19 Months

Happy 19 Month birthday to Alex and Arielle! Just a quick post with their "official" 19 month picture (they are now pretty good about posing for pictures, even together) and latest accomplishments.

Both Alex and Ari continue to develop in leaps and bounds in every aspect. Their language has taken off like a rocket this past month- they repeat words and impress us with their recall after hearing a word just once or twice. Alex is putting several words together, like "all done," "new car" (or "kew car"), "come here, Arielle" and other short phrases. He will also identify different types of vehicles while we're driving- truck, bus and mailman (which encompasses the USPS trucks, Fed Ex and UPS trucks). Ari loves to have her back scratched and will command you with "back, back" to get you to scratch her back. They both love school, their gym class and playgroup and have lots of good buddies. They are quite the little social butterflies. Alex is especially outgoing, saying a cheerful "hi" to anyone within earshot and sharing his toys with his friends. Arielle is also learning to share with her friends- just today in our gym class, she gave one of her beloved stickers (Ari LOVES wearing stickers on her shirt- see below) to a friend in class. And she didn't try to take it back afterwards.

They seem excited about the new baby, although we don't think they fully understand that this baby is coming home to live with us. They are very sweet to the baby (feeding their milk to Mommy's tummy, reading books to the tummy, sharing toys, etc.) and LOVE seeing babies when we are out and about, but we'll just have to see how they do with one in the house. Alex and Ari are also SO sweet to each other- giving each other hugs, playing and laughing with each other, learning to take turns, being "nice" and sharing food with each other. It's heartwarming to watch them together.

In a way, it's bittersweet to know these are the last few days with "just the four of us." Alex and Ari are probably too young to ever remember a time when it was just the two of them with Daddy and Mommy. But in a way, that's a good thing because having a younger sibling is just going to be the norm for them, and we're hoping that the closeness in age will lead all three kids to grow up as the best of friends.