Amazing Babies!

Every parent thinks their kid is wonderful and brilliant, and Steve and I are no exception to that rule!  I am amazed every day at the leaps and bounds the boys make, ESPECIALLY since they were born premature (35 weeks, 3 days) and should, therefore, be a month behind the developmental "milestones" all the books say.  But they're not!

Matthew and Nathan now recognize and smile at each other!  They've recognized Steve and myself for several weeks now, but when we put them in the "washing machine" and the Jumparoo facing each other, they stare and laugh and giggle at each other.  That's another thing they started doing this month: laughing out loud and giggling.  It's the best sound in the world!

This photo is about a month old, so Nathan's not diggin Matthew in Jumparoo quite yet, but it's how we set them up during playtime.  Matthew is looking at Nathan, though, perhaps thinking, hey, there's a baby in my toy!  Now they love to jump, jump, jump and spin, spin, spin!

The boys are also recognizing their names.  If I were really smart, I'd be able to upload the video of Nathan jumping in his Jumparoo, and turning toward me when I call his name.  It's so sweet!

When I nurse them on my twins nursing pillow, they hold hands.  They've been doing it for months and it's a really special time.  I know they won't do it much longer because it has advanced to poking each other in the eye and pushing the other off of his...um...lunchplate.  The amazing part is that the pushed one just keeps right on eating and pushes back!

We give them each a fortified baba at bedtime and they've discovered they can hold it.  I swear if Matthew could talk, he'd be saying, "No, Mama!  I do it myself!"  I KNOW that's coming in the future!

The boys love to imitate speech.  They seem to do it most when we are talking to each other, even though we talk to them!  I guess they want to be part of the conversation.  The boys were lying together on the play mat while Steve and I sat on the floor with them and talked about his day after he came home.  Both of them started jabbering away!  We stopped to talk to them, and they quieted back down.  Then, last night, Steve was playing 'airplane' with Matthew - they love that, too - and making funny sounds when he came down to 'land.' Matthew would then imitate the "aaaaaaOOOOHHHH" sound Steve was making at landing.  So sweet!

Both boys love their bathtime and have figured out that splashing Mommy and Daddy is quite hilarious!  To give you an idea of how big they've grown, the next two pictures are Steve and Nathan at about two weeks, then again about 4 1/2 months:

 

They are not yet sitting up on their own, so we still have time to bathe them in their whale tub, thank goodness!  It's a back saver.

Today's last picture is their 'five month' photo.  It's just an everyday shot on our big overstuffed chair.  I thought I'd start using that for their monthly phots so you can see how big they get each month.  The T shirt is from Aunt P. and it says, "This IS my costume!" (Maybe we'll 'do' Halloween next year).