16 months old

Carl and Ella are now 15 months old and so much has changed since the last blog entry about their birthday. We have been in two minds about whether to continue the blog or use the birthday as a natural end point but as you can see, we have decided to continue. Updates will be posted on a fairly random basis as before.

Walking

Both babies are walking now. As opposed to the crawling, this time Ella was first. We always thought she would be as she was never as keen on crawling as Carl. She took a few hesitant steps and over a week or so got more and more confident. She made us laugh as she looked a bit like a zombie with her arms outstretched in front of her and the same kind of walk as you see in zombie invasion films!  Carl was definitely feeling a touch of envy while watching her but at the same time he would smile away and look really proud of her achievements.  About a month later Carl went from launching himself wildly at us and throwing a few steps in before falling to taking more precise steps in the right direction. Within just a couple of days of this he had more or less caught up with Ella, turning round, sidestepping and avoiding obstacles in his path. Both of them now prefer walking to crawling although will occasionally crawl if they need to be somewhere fast e.g. if Dan or I have forgotten to shut the stairgate across the playroom and Carl sees the potential to escape :-) I would go so far as to say they are almost running at times now and I quite often find them playing the 'running backwards and forwards game' which they never seem to get bored of. They particularly love playing it with two adults, one at either side of the room.

Shoes

We took them to Clarks at the start of January to get their first shoes. Ella is 3.5F and Carl is 4F. They are both really happy with the shoes and don't try to take them off.

Talking

Now neither of them are exactly talking yet but the babbling definitely sounds more like words than ever before. Sometimes I'm convinced Ella is saying things like "Who's that?" but it's just wishful thinking. I think they do say 'Ta' and for a long time Ella has said something that sounds like a cross between 'Hiya' and 'Ella'. Carl went through stages of saying 'no no no no no no no' and 'pia pia pia'. They are clearly understanding far more of the words that we say to them now. We can give simple commands like "Give that to Daddy" and they will do so, particularly Ella. She also really likes to point to things and hear me say the words out loud.

Nursery, Playgroups & Swimming

They both love nursery and are developing so well there. Recently they've been a bit clingier than normal at drop off time but usually get over it really quickly when they see the toast waiting for them at the breakfast table.We love seeing the things they've made during the day and hearing what they've been up to. We still go to quite a few playgroups throughout the week but have taken a break this term from any pay up front termly ones. We've also temporarily stopped the swimming lessons as they missed quite a few last term due to illness and weren't overly enthused while there. Instead of that we go once a week as a family to a leisure pool and have a fun swim. They LOVED the Coral Reef at Bracknell but unfortunately it's closing down for a year for a massive makeover so we'll try Windsor pool instead soon.

Soft Play

One of their favourite things is soft play and every time they go there are more and more parts of it that they become able to explore. It began with them mainly in the ball pit area and now they can (to an extent) climb up steps and explore further areas.

They LOVE coming down slides but it can be hard work getting them not to try to climb back up the slope. We've also been going to Phoenix gym in the mornings where there is a much wider range of equipment and huge running space and they enjoy it a lot.

This morning I took Ella onto the trampoline for the first time and she was a natural. She loves nothing more than to bounce at home so it made sense that she'd be good at it. Think it might be time to get a toddler trampoline.

Christmas

Leading up to Christmas we had a full schedule of Christmas parties to go to and we met Santa a number of times. They behaved so well around him that of course they received brimming stockings on Christmas Day.

We had a lovely family Christmas and Boxing Day and of course Carl and Ella were extremely spoilt by everyone. They sat at the table very well for the family Christmas dinners and enjoyed their Roast Turkey and Christmas pudding a great deal. Carl was fed copious amounts of Christmas cake by Great Uncle Danny and showed no sign of being full.

Toys

At the moment their favourite toys at home are the stacking cups and putting the rings on the pole. These are probably the simplest of all the toys we have here but they play endlessly with them. They are both choosing to play with shape sorters a lot too and getting much better daily at choosing the right hole for the right shape. In terms of active toys though, Ella is a huge fan of the Spin n Bounce Zebra (the natural follow on from the Jumperoo) whereas if allowed to, Carl would spend all day long walking back and forward pushing a walker.

Personalities

They are such different little people. At the moment Ella is showing so much confidence physically when we go to playgroups and soft play. She's embracing the independence she gets from her mobility and loves to run round exploring. She often goes up to older children and watches what they're doing and slowly tries to join in. At home she plays with her favourite toys a lot and then often comes to me just to sit for a while and play games on my lap.

Carl goes through stages of happily playing independently, copying his sister and trying to play with her, rough and tumble climbing play and being quite clingy and needing a lot of cuddles. He is very definitely an observer. I see him watching how we do things and then trying to do them himself. It won't be long until he figures out the stairgate!

Behaviour

While I would say that on the whole they are well behaved, we are starting to see rebellion and boundary pushing alongside frustration tempers when they are restricted by ability. So mealtimes can be quite tricky sometimes with Carl who is desperate to fully feed himself with his spoon but depending on the meal, not always able to do so without help. He gets really frustrated and has a real stubborn streak. A while back just the word 'no' was enough to stop anything in its tracks but these days they are far less responsive to it. We notice that when one of them has been told to stop doing something, the other will then go and deliberately do the same thing within a minute or two, all the while looking to make sure we've seen them do it. The fun is just beginning!

Dan and I are really enjoying this stage. Their personalities shine through and they are learning so much all the time.We can't wait for them to be able to talk to us and each other.