Mom's make-up drawer

Who knew that little boys could be just as curious about mom's make-up drawer as little girls? My curious little boys discovered my make-up brushes today. Fortunately they were only interested in the tools (brushes & eyelash curler) so there wasn't any wasting of expensive make-up or cleaning up to do. It was so cute to turn around and find them "brushing" their faces & hair with the brushes, and they thought it was pretty funny, too, once they got a little attention for it! I let them brush my face a little at the end before we put it all away, and they did a good job. Sweet little men :)

Watercolor

We took our first family vacation to Watercolor, Florida and it was amazing! I got advice on where to go from friends, family, & neighbors, and this could not have worked out better. We rented a condo with a beach view which was part of a resort, and we were walking distance to the pool and boardwalk to the beach. Watercolor is so picturesque! Driving up, we were in awe of the little community and all the beach houses & shops - it was so cute!

Our family beach pic

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Gotta start with Ben & Jack's first airplane ride. Here they are in the airport looking out the window.

We were on small planes for both flights. Ben did fine; Jack was a little scared on take-off. He buried his little face in our chests but never cried or whimpered, and then he was fine! What brave little boys! We had gotten new toys for the trip, which occupied them for a while, but they slept for the majority of the flight, both ways. Luckily it was during afternoon nap each time. On our flight down there, three mothers of lap-babies stopped on their way to the bathroom to tell us how lucky we were that ours were sleeping, and we got several compliments on their behavior from other passengers. Good babies! On our return flight, Ben got to sit next to a therapy dog (a cute shih-tzu, I think) named JJ and Ben frequently stopped what he was doing to pet JJ.

We stopped somewhere between Destin & Watercolor for dinner because traffic was so bad, and literally, every waitress in the restaurant came by our table to see our dancing babies. They had been cooped up on a plane, then a car, so by dinner time they were ready to move and just danced the whole dinner. 

 

Sunday was J's second Father's Day, and our first full day of vacation. We went to breakfast, went to the beach & pool, relaxed at the condo, then went to dinner. Here are Ben & Jack with J on Father's Day. Ben just recently started giving kisses - it's soooooo sweet. He also started giving hugs this week. Killing me on the cuteness. By the end of the trip, Jack had also started giving kisses :) 

Father's Day dinner @ Fish Out of Water

We went to the beach almost every morning, followed by the pool. The first night we took the boys to a bonfire on the beach, but they weren't really interested. They loved the water and the waves, but weren't really digging the sand. They would say "agua" and point to the water - they loved it! When we left, they would wave "bye-bye" and tell the beach bye. They were friendly boys all week, telling people "hi" (or "ii" sometimes) and "bye-bye" every where we went. We rode bikes around the community, we took the boys to a splash pad pool, we went to Rosemary Beach and looked around at all their shops, we walked around Seaside & Watercolor, and we went to dinner. Breakfast & lunch we mostly ate at the condo, just to try to keep the boys on somewhat of a schedule. Most days we napped when they napped in the afternoons - it was lovely! J played golf one day and I got a massage the next day. It was nice to relax and spend time together as a family - what a great vacation!

Sand, surf, & 2 sweet boys

Daddy & boys, and a beach to ourselves early in the morning!

Jack would laugh at every wave that hit! Ben wanted to go deeper :)

I am obsessed with those little footprints!!

Footprints again, I'm telling you - I'm obsessed! J&B loved walking on the beach - so long as it was towards the water :)

They loved riding in the bike trailer!

Helpful Benny giving Jack his hat

Loving Benny giving hugs :)


Walkers!

Ben kept touching Jack's hair all week...?

They liked the baby jogger - close quarters!

Some of our play activities over the week - our first time coloring, and our first time watching a little bit of Sesame St!

Visit to Beverly Elementary

We visited Ben & Jack's Honey at Beverly Elementary on the last day of school this year. Ben & Jack had a picnic lunch in Honey's room, had a blast exploring all the fun stuff in Honey's room, and enjoyed touring Beverly to say hello to all of Honey's friends. Ben used his sign skills and held his hand out in "hello" to all the big kids. Jack smiled at a fourth grade girl and held his hand out to her in hello. But the big hit was one of their Honey's students, named Ryan. Susie has told us that Ryan has seen Ben & Jack's pictures throughout the year and when we strolled over to his room he came over and gave them a big hug in greeting! We saw him a few minutes later in the hall with his mom and she took a picture, which she shared with Susie, so I had to include it here! Isn't he so cute?! Ben & Jack liked Ryan and waved "bye-bye" to him as he left. What a fun day!

