Perhaps every parent thinks their toddler is funny, but I have to say that Nico and Olive really make me laugh, almost daily. They have such great senses of humor. Some of it is unintentional. But here are some funny quotes of late:

Unintentionally funny
Bethany: We’re having olive bread tonight
Nico: No! Nico bread!

Bethany: Here is your leche
Nico: No! Norma say ‘leche.’ Mommy says ‘milk’

Nico to mommy when I’m freaking out over ants: Take it easy mommy

Intentionally funny

Nico: “Goodnight monkey face (to whom, I’m not sure. Olive?). Nico funny”

Olive: “Goodnight hello” (they say goodnight to a bunch of funny things every night. This one made us crack up.

NOTE: I have changed permissions on Flickr so that only friends and family can view them. If you cannot see my flickr photos, email me your yahoo/flickr ID and I will add you. I did this for privacy reasons. As the girls get older, I can no longer justify broadcasting all the details of their life to the wider world without their permission.

20 months!

21 months!

22 months!

23 months!

21 months!

2.2 years!

Now Nico and Olive are old enough to enjoy new toys, family/friend visits, and presents, although Nico was quite overwhelmed by all the changes on Christmas morning.

We had a great day, complete with jam session with our closest friends.

I just realized that I haven’t updated this site since Nico and Olive’s first birthday! My babies turned into toddlers and, well, I think I just suddenly had even less time. If you’ve been following their progress on my Flickr photo stream, you know that everything is going most excellently! They are becoming two little girls with distinct personalities. I will try to get into the habit of writing more, but until then, let me get you caught up in our “in-a-chair” series:

13 months!

15 months!

14 months!

16 months!

17 months!

18 months!

19 months!

Wow! like, OMG! I can’t believe that a year has passed. It felt like the blink of an eye. I duly hope that the rest of my life doesn’t flash by so quickly. It has been the most amazing, yet challenging year. And as we reach this milestone, I am grateful for how everything has gone so well: we survived and are getting lots of sleep. Nico and Olive are alive and happy and healthy. We are alive and happy and healthy. In fact, right now, everything is perfect. I will try to seize the day before any potential storms!

We celebrated their first birthday with 45 family/friends and 10 babies, including 4 sets of twins. I made Nico and Olive individual apple spice cakes and although everything was a little overwhelming for them, they held up really well, little troopers. I love these little guys so much it sometimes hurts … Is the age of one truly the most perfect? Babies at this stage possess a lust for life that even the most-jaded have to admire.

P.S. Nico is starting to climb and Olive is taking her first steps.

As I’ve already observed months ago, It is pretty clear to me that my Nico and Olive were not born in a some sort of state of “uncorrupted morals” since they feel entitled to take what they want even when the other has it; and they *always* want what the other one has. So yeah I guess it’s our duty to socialize them and curb their natural instincts through years of modeling, rewarding, and punishment. I also have to allow them to figure it out themselves, as long as no one is getting hurt. After all, they have this perpetual peer in their life at the same age/level, to which they have to constantly adapt.

So it’s no surprise that Nico and Olive wouldn’t naturally want to share all the toys that we bought for both like darling little angels. We are finally encountering them taking total ownership of ONE object. So enter the annoying doll in an elephant suit who sings songs when you squeeze her. A month ago, Olive became very attached to this doll. She has to have it near her. The most annoying part is that Olive is unable to do the actually squeezing properly so that the toy can make its infernal plastic doll-nightmare racket. Instead, all day she holds the doll out like an offering while grunting “uh uh uh” for us to squeeze it or, worse, she whines and cries until we do. But lo! when that stinking doll gets going, Olive starts to “dance” by jerking her torso back and forth. Cute city!!

However, Olive also gets absolutely HYSTERICAL when Nico goes anywhere near the doll, which only happens like 100 times per day. Now I’m not even saying that Nico is taunting her on purpose….

Nico has been trying to walk since 8 months old, so it’s no surprise that she finally perfected it by 11 months. For awhile, I wasn’t happy about this (I’m still nervous about having two toddlers at the same time), but it’s hilarious to see her moving around because she’s so tiny. She often walks with her arms out straight like a zombie and always prefers to walk carrying something large. Olive shows no signs of being moved to even try.

Getting bigger, getting funner. Their latest milestone is to dance whenever music comes on by jerking their bodies back and forth or waving their arms.

They’ve started making sounds, emulating certain words and copying everything that we do. Olive is close to saying “ball” properly and points at any round object saying “bah.. bah..”. She also loves the game of dropping stuff off her high chair just to be able to say “uh oh”… or maybe it’s just gravity experiments.

Now, going to the grocery store is such a treat. They can sit up in carriages and enjoy all the interesting objects and people. They are very social, not shy at all. Sometimes almost too friendly as Olive will crawl onto stranger’s laps.

We’ve been dancing with Nico and Olive since they were newborns. They love it and they’ve also learned to love certain songs, in particular Linus & Lucy by Vince Guaraldi.

This is what happens when we put it on. Yes, the cuteness level is off the charts!