One year adjusted milestones

** MUSIC **

We've been singing songs like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to death in our house. The "wash the spider out" part is Julia's favorite. I pause just before and she giggles and then waves her arms back and forth. Cracks us both up. Julia and Emma are starting to put their index fingers together to show me they want me to sing the song. When I'm done singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider," they touch their heads to ask for the "Head, Shoulders..." song.

** TICKLE, TICKLE **

Ada loves being ticked. She'll giggle and gasp, then giggle and shriek and then giggles some more. She has the cutest squirm! And when I ask "More?" she gives me the baby sign for more: index finger of one hand against the palm of her other hand.

** WALKING **

Emma started walking on Dec. 5th. By Dec. 20th, she was stll crawling a fair amount, but she could walk halfway across the kitchen, do a controlled turn, and walk back to where she started. As of Dec. 31, Emma is truly walking. Everywhere. Non-stop. She rarely crawls now, and is so much steadier on her feet. She can step over toys and the raised foam mats without falling down.

Julia started walking on Dec. 23. She gives about 10 or so steps before she plops down or falls into my arms. It'll probably be another few weeks before she's as steady as Emma.

Ada used to scoot on her behind, but is crawling all the time now. She is saying "Uh-Oh" when she drops toys. Sometimes she says that even before dropping the toy. It's funny to see her learning about cause and effect. She also watches for our reaction!

** PLAY **

She figured out the stacking cups on Dec. 20. I've seen her fit things inside of other things before, but today was the first time she adjusted the cups - taking them out and trying another one - until they fit. She placed about six of them from big to small, with a few gaps, but "got it" for the most part.

She'll find similar objects and group them. 3 bibs on top of one another. 3 ducks lined up in a neat little row. When she's done playing with the Megablocks they received for Christmas, she'll drop the blocks into the bag one by one. What a great little helper. Ada said, "oupa" on New Year's Eve and that same day she truly started calling me.

** SPEECH **

As of Christmas Day, when Ada wakes up from a nap, she'll say, "Mamma?" like she wants to know my whereabouts. She's been very vocal lately, but not saying a ton of words.

All 3 can point to their heads and noses and belly buttons. Those are the 3 body parts we started with.

We're working on toes and ears, but they don't "get" those yet. They're pointing to everything in sight, and we find ourselves labeling it all. It's exhausting, but wonderful that they're expressing an interest in what they see! Emma does a double point when she's excited. The Christmas Tree lights are two index fingers on the excitement scale, for example. LOL.

Their receptive language is increasing by the minute, but not much is happening on the expressive language front. They understand questions about animal sounds, can point to and identify their grandparents, the dog, lights, the Christmas Tree. We can predict when they're hungry/thirsty, but they don't really indicate or distinguish those yet. They can mimic the monkey movements and shrug their shoulders when I ask about the buffalo.

** TANTRUM **

Ada threw her first true tantrum today (Jan. 1) complete with leg kicking. Her sister had a musical toy she wanted (the blue maraka - see below). When they're tired, hungry, or thirsty, there's a lot of flailing going on. We usually move to the foam mat and start solving the problem - quickly! - because otherwise it spirals into a complete meltdown. The tantrumming can be timed to how tired they are. If one sister takes a toy from another shortly before nap time, the consequences are epic. Crying, moaning, grabbing the toy back, even hair pulling, and if they don't get what they were after, they'll lay down - face down - and bump their foreheads into the foam mat out of frustration. This is sometimes accompanied by kicking, sometimes wailing. It just depends how tired they are.

We don't let that go on too long before redirecting or distracting, but it's pretty hysterical to see how they're "dealing" with frustration. Poor babies. If it's shortly after waking, toy snatching is no biggie, they just move onto the next toy.

We observed Julia trying to express her displeasure by throwing a mini tantrum today. Only problem was she was standing by our coffee table. She leaned forward and gently placed her forehead on the table. No headbanging. She finally figured out that it hurts.

On a related note, when something goes awry and we say, "Oh my goodness!" Julia and Emma will bring their hands to their cheeks or to the top of their heads. Think "Home Alone." I could just eat them up when they do that.

** BONDING WITH INANIMATE OBJECTS**

They are starting to bond with objects like teddy bears. It's too cute - they squeeze them tight into their necks, and even rock them. So sweet. Emma is pretty attached to her blanket too, but only gets to hold it - and suck on the tag - at bedtime.

Whenever the door to the nursery is left open, she'll walk in, go straight for one of the cribs, and pull a blanket out. She is our stealth blankie snatcher.

Ada has a gray teddy bear she seems to favor, and Julia loves the Dr. Seuss character stuffies. They are so gentle with the stuffed toys.

** RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH MUSIC **

On New Year's Day, Emma truly discovered music. Amazing friends came to visit - one who is a musician - and she played a variety of instruments for them: guitar, differently-sized harmonicas (even a peewee one!), a "Woody" toy, spoons, and shakers of every kind. Emma wiggled and bounced and rocked and clapped and danced her way through their visit. She couldn't get enough of the rhythms, rhymes and music.

Towards the end of the visit, Emma stood with both her hands on the guitar, feeling the vibration as our friend played Joh.nny C.ash's "Wa.lk the Li.ne." Emma was mesmerized by the sounds. It was just lovely to watch. After our friends left, we continued playing music, and it was the first time - ever! - that all 3 "hummed" along. Not quite singing or true humming, but they were vocalizing with the music. They all went down for their afternoon nap, and when they woke up, Emma found the maraca again - the blue shiny one - and walked around with it until bedtime. That's 4 hours of walking around with a maraca! Quite the party animal.

Happy New Year to all!