The background: I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for some family members, and as a special treat, we gave each of the kids one. They NEVER get cookies, and they don’t really get junk food. So its a big, special, exciting treat.
This is me, trying to convince M to eat her cookie.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvptLy35fDA]
As both girls progess in therapy, expressive language is blossoming, and they are making great strides. We are tremendously proud of their achievements. But we are equally proud of their newly developed senses of humour. Some days, its hard to know whether their answers to the questions we ask them are wrong because they don’t know the answer, or because they love to tell jokes and play pranks. Often, its jokes, and its so much fun, watching them develop these hilariously funny personalities.
We have been learning what animals say: cows, ducks, birds, cats, dogs, etc. And M is quite impressed with herself being able to answer all of these questions 
Note: it will look best if you click thru to youtube and watch it in HD. Also, the back half is a little example of the kind of horseplay we absolutely do not EVER encourage at all. EVER.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDnlDNSej0c]
July was an amazing month for both of our sparrows, for all sorts of reasons, and we saw some huge changes in them from the beginning of the month to the end. Starting with, our babies are officially gone, and in their place, we have toddlers. Toddlers who recently developed the ability to throw tantrums, which is adorable and funny, but also toddlers who play together more and more. Often, they can go nearly 3 minutes playing together, before one of them hauls off and hits the other one in the face, or yanks out a fistful of hair, or picks up the toy and throws it as far away as possible.
It was a big month for M. We have watched her getting up on her knees for awhile now, but she wasn’t pulling up to her feet at all, until suddenly one day, she just crawled over to Daddy, and planted her feet on the ground, used his belly as leverage, and stood up. She is getting progressively stronger every day as she practices this new skill, and as you can imagine, she is very proud of herself and her new ability. If she could speak, you know she would yell, ‘TA-DA!” every time she pulled herself to her feet.
G had a big month as well. Despite the fact that we had never held her hands and encouraged her to walk in any way, she decided one day that she could do it, and in much the same way as she taught herself to stand up, she taught herself to walk. Which makes this parenting gig a pretty easy one, given that she is so DIY about learning these things! She is a funny kid, and she loves to ‘cruise’ around the room, which has led us to the realization that there is no uglier decor than ‘babyproofing’. We set up a track around the perimeter of the living room – rubbermaid bins weighed down with books, the coffee table, pushed back against the wall, the couches moved, the TV baby-gated off, etc – and she loves it, traveling in circles, holding on with one hand and holding a book in the other, but you won’t be seeing us featured in House Beautiful any time soon. She is also walking farther and farther without holding on to anything – 6 or 7 steps at a time. We fear her.
M demonstrates her great love and respect of literature. Our kids get a lot of fibre in their diet, mostly from boardbooks.
And of course, we are still in LOVE with ELMO! Elmo comes on, and they both run to the TV, stand up, and hang on the babygate, as enraptured as groupies at a concert. Check out G’s saggy bum – all their pants slide down off of them, due to ridiculous skinnyness.
G cut a giant molar this month, and if you ask her, she will point to it. Sort of. They love their teeth.
This month, we discovered the wonders of steamed broccoli. That child’s grin is the direct result of being given broccoli, and she could happily live on broccoli and sharp cheddar cheese. Such a dainty eater!
Sadly, this month is not without its share of tragedy. Early in July, the entire frozen north ran out of wine, forcing our innuit relatives to make their (nearly sober!) way south. As everyone knows, Chicago is the wine capital of the world, and so they landed here. Sadly, the grandparent to accordion ratio is still deeply lacking, however they made up for it by pretending to the kids that they know how to read.
Brian is such a good son-in-law – you know he photoshopped that book so that it is right-side-up in the photos, so as not to embarrass grandma, who was ‘reading’ to the kids. Notice grandad, holding on to the back of that couch for dear life – it didn’t stop ‘the spins’ in college, and it doesn’t stop them now, but you know, we are always an optimistic family.
There were other firsts as well. M finally got to meet her great-aunt. We call her G4 here on this site, but she is more formally known as Mrs. David Yurman.
Many people think M was named after her great aunt, but she is in fact named after a boat. Sorry, Mrs. David Yurman!
We wish we could put the photoshopped version of this photo online – the one where they look like the Blagovitch family xmas card, but you know these two would shiv you in your sleep if you cross them.
When family comes to visit, you find out what they really think of you. Apparently, my family thinks I am a gay gladiator.
INTERLUDE
Since the kids’ birthday was canceled due to sickness, we waited to open some of their presents until at least some family sobered up and headed south, which obviously meant waiting a few weeks. But it was worth it, because, seriously, how cute are these pigs? Love, love, love them.
Also, family, the next time we have a reunion, it would be in everyone’s best interest if we set aside an afternoon so that our cousins Jeff and Sue could teach us all a little something about shipping a package, because these, which are very fragile, were so expertly packed that the box was like a work of art. And I don’t want to name any names here (ahem, but perhaps you, the one who sent us coffee mugs once, in a shoebox, without one bit of padding or packing material) should bring a pad of paper and a pen to that workshop and let Sue walk you through how to do it properly.
How cute are those flowers in the ears? so, so cute!
It had to happen eventually – we ran out of wine, and simultaneously, everyone had to leave immediately for some very important business elsewhere, leaving us with what we like to call, CSI: MY BUNNY. Doesn’t it look like a very cute crime scene here? 
Its hard to explain what is going on here. I think B is practicing his marsupial parenting skills. I don’t know – that baby loves it, and that’s all that matters! 
This is the month we realized that it is nearly impossible to take a photo of the two of them together. No one ever, EVER looks at the camera at the same time. 
But we do get a lot of great candids. This is how both girls spend a lot of their time – flopped out on our big floor pillows, reading. And they do read – they babble while they turn the pages, which is hilarious, because sometimes they do it with the same inflections we use when we read to them. And 5 little monkeys are a Big Deal around here. 
Its not all lounging around though – G loves to help daddy organize his movies. She is a helper! 
We used to have babies, and now we have toddlers – our big girls this week, collars popped like extras in a John Hughes movie. 
This was also the month that language skills exploded. And by exploded, we mean the girls are starting to use words, 2 of which sound vaguely like English, and two of which they just made up. By far, the most specific word they have is “Ow-WOW”, which is the dog. And is what the dog sounds like. “Da-Da” is Daddy,but also what you say to get someone’s attention, and is sometimes also Jack and the cats. “Ma-Ma” is what you yell when nobody responds to “Da-Da” and is usually heard when two little girls decide they don’t actually want to take a nap and perhaps somebody ought to come in this room right now and get us out of these cribs.
Of course, the best news this month is that nobody went to the emergency room. woohoo!
And finally, a little video for cousin Jim. Because the kids got teeth early, they started brushing those teeth early, and its the craziest thing, ever. You can take food away from them, toys, anything. But you cannot take a toothbrush away, even if, like in this video,they have been brushing for about 20 minutes. Its the biggest fight, getting those brushes back, and you know, it doesn’t take 20 minutes to brush nine teeth. But its like toothbrushes are made of Elmo, the love they have of them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jngrUnwUu18]