"Hello!" from Gracie

Grace, our oh-so-verbal baby girl of barely 1 year old, now "talks" on the phone, even answering it with a "hello!" (The rest of the conversation is usually indecipherable. :) She often picks up a phone, either an actual phone or a baby phone, unprompted by anyone else and says "hello"--though in this video, Mommy asks her who is on the phone. We wonder what those teenage years will be like, or maybe we don't have to wonder!

More words she SAYS (and understands): "bubble," "bath," (and crawls to the bathtub as soon as we say it), "all done" (and moves her hands in an attempt to communicate this via sign language), "cracker," "no," "yes," "ball," "truck," "bear," "cup," "milk," "puff," "hello," "Papa" (for Grandpa), "bye bye," "dog," "okay," "nose," "beep," "Dada," "night-night," "yay!" (and claps), "go," "duck," "car," "oh!" "uh oh!" "bubba" (for her brother Chance)

Strawberry Pickin'

Last week, Grace and Mommy went strawberry pickin' with our new friends (who live in our neighborhood!), Alex and her 11-month-old son Chase. Once Grace realized that she could eat the yummy red things and saw Alex and Chase doing so, she thought the experience was FANTASTIC. Occasionally, she'd drop her berry into the dirt but picked it up to eat it again . . . aw, a little dirt never hurt. And who can beat an hour of outdoor fun with friends plus a load of strawberries for only $3?!

Grace and Chase inspect the berries. "Hmmm . . . perhaps we should put them in our mouths to see what they're all about?" (Don't you just love Chase's gorgeous curly locks?)

Alex and Chase. Chase is doing an "outdoor crawl" in which he tries not to touch his knees to the ground. :-)

Gracie looks for more berries to eat.

First Pears; "Uh Oh" (or "Uh Uh")

Grace and Chance tried their first pears last week. Mommy had been looking for more soft foods they could eat, and these were a success. Grace likes them, but Chance LOVES them.

In these videos, you can also hear Grace say "Uh Oh!" which she has been saying for a few weeks. (Daddy says she has a vocabulary of about 30 words now; Mommy stopped counting at about 15!) In the last video, you can hear Chance's version of "Uh Oh," which is "Uh Uh!"





Other Milestones:

*On the night before her birthday, Grace took FOUR STEPS! Grandpa Boespflug and Daddy witnessed it. Chance has taken a partial step here and there. Neither is walking on a constant basis, though.

*On the eve of their birthday, the twins BOTH SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME! A miracle indeed!

*At their "well baby" 1-yr-old visit to the pediatrician, they weighed 16.4 (Grace) and 18.10 (Chance). The pediatrician says they're healthy, and, and we quote, "You have small babies." Grace is primarily in the 5th percentile, as is Chance--except for his head, which is 50th percentile! Maybe he's not walking yet because he's having trouble balancing that large head/brain. :)

The Actual Birthday Party

Sunday's party began with a cookout (for which Grandma cooked much of the yummy food because she's a superb chef!) and opening a few presents.

Our friends and neighbors, Matt and Mindy, joined in the festivities.
The twins weren't very impressed with the birthday hats, or with the #1 birthday candles. :)Grandma cut up the cupcakes for the twins.(Mommy had put them in the refrigerator the night before, so they weren't soft unfortunately.) These were gourmet cupcakes from the Eclectic Chef and a fantastic new place in downtown Charleston: www.freshcupcakes.com.

Gracie and Chance enjoyed cake and ice cream, though this was not their first taste of it. They actually had some of Mommy's birthday cake over the Christmas holidays.

The guests watch the "show" (pictured: Grandma, Aunt JuJu, and Matt).

Gracie truly adored her big stuffed dog, given to her by Matt and Mindy. A week later, she still hugs and kisses it a few times a day.

Chance and Grace with a couple of their gifts. Thank you for coming and for the presents, everyone!! We also celebrated Grandma's birthday at the party (she's opening her present and card). Happy Birthday Grandma, Grace, and Chance!

Birthday weekend

After our pictures in the park on Friday (add'l pic above), we ate at the Eclectic Chef deli in Summerville, where Chance tried a lemon for the first time (pic below). Then, we walked around Summerville, where Grace kicked up her feet in the stroller (pic below).

