Story Time

As requested by the grandparents, here is a video of Hayden walking, and not without Kitty-Cat in hand, of course.

Okay, so a few funny stories:

Payson the Puff-stealer

Let me set the stage: snack time, standing at the activity table, Payson wants more Puffs but they are on the other side of a grumpy Madison. He tries to get around her but she pushes him off and screams as loudly as possible. Payson laughs and smiles but Madison keeps screaming hysterically so Payson's expression turns to one of "What's up with her?" Tired of waiting to get more Puffs, he reaches into her mouth mid-scream, pulls out a Puff and eats it himself. That's my boy. Quite the problem solver like his daddy.

Ball Pit Clean-up

So Payson and Madison like to throw balls out of the ball pit repeatedly, and since they don't yet know the concept of cleaning up, mommy and daddy get to pick up all the balls and put them back in. Well, the other day Payson was inside the pit doing his usual duty of throwing all the balls out, but this time Madison was on the outside picking up all the balls and throwing them back in. And voila! Clean-up crew assembled.

Ball Pit Tumble

Payson is, as you know, climbing all over everything. This now includes the activity table though, thankfully, he only does it occasionally. He is the only one who will get in and out of the ball pit on his own. The top bar hits him just above his belly so to get in or out he simply raises his arms up and out, leans forward, and face-plants either into the balls our out on the carpet. No cry or fuss, just his way of getting from one side to the other. The funny thing is that he will do this 3 or 4 times in a row - in and out, in and out. Today he even pushed a toy next to the ball pit so he could use it to get a few inches higher to help him fall in.

Pop Goes the Ball

One day Keith let Payson stick a ball in his mouth and Keith spat it back out at him. Now it's a fun game that Payson likes to play whenever possible. He often tries to get me to do it but, not only do I not want to, but they won't fit in my small mouth anyway. But he sure gets a kick out of it with daddy. The video is shaky because Hayden was trying her very best to get a piece of the camera.

Payson's new game is to throw balls onto the stairs and, hopefully, watch them pick up speed as they roll down each step and onto the hardwood floor with a big thud. I like to tease him when a ball gets stuck on a stair and doesn't roll like he wants it to.

Madison climbed into the toy basket and made her cute fish face, a very frequent expression these days

Payson's new sleeping position includes cocking back his head as far as possible

Happy 2009!

Happy 2009! We have had a lot of exciting things going on and have a lot of updates.

I guess the biggest news is that Hayden is walking! She's been standing alone for almost 3 months and taking steps for a month but she is now officially a walker.

After Christmas we had a 100% success rate in switching the babies to whole milk and a 66.3% success rate with switching to straw sippies. Hayden and Payson made the transition surprisingly well, so much so that we did it in two days rather than the planned seven. But Madison refused to drink milk from her sippy, although she will drink water from it, so after half a week of trying we let her have a bottle again. At first it felt like we were regressing but we realized that she just needs a little longer and that her getting milk is more important that the avenue in which she gets it. After all, they are only 12.5 months old and 10.5 months past their due date so there is no rush. She is already drinking milk from the sippy some by her own choice, especially after seeing the other two do it, so I don't think it will be long before she is ready too.

Unfortunately the babies, and now me too, are sick again for the third time since mid-November. I guess they picked something up during all of the Christmas and birthday fun. We're hanging in there though and thankfully the babies are still sleeping well at night and are not as needy or miserable as they were the two illnesses prior. But they still have very snotty noses and look pitiful.

These days are full of adventure and there is never a dull moment. Here are just a few of the things that happened in the Melker household this week:

Payson climbed the rocking chair after I briefly left the "baby-proofed" gameroom to put away the babies' milk. He had not only made it onto the seat but he was scaling the back and playing with the window blinds just as I arrived with the girls standing, and seemingly cheering him on, below. Here is a picture taken later to show how high he got. We obviously removed the chair from the room and a few days later he learned how to climb on the futon. Thankfully they are beginning to understand gravity and that they can't get off high places by going head first. We're working on teaching them to back down from things and Payson is doing it by himself now.

Likewise, the ball pit continues to be full of fun but we had to temporarily remove the steps and slide because the babies would venture up to the top and only knew the hard way down.

The babies like to feed me and Keith from time to time and I caught Payson feeding Madison a Puff at snack time. Too cute.

Later at bathtime the girls were giggling and leaning towards each other for multiple kisses. The babies make each other laugh and giggle often and can't get enough of the game chase with each other or mom and dad. Payson especially loves to be chased while Madison likes to be the one chasing.

The girls have been shaking their heads "no" for a while but Madison now seems to really understand what it means, especially when she responds to our asking her to sit down in the bath. Her over-exaggerated head shake makes it hard to discipline because we're trying not to laugh at the same time.

Being RSV season, we can't go to the malls, but the babies did get to meet Santa at Christmas-time just a few days after he delivered presents. Daddy made an appearance as Santa and even suited up in front of them in case the big man scared them. I guess it worked because they were not frightened at all and wanted every piece of him, including his beard, of course.

Lastly, we were so lucky to have Pops and Nunie take the babies and their two cousins overnight for New Years. The babies had so much fun despite their oncoming illness and we got to enjoy a nice dinner out with Grant and Negeen followed by a movie by ourselves. Rather than going to a big party we just wanted to do something "normal" for a change. Nevermind that I nodded off the entire first hour!