Update: The babies are old af

You guyyyyyys, it seems like they're not even babies anymore! :(

... OK OK OK, maybe Robs is still a baby.

But for real, Ana is turning 3 on Saturday and Robs turns 1 like, three weeks after that. Wahhhhh.

Wanna know what's up with these little nuggets? I took some notes in my iPhone, per usual, so here, let's do a lil update! Since it's me, you know this will prly be long. (Should I do a TL;DR version? Maybe next time).

Ana:

Is *in* on the "Bob" jokes. Just the other day, she called him BOBBBBBBY, and then she's like, constantly correcting us if we call him a version of Bob in which she doesn't approve. For example, around Halloween, he was Dinosaur Bob to us, and one day, she approached James and me very seriously, saying, like, in a firm but calm way, "No, he's NOT." We thought she was pissed for a sec, but she broke into a small smile and said, "He's Spaghetti Bob!"  Haha and she'll do the same thing with Banana Bob. Some days she'll just insist that he's only to be called Banana Bob (which is pronounced, if you're Anz, "Bee-anna Bob!" We laugh and laugh at this crazy girl.

She says the funniest things. (I know, says every toddler mom, right?). But like, recently I asked, "Isn't Robby getting SO BIG?" And she answered v enthusiastically, "He's getting to be a RILLY BIG BOY, mommy!"  Haha we kinda pretend he's "our" baby, especially when Jim is working weekends. She's my little helper, and she loves pretending to be his mom. <-- which is weird but like, helpful? So I'll take it!

Grabbed this from the dollar bin at Target and thought, "If I could get ONE pic in this silly headband, it'd be money well-spent!"

She's also a little sass ball at times, although, as always, a sweet one. Like, she'll say rude things, but she doesn't mean to be malicious, if that makes sense. I'm not sure where she hears these expressions, but one day she kept yelling, "GET YOUR OWN TOYS AND GET YOUR OWN FRIENDS, WOBBY!" Yet, she had a smile on her face. She didn't even seem mad at him; she was just spewing that Haterade. OMG it was so hard not to laugh. My mom was even like, "Where'd she hear that?" Also, "friends? She doesn't have any friends either!"  (haha I'm sure she said it a little more gently than this. The point being, without day care, my children aren't really socialized). Yes guys, for clarification: She considers her stuffed animals to be her friends (is that sad or cute? You decide).  So basically, she wanted Robs to GTFO of them.

Other funny sayings: She saw a baby in the waiting area at gymnastics class recently and ran past him yelling, "A baby? Ohhhh we got one of 'doze at home!" Or, in reaction to the news that we would be having pizza for dinner, "Ahhhh, PIZZA? Sounds so good! Delicious! In my tummy!" Like, same, girl. Saaaame.

Or when Candace was over and used the bathroom: (Ana stands outside the door, listening in like some kind of creep) -- and then calls out, "I hear pee-peeeeeee!" and then runs over to me, clapping her hands in support. OMG we were dying.

I kinda forget the context here, but I had to ask her to put something down recently, and she was all, "But I want to be just like YOU, mommy!" and even James said something like, "Lord, that's seriously heart-melting." She watches our every move. She notices. She wants to be like us. She is such a tiny human.

I couldn't love her more if I tried. I've said this before and I'll say it again: the 2s have notttt been terrible for us. Not even a little bit. And that's not to say she's perfect; she's still 2 and she has her moments. But like, overall, this has just been such a lovely year and I'm really sad to see it go! I've cherished a ton, and the development has been astounding.

The most loving big sister

I'm also here to report back on the potty-training front: I could look, but I don't feel like it. I think last time I blogged, I said it was going better, but still a bit hit-or-miss? MAN has it ever improved. I'm now 100 percent in the camp of people who say you can't really teach them, or make them, go. They just do it when they're ready. It sounds simple, so why do people try to rush it or make it happen?

Like, oh, your kid isn't potty-trained yet? He's just not ready. Ana wasn't for awhile. I was kiiiind of starting to sweat it out, but we had decided we'd read the books and take more drastic measures once she turned 3. And now it appears that the day will never arrive. Because outside of overnights and occasional #2s, she goes. And it's been AWESOME. She had been showing interest for almost a year but wouldn't go consistently. The next thing you knew, basically overnight, she was excited about the potty. So I'll say it again, just like, with regards to our experience here: There's no magic age. There's no magic trick (although M&Ms help). I think it depends on the kid and I'm just gladddd to say we've finally (mostly!) arrived.

