2 years old / 2 months old

Our babies are 2 & 2 - years and months, that is! Owen had a wonderful birthday party and got lots of great presents. He had a real "big boy" party with a fun jump and lots of friends and at the end of it all he needed a good bath and a long nap. He got his first two-wheel bike (with no pedals - it's a balance bike) and his first scooter so he's a guy with wheels!

Owen's development at 2 years:

• He is talking up a storm (no surprise) and has learned to sing the ABC song all by himself and he has added 11 to his counting
• He will count a small group of objects and can easily identify groups of 1 or 2 objects
• He will identify most shapes most of the time
• He asks what and where questions often (and will often answer himself)
• He eats with a fork and spoon and drinks out of a cup with just occasional spilling
• He is learning to pull his pants/shorts up and we're toying with the idea of potty training as he's used his little potty lots of times and can now sit on it and get off of it independently
• He uses lots of pretend play and loves to imitate grown up activities like caring for baby and cooking while playing - he also loves to roar like a monster and hit lots of things with long sticks!
• He will retell events in several sentences and tends to repeat these little retellings over and over (and over) again for a few days in a row
• He loves to draw and paint and will make circular shapes as well as lines with pencils, pens, markers, and crayons
• He still loves to read books and will sit through the reading of several books in a row - hopefully we'll get to storytime at the library most times this fall
• He identifies the post office, the library, Target, and the book store when we pass them or drive up to them (where do you think we spend most of our time if we're not at home? I'll give you three guesses...)
• He climbs up on small chairs and stools to reach EVERYTHING he shouldn't that is on the counter

Those are the top things Owen has been doing lately and I'm sure there will be more in the months to come. Here's the latest on our sweet girl:

• She was 14 lbs and 24 inches long at her 2 month visit last week and these are almost the same measurements as Owen at 2 months!
• She's smiling and cooing and we are loving it
• She is trying to reach for (and sometimes touches) the toys dangling above her on her playmat
• She holds her head up at 45 degrees while on her tummy (she's VERY strong)
• She rolls from her back to her side and looks like she wants to keep going and roll to her tummy so we'll see what she does in the next few weeks
• And, drumroll please, she sleeps 5-6 hours at night then goes back to sleep for another 2-3!!!!!!!! I have not done anything different than I did with Owen and I still don't know how to make babies sleep but I'm sure glad Anna Claire does!

Well that's the latest on our babies (I guess I should say our big boy and our sweet baby girl) and here a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

a sleeping beautyOwen's first two wheel bike and helmet!Curious George and Owen's favorite color - yellow -

were the themes for this party (can you tell?)a boy enjoying his birthday cake!