here for another few days.

Your napping still stinks for the most part. You only sleep for about an hour and then you're up and ready to go. This happens twice each day. While I am writing this, Cole, I can hear you bopping around in your crib. You've been in there fifty minutes. You are shaking your dragon and you've turned on your monkey crack machine. The springs are squeaking from your attempts to crawl. Every so often you'll take a nice long nap just to keep me guessing but it isn't the norm. If I didn't have the pleasure of carrying you around for almost nine months I would think that you weren't my children because I need SO MUCH sleep and you seem to need or be capable of getting so little. Your bed time at 7PM is a beacon of hope at the end of a long day of nap shenanigans. You go down extremely well at night and you get up around 7AM. Not to fear though, we don't have to mourn your absence for twelve long hours. Oh no. You're up at least once in the night clamoring for room service. It is tedious but you do seem genuinely hungry so we continue to feed you although given your sizable girth one would think that you should be capable of hanging in there until dawn.

Eating still consumes vast parts of our day. You're up to three meals now and we've started giving you Cheerios which you can't actually pick up yourselves but you enjoy whapping them around your high chair trays. At some point you'll perfect the pincer grasp and then finger foods here we come! You continue to enjoy everything, relishing each little morsel and always asking for more.

As you can now sit up basically unassisted (with the odd head clonk here and there) the world is your oyster. You look at books and gnaw on their corners. You love touch and feel books and you've even got a good handle on opening the flaps on flap books. Your favorite toys include the black and white orca whale, a drum and a spatula. What this says about your future interests, I'm not sure but if they keep you occupied for several minutes it is all right with me.

Now that we are getting slightly more regular sleep, I have more brain cells available for asking more profound questions. Sometimes I wonder which one of you is the original and which one the forgery. Seriously though, as much as having twins came as such an unfathomable surprise, I also can't imagine one of you without the other. There is no way that you could have been anything other than twins. A year ago this month we found out that there were two of you and we had to re-think everything. I had had visions of the baby ever since I found out that I was pregnant. Never did I think there would be two of you. And now there will never been anything but the two of you.

Cole, you are farther along in the whole movement thing. You have spent the better part of the month rocking on all fours and stuck under the radiator. Your frustration with your inability to move in a forward manner it extremely evident. You have very strong opinions about things (no surprise there) and this plays out in your hurling yourself across the floor/high chair/crib to steal toys from Owen that you deem more valuable. You are quite the pirate and you will then turn your body away to protect your bullion. It is quite impressive and results in your brother getting rather distressed. You are better at defending against his advances so most of the toys end up in your corner.

Owen, you continue to be such a peach, such a love, such a happy little dude. If you are fussing, or even worse, crying, there is always something wrong. You're hungry, wet or tired. Once the situation is remedied you return to being calm and content. You have found your babbling voice this month and you now have a lot to say. I can't wait until you can actually form words and we can hear what is on your little mind. You'll be moving forward in no time. Perhaps even before Cole. You'll do it quietly and calmly and all of a sudden you'll be across the room. Thank you for being my easier baby; I have told more than one person that if I had two babies like you I'd be bored and if I had two like Coley I would be in the asylum. Thanks to you, I an unmedicated and not locked up.

You are starting to exhibit preferences about people which is not uncommon at this stage. When I leave the room it isn't uncommon for their to be chirps of protest and the occasional wail. You are eager for Daddy's attention when he comes home from work every day but I must admit (with no humility whatsoever) that the sun rises and sets with Mama. The way you each look at me has an intensity that I am not used to. You lock in with your eyes and your faces break out in beautiful smiles. Cole, your smile is HUGE, it envelops your entire face up to your forehead. You will often wiggle your whole little body when you see me come into the room. Owen, your smile is so peaceful, so content. You will often sigh a little sigh and pop your head over the edge of your crib when I come to get you in the morning or after nap. The way that you look at me will never be captured on film, in pixels or in words so I'll keep it right here, safe inside.

Love,
Mama