And so, without further ado, here are some cute things the kids have done over the past few months:

Having kids who are learning to talk really makes you aware of the things you unconsciously say all the time. For example, whenever we Julian’s on the changing table and we open his diaper, he says, “Oh my goodness!” He also has adopted “how about…” as his very own verbal tic. As in: “Julian, do you want grapes or apples?” “How about grapes!” Or: “Julian, which book do you want to read?” “How about this one!” Or: “Julian, it’s not your turn now, it’s Eloise’s turn.” “How about Julian!”

We apparently also are constantly asking them if they remember things. “Do you remember when Aunt Lauren and Aunt Morgan came to visit?” “Do you remember when we went to the doctor’s office?” And so on. They both now will, unsolicited, point to books, food, toys, people, whatever, and say, “I remember that!” It’s kind of adorable.

There’s something particularly adorable about a toddler describing her emotions in complete sentences. Eloise delights me with “I’m excited about it!” or “I a little scared,” or “I had a boo-boo but I feel better.” (Really, her peppy little “I’m excited about it!” just kills me. Kills me.) She will also, if she’s having a particular good meal, or being particularly patient during a diaper change, or something like that, will occasionally bust out with, “I doing a great job.”

The other day Julian was standing at his play kitchen, clearly hard at work “making” something, so I asked him what he was cooking. “I makin’ chocolate chip cookies!” he replied. “Oh?” I said, “I love chocolate chip cookies. How are you making them? What are the ingredients?” “Um…,” he said, “chocolate… and cookies!”

They both love making up nonsense words. About 15 percent of the time if you ask Eloise a question, she’ll pause for a second and then say “… Odo!” Julian will sometimes get in a phase where he’ll say nothing but, “Dee!” and then collapse giggling. Eloise in particular seems to have extended this into a talent for nicknaming. For a long time she couldn’t pronounce Julian’s name as another other than “Dee-dee” which she then extrapolated into the especially cute “Dee-deedle-ee.” Most recently she turned “Mama” into “Mommy” into “Monamee” into “Pondapee.” She now pretty consistently refers to Rachel as Pondapee. It’s… unique.

As much as I love that they’re growing up and learning more words and so on, I’m going to miss their adorable toddler mispronunciations. Julian still has his pronouns reversed (he’ll hold up his arms and demand, “Pick you up!” or “Sit on my lap!”). Eloise turns many of her “r”s into “l”s, so, for example, there’s a conversation every night about which book she’ll be allowed to bling into bed with her (“I bling dis one!”) and in the mornings, she’ll often insist on having oatmeal for bleakfast.

There’s so much more I could write! But I’ll take a bleak here. Er, a break.

Well, that’s not going to happen, so I’m just going to launch in again with a minor post and hope that I can manage to do that sort of thing with moderate regularity. I hope that those who are interested in such occasional updates will still check in every so often!

Just over a year ago Matt and I took the twins to the playground for the first time. It was a day that stands out in my memory as a particularly enjoyable one during the rough early months. It is also astounding to us that it was just a year ago — it feels like an eternity has passed. And who can blame us for feeling that way, when you look at how far Julian and Eloise have come in that time.

Then:

Now:

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