The Discovery Zone

Our house has become the "Discovery Zone" for Luke and Ella. In the last few months they have discovered so many things. It's been fun to watch them learn things that I take for granted.

Luke has learned he gets the windows cleaner if he uses wipes. He loves to pull out as many baby wipes as he can if he can get his hands on the package.

He also loves to clap his hands, wave, pull his hair or his sisters, play "Patty-cake" and "This Little Piggy."

Ella has learned that Mom likes her hair like this.

But if she can pull out the bow and run her fingers through it with a little oatmeal or bean juice, she can get it looking like this. At about 11 months old, Luke and Ella discovered that they have hair on their heads like Mommy and Daddy and the other baby in the house. For months they've been pulling the other baby's hair, but now, they're tugging on their own. Ella does it especially during meal times when her hands are the messiest, like she's wiping them off in her hair. At least we've moved the mess up a little and off her face.

They LOVE "Signing Time." It's a video series that teaches American Sign Language with songs and peer modeling. Currently Luke can sign the words cheese, milk, more, please, and bean. Ella can sign the word cheese. Although we discovered today that she uses this sign for food in general. When she's hungry, she starts crying and squishing her hands together, indicating the sign for cheese. But this can mean she wants a bottle, water, or any other type of food.

They LOVE books. They've liked to look at books with mom and dad for months now, but recently they will spend 15-20 minutes several times a day looking through books on their own. It's pretty cute, and great entertainment for them. I've started giving them books in the car when we run errands and they love it! They each get their own little pile to thumb through and the car stays nice and quiet.

They can each say a few words also. They've said "mama" and "dada" for a while now, but I don't know if they really knew what it meant until recently. Ella can say "cheese" – her first word actually. She can say also say mama, dada and kitty. Although, she uses her words sparingly, so we don't hear these very often. But she loves to babble or "talk."" I tell everyone she talks all day but doesn't say a word.

Luke on the other hand can say quite a few words and uses them all the time, but he rarely babbles. We're not really sure what his first word was because he started saying several about the same day. He can say: Ella, mama, dada, ball, kitty, cheese, and car. Oh, and Ella has learned to say "no" without using any words. She does this "Superwoman pose"" and sticks her arms out straight in from of her and clenches her little fists. Sometimes she gets a really intense face too. It's hilarious to see. But, I get the point, "No more food, Mom!"

They now know what a cat's tail tastes like. Yep, pretty gross. But it's true. Our cat was taking a nap and the kids were quiet enough during this taste testing exercise that he didn't wake up until it was too late. And I know you're thinking, "How could you let them do that?!" I've learned that they will keep trying and trying if they really want to do something. It's pointless to try to stop them. Eventually, when you're not looking (or not looking fast enough) they'll do it anyway. They just have to do it and then they move on to something else. (Sorry the pictures aren't great quality. Yhey were with my phone's camera.)

Not walking yet, but boy are they fast crawlers. I don't know why they would ever have the motivation to walk because they can crawl so fast! They're like little spiders scurrying across the floor (I can't believe I used that analogy because I HATE spiders.) They do use the walls, furniture and anything else they can to walk around the perimeter of the room.

Every day is an adventure and every day they discover new things. It's so much fun to watch! (But not so much fun to clean-up after the adventures, but oh well.)