Sign & Sing

Today was our last sign & sing class. We will probably do a kindermusic class again because the boys loved it, but I'll continue to try to do signing at home on our own. The last three weeks we had Aunt La come with us, then Honey, and today Daddy! It's nice having help and the boys love having extra attention.

Class always starts with a hello song, and Ben & Jack like that one. Ben can sign "hello" and I've seen him do "more" some at home, and Jack can sign "all done," but other than that we haven't had a whole lot of signing. However, since we've started the class I can definitely say that language has exploded! My baby journal is in their room right now where I'm keeping track of all of their words, but we're probably in the 10-12 word range right now. Their most common words of course are mama, dada, bye-bye, uh-oh, duck, & Jah (Ben). Ben says a few more words than Jack right now, but he will more often try to mimic what we're saying than Jack. Jack also still uses his pacifier at night; hope that's not holding his language back.

They love walking around the room, visiting with their friends, walking up to Ms. Chelsea while she's singing, and playing with the different items she gets out. Every class has a "rest" period, and Ben & Jack have started laying their heads down even at home when you ask them if they're tired. So cute! They lay around alot in the class, which is funny. I think it's because a couple of the kids in class are younger - Jack especially will go up to the babies and tilt his head over to look at them. Their favorite part of class is when it's time to clean up - they love helping and putting things away. We are sad this class is ended, but I'm sure we'll find another one sometime soon.

15 month check-up

The boys had their 15 month check-ups today. Ben is 22 lb.s, 3 oz (24%) and Jack is 20 lb.s 13 oz (8%). Both boys are 31.5 in in length (60%) and 18.5 head circumference (40%). Dr. D said Jack is long & lean, and Jonathan said "Just like his parents!" Haha :)

When we got to the doctor's office the boys got to walk around, which was a first! We have always had them in the stroller or carried them; now that they're walking it's a whole new world. Milestone! I checked us in and paid and turned around to see them checking out the waiting room toys and fish and I just smiled - so different than our previous visits. What big boys they are becoming!

We of course have to brag on their Ages & Stages Questionnaire(s). I don't know what their scores were, but their stars were all off the charts. I figured they were good, because as we filled it out we had no concerns, but it's still nice to hear that they're making good progress from the doctor. He was most impressed with their language scores which was high for their age. Also, way to start walking right before this, boys! Lots of Qs related to gross motor skills/walking. So, wow! Who needed those 4 extra weeks of gestation? Well, maybe 8% weight Jack, but I still say everyone's doing fantastic! And more importantly, so does Dr. D, which is what really matters here.

They did great even though naptime was delayed by about an hour and a half. My precious boys are sleeping now; here are a couple of them in the exam room.

Poor Benny woke up with allergies this morning out of nowhere. He's so cute, though - he mimics me blowing out and does a good job blowing his nose! He's even started picking up tissues and napkins and wiping it around his nose. Aggghhh, these are the two cutest babies that ever lived!!! In my opinion :)

Little Climber

This last week at LittleGym, Jack has really started to discover his talent for climbing. Honey went with us last week, which was so much fun! Then we went again on Saturday with Daddy, and I'm glad he was there to play with Ben, because Jack refused to leave this one piece of equipment. He was sort of obsessed with it last Thursday, but on Saturday he pretty much refused to leave it at all. It's a set of parallel bars with a soft block in the middle, and he loves climbing on the block. So ever since then, he's been climbing everything at home! We had to put up one of their little cars because he was climbing on the safety bar. Yesterday I caught him stepping on their dinosaur push toy to get up on top of the coffee table! He thought he was soooo clever. Today he was climbing on top of the overturned laundry basket, but I have to say that he was doing really well at getting down safely. Ohhhh, Jack. Silly, rascally Jack.

Love his proud expression!

He did this all by himself. And thought it was hilarious.

We thought it was funny too, until he started putting his feet on the yellow safety bar to climb on top. No pictures of that.

Ben, meanwhile, doesn't understand all this foolishness. Pushing cars around is serious business. He loves to climb at Little Gym, too, but (so far, at least) safely. He'll climb up the incline block and slide down or climb up the steps and look to me for help getting down. He seems to be more cautious than Jack at TLG, and seems to weigh potential consequences more. For example, he'll climb up a block and look around before deciding to go back the way he came, continue forward, or look to me for help. At least so far; I'm sure this will all change next week. :)

Stop, investigate this long strap, then keep moving.

This train goes from the kitchen, through the dining & living rooms, down the hall, peeks into the bathroom if the door is open, and into the boys' room, then turns around. All aboard!

Here's a couple more cute pics of Jack in Buddy's crate. I like the first one of Buddy looking at the camera, like, "really?"

Ben: Okay, I'm going to close the door, now.