Twins at 13 Months

Emily and Alex had turned 13 months old on May 18, 2010.  It seems like every day they are changing and doing something new.  So many amazing things happen in the second year of life!

Eating
They are both on 100% table food and will pretty much eat anything put in front of them.  They don't seem to be very enthusiastic about meat though but they love pasta, cheese and vegetables.  The other day Lizzie (who also loves asparagus) gave Alex two of her half-eaten asparagus spears.  He had a great time eating them!  I don't think I would have expected that.

They are off formula and on whole milk.  Alex liked whole milk immediately but it took Emily a little bit longer.  I was worried for awhile as their Dr. wanted them to drink lots of whole milk and said 2% wasn't a good substitute.  Apparently the fat helps their brain development.  We are also down to one bottle a day at the end of the day.

Sleeping
Alex is the star sleeper in the Sly household.  When he had a double ear infection and conjunctivitis he still slept soundly through the night.  In general Emily is a pretty good sleeper too.  When she also had her double ear infection and conjunctivitis she would wake up about every hour, fuss then go back to sleep.  If she got really upset I would go in to soothe her but I quickly realized that this is counter-productive and while I could get her back to sleep the minute I put her down she just cried even harder.  So now if she fusses or cries in the middle of the night I let her cry it out.  It doesn't usually last for long and thankfully has seemed to stop all together.

Moving
It seems that Emily is focusing on her physical development while Alex is working on his verbal skills.  Both babies are crawling like champions and cruising as well.  It took Emily longer to start cruising however she is now trying to stand on her own.  Just this weekend she stood by herself in the kitchen and drank from her sippy cup.  She walks very well when you hold her hands so hopefully it won't be long until she is walking on her own.  Alex still needs to work on his balance and I've only seen him stand on his own briefly.  He cruises really well but when you walk him around he takes giant steps with his left foot and sort of drags his right foot.  His physical therapist recommend supportive shoes with "cookies" or arch support.  Our pediatrician recommended Arch Angels but they don't make them small enough so for now we bought him a nice pair of Merrills and will do some more research in to getting custom arch support made for him.

Communicating
While Emily has better balance, Alex is really excelling in the verbal department.  If you ask him what a duck says he will answer "quack quack".  He will also tell you what a cow says and he will roar like  a bear.  I'm pretty sure he calls me Mama and he calls Greg, Daddy.  He makes a wide variety of sounds and loves to "talk".  He is very easy going in so many ways and always has such a lovely smile in the morning.  Emily babbles as well but not on the same level as Alex.  She definitely doesn't know any animal sounds yet but she can certainly tell you when she is angry.  That child has quite a temper and will get very angry with you if you try to take her away from whatever she is doing.  She is also very attached to her mommy and now gets upset when I leave her at daycare.

Animal Sounds from Rebecca Sly on Vimeo.

Health
A couple weeks ago both babies had double ear infections and conjunctivitis.  That was definitely not a lot of fun.  It was Alex's second double ear infection in a row!  Otherwise they have been in good health.  Thankfully while Alex's head remains large he has had no signs of pressure.  In fact, I think the rest of him is starting to catch up with his head and Emily is starting to thin out a bit.

Recent Stats

	Weight	Height	Head
Alex	21.88	30.5	19.75
Emily	20.81	29.5	18