So Darn Cute

Despite the illness, despite the sleepless nights, the babies have been uber-cute this past week. Before I forget any of the adorable antics I want to chronicle them here!

Ryan looking adorable. Seriously, I love him in these pj's!

Ryan LOVES balls. Any shape, any size, he loves them! In fact, I've noticed when he plays with a ball he goes, "Ba, ba, ba!" One of his favorite games of late is playing catch with the ball. You roll it to him (and he does a decent job of "catching" it), and then he throws it back. That's not the uber-cute thing though. Apparently thinks he needs significant height to throw the ball, so he lifts it up against his forhead and then throws it. I've even seen him practicing his throwing on his own, and he gets so proud when he "launches" the ball!

Allie loves waving. Ryan waves too, on occassion, but Allie consistently loves it. If she even hears the words "hi" or "bye" she starts to wave, and she will now wave back if she sees you do it. The uber-cute thing? This morning they were watching a baby einstein movie (I'm slowly weaning them off from our sick movie-fest). When it was over - and I was taking them to their rooms for a nap...Ryan first - I kept seeing Allie waving at the screen (which I've seen her do before...only for this particular movie...). "Yes, the movie went bye-bye," I kept saying, thinking that the reason she was waving was because the movie was over. As I picked her up she kept smiling at the screen and waving, and I finally turned to see what might be making her wave like that. There is an animated rhino at the menu that stands and waves, and Allie was waving back!

The babies are crawling, and no matter how clean I try to keep the floor (and keep in mind that I've been sick so they are not currently super clean) they find things to put in their mouth. Apparently, they think it is a really funny game to see me dive across the room screaming , "What's in your mouth?!" and then squeeze their cheeks to peek inside because both of them (especially Ryan) have started just sticking their fingers in their mouth and looking at me (until I notice, and do the usual dive). Then they giggle like crazy when I squeeze their cheeks to discover there is nothing inside. I always knew they would be practical jokers. They get it honestly...

We have a giant penguin (which I think has been mentioned and maybe featured in picture before) that stand guard in the babies' room...right next to Allie's crib. On more then one occassion I have laid her down for a nap and walked away to hear her giggling. What makes her giggle like that? I finally peeked in and there she was, standing at the corner of her crib, reaching over, pulling the penguin toward her, and giving it a kiss! Then she giggles like crazy, and then she does it again!

Today, when I put them down for a nap, I heard a loud banging. I immediately went to the room Allie was in to listen in (she has arms like gumby, and I'm always amazed at what she manages to get into from her crib), but quickly realized it wasn't coming from there. I followed the noise and realized it was coming from the room Ryan was in. He had been quiet for a while (I thought he was asleep), and so I peeked in surprised. There he was, lying in the pack n play, rythmically banging his foot (loudly) against the bottom of the pack n play! Apparently, he wanted me to know he wasn't asleep yet!

The babies have mastered standing, and sitting from a standing position. Now they have a tendency to squat. They like to go partway down and just hang out while playing. Sometimes they go up & down - never fully sitting or standing. Are they strengthening their muscles for walking? The uber-cute part is that if they're squatting behind something where their view of you is blocked, they like to play peek-a-boo - peeking over to see if you're watching and then "popping" up (their "pop" is slow, but still cute)!

Ryan - not quite up and not quite down...

This isn't something they do, but both of their hair has really started to grow (yay!). The cutest thing is that Allie has a little curl (yes, a curl!!!) that constantly peeks out from behind one ear. Originally, I thought she had moused it to lay like that with some applesauce (she frequently uses food as a hair product), but was thrilled to discover that is just how this one adorable piece of hair chooses to lay. It is so adorable to see her playing, smiling, talking with one little curl peeking out. I love it!

Allie's curl...it took forever for me to get a somewhat decent picture!

Just for kicks: Allie woke up from her morning nap and THIS is what her hair looked like! Talk about adorable bed-head!