Girlfriend also loves ... Shrek. The original and the musical, thank you, Netflix. I love listening to her talk about Shrek. "And the brave knight and the don-keh and Princess Fiona, MUMMA." Also loves her ballerina skirt, dancing, the Grinch, treats (she will BEG you for fruit snacks), and milk.

She's still so focused on the concept of time. "Haven't seen dat in awhile." Or "you me-member that?" ... "We do that tomorrow? Yesterday? Is it evening?" Sometimes she's a little off, as in, "Shrek? We haven't seen dat in awhile," when it's like, "No bear, we watched Shrek an hour ago, let's take a few plays off." But I think it's so grown-up that she wants to know how to navigate the world and interpret time like the rest of us. I also called out to Jim the other afternoon, "Babe, what time is it?" And she came barreling down the hallway like a tiny drunk, yelling, "Two nine forty!" Like, did I catch a niner in there? Oh my goshhhh, the entertainment never ends.

A few weeks ago, I took Anz to Great Lakes Crossing, where she loves to play with this toy car (one of the kind where you put quarters in, but she'll still go sit and pretend, even without the thing turning on) -- and she kept slamming the "car door" and yelling, "USB! Play podcast!" And well, it took me a second to make out that second part, but then it dawned on me that she was "being mumma," haha, yelling at the Siri-type woman in my car to play the Podcast app through Bluetooth. She honestly picks up on everything!

The singing and dancing are truly next level. I heard that sweet little voice signing "Try Everything" by Sia while driving back from my parents' and I just thought it was so sweet, like, to actually recognize a song that she's singing, and a song that isn't quite "Itsy Bitsy Spider," at that.

She's big into the idea of Christmas and Santa coming, and lovvvves to look at lights and sing holiday songs, so I have to imagine this is going to be a really exciting month for her. For her birthday, we're taking her back to Crossroads Village ("train party," we're calling it), which is where we went last year too. The train takes you all over and there are a bunch of lights set up and I think she's gonna love it even more this time around -- although, is that the kiss of death for any experience? Our own expectations? Ha that feels like a separate blog!

I already feel like I'm sharing way too many Anz snippets, so I'll try to cap this in a sec!

Matching PJ friends

One morning, she decided she was playing the recorder, and kept holding this toy up to her face as if it were a real recorder. James and I were like, "We don't even know where you heard about a recorder. What?!" Oh, and we have SO MANY instances like that. We're constantly just like, Anz, where'd you hear that? Where'd you learn that? What expression did you just use?

You can talk to her about anything. She understands everything. I'm not sure when we stopped having a language barrier, but like, even if a concept is over her head, she'll make a joke about "that's silly," or say like, "but what does it meannnnn?"

Here are some final Ana quotes. I hope I never forget her saying ... "c'monnnn, yittah buddy!" (to Robs, of course). "You not wearing any socks, mumma? You only wearing you toes?" ... "Mumma, you look like Dipsy!" (when my hair's all piled on top of my head). "By JANE MARCO-FAN MEESE." <--- Yeah, I realize that one might not make a lot of sense to anyone else, but she's big on reading the author's and illustrator's names when we're reading books, and sometimes she'll just ... make up a new name for an author. She thinks that's the funniest. Some go-tos would include Mary Foofdee, Mary Murphy and the aforementioned Jane. Like, why is she the weirdest human already? (That is pretty funny though, I'm not gonna lie). Same sense of humor, clearly!

K, let's pivot and talk about our BIG BIG BIG BIG BOYYYY, if anyone follows me on Snap and wants to murder me for saying that every damn day.   ;)

Robby:

This guy. Is so good-natured! That's like, by design, of course. He's just used to getting things ripped off him, all day long. "Oh, I'm loving this toy, ma!" his expression says to me as he smiles at the plastic Cookie Monster figurine. And then Ana will run in out of nowhere -- I swear, she sniffs out his happiness like a drug-sniffing dog -- and something in her brain says, "TAKE THE TOY, ANZ. DON'T LET YOUR BROTHER EXPERIENCE *ANY* HAPPINESS, NO MATTER WHAT." This is her one job in life. So Robs inevitably gets the toy taken, shrugs, and keeps it moving. We were at Jenny and Jared's around Thanksgiving time, and Robby, being the youngest of the pack, got a lotttt of stuff stolen. He was generally unfazed. What a good lil babe!

