Can't Keep Up!

The babies (can't really even call them that anymore) will be 18 months old in a little over a week!  I plan to do my traditional loooong update about their eating, sleeping, playing, development, talking, etc. habits and milestones along with their height/weight updates from the doctor as usual, but I feel the need to write down a few things that are happening right now before I forget.

They are doing/saying so many new things so quickly these days sometimes it catches me off guard.  In my mind, they are still little babies and they aren't "old enough" to be doing these things.  Except that they are, they can, and they do.

One main thing is their relationship as siblings has really evolved over the last couple of weeks.  Before during playtime Brady and Chloe would be off doing their own separate things most of the time, especially since Brady is obsessed with cars/trucks he prefers to spend most of his time pushing them around and Chloe prefers to do puzzles or read/be read to.  Recently I have found them more and more frequently doing an activity or playing with things together.  They also seem to want to get into trouble together (getting into things they shouldn't as a pair and often helping the other person make a bigger mess, etc).  The last day or two I have heard Chloe refer to Brady as "brother" several times.  In addition, yesterday Chloe put herself in time out alongside her brother as a sign of sibling solidarity, I suppose.  Today, after he fell down she went to comfort him, by patting him on the head and asking him, "You OK, you OK?'.  The beginnings of a lifelong friendship and sibling bond are already blossoming, and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see.

Another thing is their verbal skills, particularly Chloe.  In addition to naming objects, she has started to put little two and three word phrases/sentences together.  Here are some of the things she has said recently:

"I go night night" (this is a favorite of hers)
"I go Mommy" (she was in the playroom dancing with her brother and Daddy and wanted to find me)
"You OK?"

I am sure she has said more, but I have already forgotten them, which is why I wanted to write them down now!

The last thing is some progress with the potty, although nothing major.  We've had the potties for quite some time, but I have been pretty lax about asking the babies if they want to sit on them.  I think my relaxed attitude about it has actually helped to move things in a positive direction, since they have been showing interest in sitting on the potty more and more frequently, not just at night after their bath, but during the daytime too.  Another big breakthrough is that Brady has started to show interest in sitting on the potty over the last few days, which I consider to be a huge win, since he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it for the last month and a half.  He didn't even want to be around or near the potty, and now he voluntarily sits on it at least once a day.  My plan is not to push potty training anytime soon, but to just continue with this voluntary sitting on the potty, encouraging and praising them when they do sit on the potty, etc.

I will leave you with just one picture today of BOTH children sitting on the potty.  Granted Brady is sitting sideways and more IN the potty than ON it, but I will take what I can get!