I think they know more than they're letting on...

For the first year or so, Owen and Mason's physical development was particularly impressive. They grew and grew, learned to hold their heads up, learned to roll over, learned to crawl, to pull up, to cruise, and, eventually, to walk. They moved from formula to cereal to baby food to table food, and from the bottle to sippy cups. During the last couple of months, however-even though they are polishing their physical skills-they have REALLY been growing in their language and in their understanding of the world around them. Big skills like holding a pencil and learning to draw came to them after only one example. They already have a good understanding that letters represent sounds. They can interpret entire phrases that Erin and I say, doing some pretty complex tasks on command. They have made the connection between pictures, drawings, and life around them. And, of course, they keep learning more and more words.

Recently Mason walked into his "pentagon" (the fenced-in play area in our living room) and took the play phone off the hook, put it to his ear, and started walking around the house "talking" to it. I guess he had been paying attention all this time!

The other day, when Erin asked Owen where his truck was, he walked over to it, sqatted down by it, and starting going "VROOOOOOM!" It's just too funny to us - "truck" isn't one of the words they say, but they sure as heck know what it is and what sound it makes.

The other day, I was paying for dinner at Carrabba's and I gave Mason my debit card to hold while we waited for our waiter. He looked at it, then started tapping on my picture, saying "Da Da Da." We were all blown away because we didn't even know that he knew the term DaDa, much less could recognize me in a little picture on my card.

I was in the living room with Owen and he was holding a little bird magnet that he has. He let me know that it was a "quack-quack," and I agreed. I said "Owen, go put that back on your board." Owen got up, walked across the house to his bedroom and to his magnetic board, and stuck it on there. Both Owen and Mason have started doing a lot of things like that. If you tell Mason "go give this to Owen," he'll take it right over to him. The other day when Mason was crying, Owen found a pacifier and brought it to him. Too cute.

They are also learning their body parts. For a while now they have known eyes, but just recently, we realized they knew their head and their toes. We couldn't figure out how they even knew it - we hadn't taught them and it's not like they're in daycare - until finally we realized that they had seen the "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" song/video on their DVD player while we were going to Austin. There are just a ton of words that they understand but can't say yet.

Of course they're saying some words, too. Their new favorite things are their A&M hats and their shoes. Mason can say "tat" for hat, and they both say "sus" for shoes. When you say "let's put your shoes on," they will sit down and hold up a foot so you can put it on. Actually, they love putting their shoes on - if they see them they want to wear them all around. We have to hide them. Earlier today we left one pair of crocs out and they just had to have them. We put one shoe on each guy and they were content, limping all around the house. They love to wear their hats now, too. Owen and Mason will beg you to put their hat on them. Then they'll walk all around wearing it proudly, until their curiosity gets the better of them and they pull it off. Then they come running to us to put it right back on.

They will also lay down if you say "let's change your diaper!" They can say "dah pah" or something like that for "diaper," Mason can say "tee" for tree, and the other day Owen suprised us with "bobble" (bottle) when we asked him what his sippy cup was called - has he known the word bottle for the last 2.5 months (since we switched to sippies) without us knowing? I guess so!

They are adding to their reportoire of animal sounds as well. The latest is a "owwww" for a dying cat. Well, it sounds like a dying cat but it's for any cat - but it's a dead-on (no pun intended) imitation of Sully when she's blocked in the kitchen by the baby gates. No, Sully's not dying, don't worry.

They are learning some letters now and it's really cute. The ones we're pushing are "M" and "O" of course, although they can also do H, S, Z, F, and T sounds. The O sound they make is too cute. Speaking of too cute, if you tell Owen "I love you," he will come over to you and lean his head in for a kiss. It's really precious.