Baskets of Bob

Also, kinda funny how Ana parents him -- like, she doles out "lessons" that *she* needs. "You have to be more patient, Wobby. We don't rip books, Wobby." <--- Oh really, Anz?

Robs' laugh remains like, one of my all-time favorite things about him and I wish I could bottle it. It's just so chortley and old-man-like and funny. I swear, you can't just hear it and then keep a straight face. It's hysterical. Once Ana or James or someone has him going, the whole house is laughing.

He's not walking yet, but we do get that question a lot. For a few months now, he's been cruising the furniture, pulling up on everything, balancing on his own -- but we're still waiting for those first steps. I'm not worried about it; like everything else, it's like, one day they just start doing it and you wonder what life was like even a week ago. Plus, I think 12 months is officially average on the walking front, so it's certainly not like he's slow by any means. I think because he's always seemed so big and strong, we had a bunch of predictions that he'd be early. But yeah, he's pacing toward right on time!

He eats a TON. Like, way more than Ana, and some days, more than James. We're still doing baby-led weaning, for the most part, although I do offer some purees; mostly because he's known to toss his veggies off the high-chair tray. We tried this subscription-based service called Little Spoon, but I just canceled actually, because now we have 8 million little containers in our fridge and it takes him sooooo long to make his way through just one. He'll do a few bites a meal, but they deliver every other week, and it was just too much. Basically, the idea behind Little Spoon is that the baby food you see at the grocery store has been sitting there for months, if not years. Also, too often, it's loaded with sugar -- largely, natural sugar, like from fruit, but like, way too much of it. So, Little Spoon makes its baby food fresh, and offers super interesting blends. For example, quinoa, squash, flax, ginger, beets, etc.  Stuff that you might not find in other purees. Anyway, like I said, we kinda signed on to supplement fruits and veggies. He doesn't love taking food off a spoon and I don't love the idea of pre-loading. But whatever; I can largely get these down the hatch, even if it's a slow process (dude actually loves beets) and in some ways, I wish he'd take the blends more!

Looking skeptical, tbh

Robs turns into an absolute animal -- for real; super ferocious -- if you're not feeding him/loading up his tray fast enough. He'll yell, pound his fists, the whole 9 yards.

And did I tell you he got a TOOTH? Two in one, really! The bottom center two popped in on the same day. This was probably only a few weeks ago, so we've been waiting on this moment.

Baby boy loves: food (as mentioned; mostly eggs), the bright lights coming off the TV (sorry, that's just what happens what you have an older sibling), his sister, GRANDBOB, the sound of his own voice, esp when it echoes, climbing the stairs (and escaping from us so that he can try to do it alone, phew that's a nightmare), laughing, sleeping (most days), changes in scenery/leaving the house, staring down strangers, and trying to steal Anz's sippie cups.

Baby boy hates: his life when he wakes up in the morning, his car seat, and letting anyone feed him (he'd rather do it himself, BYE).

We laugh because he is the all time happiest baby boy, but he wakes up so mad every day, without fail. Like, the absolute saddest cries and then we go in and he's making the angriest faces. Also, see above, he sleeps *great*. Like, I'm not even gonna talk about how much, for fear of jinxing it. He can't be upset over quality of sleep -- notttt an issue. So what makes him all riled up? He does this after naps, too. We used to go into Anzie's room after a nap and we would be greeted by her excitement -- a huge smile or squeal. With Robby, it's the same upset face.  :(

But then you get all, "MR. ROBS! WHAT'S UP DUDE, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE BOTHERING YOU THIS BAD?" And you make a big scene (well, if you're us), and he finds himself unable to hang onto the cranks. He's smiling in no time at all. Similarly, sometimes that crank face will come back if he's having a good time being held, and then you set him down. Guy lovvvves being held.

I love them so much. I'm scared to even get a word count; this was excessive af.

More stories coming though -- you know I have to do the birthday posts, obviously.

Big changes over here! I'm v sorry that I write long and you'll never get those 20 minutes back. ;)