The teeth doth cometh

After many months of constant drool, fingers in the mouth, grumpy behavior and sleepless nights, I've finally figured out that it's the kids that should be constantly drooling, putting their fingers in their mouths, being grumpy and not sleeping through the night, not me.

Yes, the first teeth have arrived. Reece popped one on Sunday, and a second one on Monday, both on the lower jaw. And not to be outdone by her brother, Lorelai seems to have popped one today. I don't know if that is normal for siblings (twins) to do it at around the same time, but it seems a little surprising.

They're both doing fairly well with the whole thing, more fascinated by the new sharp thing in their mouth than pained by it. Both are waking up more during the night and needing a little more comfort, but it's not full on wail all night long like I've heard other kids go through. Of course, these are tiny little teeth, not molars or anything, so we're not throwing away the Oragel just yet.

Reece suddenly started clapping his hands yesterday too, and finds it quite amusing to do when he is already happy. He becomes quite ecstatic after a few little claps.

Lorelai has really picked up her crawling pace, and Reece is able to walk around the room, maybe 15 steps at a time without falling if he doesn't get too excited. They're pulling themselves up on anything they can so watch where you lay down around here, or you may end up a baby supporter for an hour or so. Of course standing a lot means falling a lot, and there have been bumps and bruises and scrapes already, but they're learning how to fall better all the time.

We've started taking more walks outside without the stroller when we are both available, with a baby on our shoulders or in our arms, or walking with them as they hold our hands. They love to laugh and giggle as they feel the wind and see leaves moving on the sidewalk. Everything they see is new to them, and amazing to them, and it's wonderful and depressing at the same time. I would love to be able to go back to see all these things for the first time, and to remember it more clearly. We're trying to take pictures and videos when we can, but it's hard when no one has a free hand.

However, they are starting to play together more. Yesterday (Veteran's Day here), we spent the day at home after a quick trip to Target, watching the rain pour down and the wind howl. At one point, Lisa and I were both ready books, and the kids were playing for almost 45 minutes. It dawned on me later that night that they're starting to become more independent and from now on, they'll need us less and less every day. As liberating as that sounds, it also made me kind of sad, in a nostaligic kind of way. That feeling lasted until about 3:00 this morning when I was trying to find a way to get Reece back to sleep without handing him back to Lisa. After 45 minutes, she took pity on me, and probably figured she'd get more sleep if she just stuck the boob back in his mouth, and I went back to sleep. Nostalgia. Bleah!

The additional free time has allowed us to get more projects done, like hanging pictures of the babies up, and organizing and cleaning up the office, and putting together picture collections for the baby books. Projects don't always get done the same day (week) we start them, but they are getting done, and that's what counts. I imagine I'll have even more time if the Hollywood writer's strike goes on much longer and the few shows I watch go into reruns. The only ones we watch anymore are Heroes, House, My Name is Earl, and CSI (Vegas). I try to keep my TV watching to a minimum except for football on Sundays and sometimes the history channel on Saturdays. Sooner or later I'll get back to writing again. Does this count?