After our tour downtown, a trip to Target. Grandma found an adorable sun shirt for Grace and this Tow Mater truck (from the Disney movie Cars) for Chance. It was difficult getting the truck to the register because Chance was so spastic/excited about playing with it! That boy is obsessed with wheels (i.e., tractors, trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc.).

On Sat., we attended FamJam, a children's festival in downtown Charleston sponsored by the Children's Museum. Daddy showed Chance this baby alligator, and we think that because Chance tried to "swat" it, the alligator had to "take a break" for a while. We'll be working on "impulse control" when he gets a little older. :)

Because of the warm weather, Grace donned her sun bonnet, albeit somewhat resistantly.

A kids' concert by Roger Day followed the festival, and we all sang along, bounced up and down, etc.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Chance and Grace turned ONE YEAR OLD on Friday, 4-11!! (A mnemonic device for their b-day: it's the number that we dial for information!) We all went to Azalea Park in Summerville and a local photographer snapped some shots, a few of which are shown on this post (a few of the photos are also from our own cameras). We held their actual birthday party on Sunday, complete with presents, cookout, cup cakes, etc.; that's for a later post.

Matching smocked outfits with fish on them--awww!

Gracie's dress is smocked with ice cream sundaes in this picture!

Kindermusik Graduation

We love our two little tax breaks! :)

Grandma and Grandpa Boespflug visited us for 6 days to celebrate the twins' birthday. On Thurs., Grandma went to Kindermusik with us. (The graduating class for Gracie, but she was a bit under the weather and stayed home with Grandpa. Chance went in her place.)Chance immensely DISLIKED the parachute and scarves but monopolized the drums . . . we didn't realize he loved banging on drums so much, but then again, he bangs on anything he can find around the house! See VIDEO above.Grandma hugs Chance "hello" (per the Kindermusik opening song).
Chance also monopolized the books, even "tossing" one to the little 9-month-old girl on the right.
Chance with our friends Jessica and ColtonChance and the shakers

Twins Kissing?

Today, the twins started playing around this chair (Mommy needed it to reach the paper towels on top of the fridge), and they started entertaining each other and laughing. Mommy grabbed her camera, and we think/hope Chance was kissing Grace in this video (he kisses with his mouth open)! In any case, Gracie thought it was terrific, even though she has a runny nose and isn't feeling well today. (She and Mommy and Daddy didn't sleep well last night because she couldn't breathe clearly, but this time she doesn't have a fever, praise God.)

Grace Growling

For about 2 weeks now (maybe longer?), Grace has been growling when asked "What does a bear say?" She does it with such gumption that we're pretty sure she thinks its the very best of all of the animal sounds.

South Africa outfits--and words

Aunt Gill and Uncle Sam brought these adorable outfits back from South Africa where Gill is from (Thanks, y'all! We miss you)! The weather in SC is warm enough to wear them now. Grace truly does have more hair than this photo shows--it's just VERY blonde!

Grace also is quite verbal and thus entertaining:

* "bah" for ball (and pointing to, and playing with, a ball)

* "wah" for walk (which means she's asking us to hold her hands while she walks around the house for-EVER)

* "ha" for "hi" (and waving to everyone she sees)

* "bye bye" (ditto)

* "me-ah" for milk (and points to the bottles on the counter)

* "hmmm" after she eats something yummy

* "uh oh" after she drops something (sometimes purposefully)

She also makes animal sounds. Two new ones: she growls when we ask her "what does a bear say?" and she "moos" when we ask "what does a cow say?"

Chance started saying "bye bye" several days ago, bringing his grand total to TWO words (he has been saying "ite" for light)! They both say "Mama" and "Dada," but we're not sure if they know what those mean.

NO walkin yet, but they both have been standing very often and each has taken a step. They love their "new" (from a consignment store) walker (see VIDEO). They also started holding their own bottles about 2 weeks ago, giving Mommy some hard-earned freedom, praise the Lord. And they love their sippy cups too. :)

That Tongue!

Chance still hasn't grown into his tongue. It sticks out when he sleeps, making it look like a 3rd lip, and it's even funnier when he does the "sucking reflex" as seen at the end of this short video.