So the twins turned 1 on July 16th! It was an eventful day! Their cousins Selena & Damian came over and Nonna, too! Massimo had school so they got to have fun without any interruptions from him for part of the day. After dinner we celebrated with some cake - which neither one was too into. Dante cried...but he had already been cranky during his dinner so I think he was quite done with any food and being in his chair. Abrianna touched hers a little but wasn't too interested in it...a few days later she ate some of the cake and liked it! They had lots of fun opening their presents - of course Massimo had a hand in that and just wanted to play with all their toys! Dante's favorite toy is a little baseball stand with a bat (yikes, a bat with these 2watch out!) and Abrianna's favorite toy is a little playhouse which has little people, music and lots of buttons and things to push. It's hard to believe a year has gone by...some days (especially when I'm really tired) it feels like 3! This is a fun time with them as they will (hopefully) start walking and talking and we'll do lots of fun things as a family...I know Massimo is loving having 2 playmates more and more every day!
So as much as we love that Massimo is talking much better - since he's been in speech therapy - and mind you when I ask him what we are doing tomorrow, it's always, see Janice? No, we are not seeing Janice (he's very fond of his speech therapist-whew!)...BUT...there's a downside to the talking...uh-oh...mommy said a bad word...lots of bad words...put those ear phones on and listen to your movie in the car (that's where mommy swears the most). Massimo loves to ask "What are you doing?" "Where are we going?","What happened?" and the infamous question that I am learning how to to deal with is "WHY?". Unfortunately Abrianna doesn't seem to be lacking in the vocal department, I guess I better get my tongue under control and quick! Abrianna says bye, hi, dada, baba (which is what she says when we ask her to say mama), dis (when she points to something we think she is trying to say "this"), she seems to be able to say "all done"- well, her version of it at least but she will repeat it, and she is clapping, blowing kisses, waves her hand, dances to any music, and her all time favorite thing to do is blow raspberries...but it's more like a sassy spitting at you and unfortunately Massimo loves to copy this and have raspberry wars at the table with her. Dante says dada, some babbling, not too many words out of him yet. He is just starting to wave, claps his hands, rocks to the music and he too has been doing the annoying raspberries and I think he is doing it quite purposefully lately just like Abrianna. Dante has a ton of energy and loves to scream when he gets excited, especially when he chases a ball, sees Massimo running around or racing his truck around, or just when he's having a lot of fun! We've got three very high energy kids around here which is taking it all out of me! I look forward to 8pm every night when everyone is in bed (and asleep - hopefully)!
This summer has been busy! Massimo is in swim lessons & gymnastics and loving both! Abrianna just started swim lessons and is loving the water...I am not loving how much splashing she does as I can't even keep my eyes open! Surely she is going to be just like big brother and crazy about the water. Abrianna is getting very close to walking but hasn't gotten that confidence yet, whereas Dante is finally standing up on his own but hasn't figured out cruising quite yet. The twins have a lot of fun together and fight over toys A LOT...actually all 3 do! Massimo asks me all the time if Dante & Abi "come out play" - to come out of their "cage" and play with him in "his" room - formerly our formal living room which is now cluttered with a train table and lots of toys! We're going to have to teach Massimo that it is not HIS room because it's soon to be all 3 of theirs! Our once spacious home has turned into rooms with toys!
This summer we've been to the Oakland Zoo, Alameda County Fair, swimming, trips to the park, and hopefully a vacation...oh I mean "trip" (it's not going to be a vacation with 3 kids) soon!
Fun at the SF Aquarium by the Bay
We took a trip to the SF Aquarium by the Bay today to satisfy Massimo's constant wish to "see the ocean and fishies". At the end of the day we asked Massimo if he had fun (yes, of course he says) and his most favorite thing was the...scuba diver! Yes, that's all he talked about when we asked him what he saw. Of course when we jogged his memory and talked about the fish and what we did he enjoyed "finding Nemo" (one of his favorite movies - and where the fascination of scuba divers all started...don't be surprised if that's what he ends up being for Halloween!) and touching the Stingray and sharks...and outside of the aquarium he got to see trains (Bart), trolleys, buses, and of course the ocean! It was all very exciting for him to be in a big city like that with so much variety around him...so many things to see. The twins loved it, too. Abrianna got to interact a lot more since she is walking and more able, it was a little hard to let Dante crawl so he got to snack and check it all out from stroller view. He did get out at the end in the toddler area and got to touch the sea urchins and he loved that so much! He got really excited watching all the fish swim by. It was a fun day (and tiring chasing after at least 2 and sometimes 3).
