18 months

Everytime I think about writing this I get overwhelmed.  So I'm going to attempt to just bullet information so I can have it recorded.  We'll see how I do.

Emily

• You are all personality.  You are quite the entertainer and you LOVE attention.  For sure you are more outgoing than your brother.
• With your larger than life personality comes huge tantrums.  Your arched back and flailing arms are now accompanied by, "No, no, no."  Your normal triggers are:
• someone helping you when you don't want it.  This usually happens during dinner and food normally ends up being flung or thrown on the floor.
• diaper changes.
• when something is taken from you.  Mostly I have to take my phone and wallet from you and you really would like to keep them.
• You take care of your brother.  You often bring him his blankets or his pacifier.  Often you even put his pacifier in his mouth for him. 
• You love babies.  You have three that you carry around and push in the stroller.  You also love babies that we see and you like to look at pictures of babies on the Internet too.  (Babies are any kids to you.  It doesn't matter if they are 3 months or 9 years old.  We are working on girl and boy.)
• You love the stairs.  You have become very fast and I can't sneak up and down the stairs anymore.  You make it up before I get back down.  You often prefer to be carried down the stairs though.  Mostly in the morning.
• You're very attached to your blanket.  It is a good thing I found a back up.  You still fall asleep with your blanket under your nose.  Every morning you insist on taking ALL the blankets from your crib downstairs with you.
• You love to dance... mostly to Daddy's music and you still clap at the end of every song. 
• You still are a picky eater.  You'd prefer to eat pastries and sweets.  You really don't like meat unless it is a hot dog.  You love beans & cheese, avocados, cheese, pretty much all fruits, yogurt, tomatoes, graham crackers
• You like to make noise with your feet.  You do a little dance that looks like you are tap dancing.
• You love my purse and would prefer if I left it open so you could play with my wallet too.  You normally are satisfied with pulling it around on the floor.  You also really like to play with my sunglasses.  I have given you a headband to wear and you like to try to put it on but you don't leave it in your hair.
• Maddy barking at the three little dogs next door really scares you.  A few nights ago you started screaming bloody murder and shaking when she headed in that direction.
• You are slowly beginning to talk more and more.  Your favorite word is Papa but you add extra emphasis on the second Pa so it sounds like you are looking for him.  You also do great animal sounds.  Some of the words you know:
• Many animal noises (Baa, Moo, Woof, Meow, Neigh, Cock-a-doodle-doo (with the rooster sign)
• Papa, Nana, Mama
• Milk, Banana
• Ball
• Shoe and Hat
• Baby
• Truck, Car, Bike, Boat, Choo Choo
• You're not so sure about the beach but once you got used to the sand you loved to play in it.  You never really loved the water but it was pretty cold.
• You have started having laughing fits.  It is so funny to see you belly laugh at the silliest things.  Usually it is something that your brother is doing.  Tonight you both were cracking up about Sam walking around in his bath towel. 
• You have finally caught up and surpassed your brother when it comes to teeth.  Since June you have gotten in all 4 of your molars and your two front teeth.

Sam

• You have become quite the chatterbox in the last month or so.  You really have been working on your words.  You do a lot of pointing and waiting for someone to say what you are pointing to.  On our road trip you worked on learning the names of all things with wheels.  We have the book 101 First Words: Things That Go and you LOVE it.  I think you "read" that book almost everyday.  You love to point out trucks, cars, lawn mowers, choo choos, bikes and boats where ever we go. 
• You recently have learned the word up, but you use it for down also.  When you are done with dinner you ask for up.  Which really means you want down.  (You did start saying down last week and now you use down when you really mean up.)
• Some other words you know:
• WuWu = LuLu, what we have been calling Emily
• Many animal noises (Baa, Moo, Woof, Bawk (chicken), Meow, ArfArf (seal), Neigh, Cock-a-doodle-doo (with the rooster sign)
• Papa, Nana, Mama, Dada, Sadie
• Milk, Banana
• Ball and sometimes basketball and football
• Kitty and Fish
• Up and Down
• Shoe and Hat
• Baby
• Truck, Car, Bike, Boat, Choo Choo
• You've been working on spoon, bump and tonight.. noodle
• Lately you have really started to whine when you want something.  You still rarely cry but you fake cry (no tears) when you are mad.  Your sister is known to want everything you have and when she takes something that is yours you stomp your feet and say, "No, no, no."
• You really like kitties and they seem to like you too.  We ran into a couple of cats while on our trip and you were very excited to see them both.  Meg also has a cat, named Kitty, and by the pictures she sends me you like her a lot too.
• You LOVE your cars and anything with wheels.  You line them up and drive them all over.  You make car noises whenever you see wheels.  You have been known to push around the pink doll stroller while making vroom, vroom noises.
• You are still more reserved than your sister and take a little bit longer to warm up to people.  We can usually count on an enthusiastic "bye" whenever we leave though.  You even say bye to everything when you go to bed.
• You are still a great eater and eat pretty much anything we give to you. 
• You love to push carts and your strollers and you are very focused on pushing. You also like brooms and lint rollers.
• You continue to be the early riser.  The other morning I could hear you in your room saying, "WuWu, WuWu."  I think you were trying to wake up your sister. 
• You LOVED the beach and we had to be really careful to watch you so you didn't just run all the way in and fall down. 
• You really started hugging in the last month or two.  It is so cute to see you hug your sister.  Most of the time we ask you to do it but sometimes you do it on your own. 
• You just got your first molar a couple of weeks ago.  It is the top right molar and it really gave you a hard time.  It was the first tooth we could tell was coming in because of the way you acted.
• You still LOVE to go outside and race to get out before the door closes. 

We are starting to see more and more interaction between the two of you.  You are beginning to play together rather than just next to each other.  You LOVE to chase each other and sometimes you run around pushing strollers together.  You are starting to make each other laugh more and you seem to like it when the other is laughing.  Most of the time Sam is doing something that makes Emily laugh.  I can see a ton of trouble that the two of you will get into together, but right now there is nothing better than the sound of the two of you cracking each other up filling the house.

I can't believe that you two are closer to two years old than one.  In the last month you have really become toddlers.  I see very little of my little babies anymore.  I still get snuggles and quick hugs but it is hard to keep you still.  I love to watch you figure things out and become your own little people.