Home From The Cottage

Well, we are home from a beautiful week at the cottage with another pile of milestones to report on. Now that each of the twins have discovered this "moving" thing, they've really just been going crazy trying to master new things. Early in the week Heidi figured out how to sit up on her own. This was huge, as it meant that she could now go from crawling around the house to sitting still. This meant she didn't have to just continue to crawl, fussing quietly if she got tired. Which is not to say it was a relaxing first few days at the cottage. Oh no. Baby proofing the cottage was something we had completely forgotten about and our twins found every nook and cranny of trouble they could. Heidi figured out how to bust through the screen door by bashing her head against it repeatedly, Harrison found the power cords behind the TV, Heidi figured out how to wedge herself under tables, between the fridge and cupboards, Harrison found every sharp corner he could to bang his head on. It was a gong show.

Harrison spent the week mastering pull to stand. He now stands almost all the time. He will attempt to pull up on anything, including his sister, and has now switched places with Heidi as the fussypants in the family if he can't find somewhere to stand up. Once he could stand he immediately has started to work on cruising along in standing. He can still only manage a couple of steps along the couch, but it won't be long...

Oh wait. In further news, on Sunday Harrison learned to stand without holding on. His personal best is still only a few seconds, but he spends his every waking moment practicing, so first steps are not far away. Rob's sister comes home from England to meet the twins this week so maybe he will save them for her visit!

Not to be outdone, Heidi has also been trying to pull to stand. She is much less steady, but I did get her caught on film yesterday as we were trying to unpack the car. She is obsessed with barriers. In a bad way. She has the run of the upstairs except for two closed doors (our bedroom and the bathroom - she wedged behind the toilet once, which with an aim-challenged 5 year old boy in the house is just gross) and a gate at the top of the stairs. So she spends most of her time reaching through the gate, trying desperately to get to the other side, or banging her little hand on the closed doors. Nobody says No to this girl, she figures.

In other milestone news (see I told you it's a pile of milestones), Heidi got her first tooth this weekend, and Harrison sprouted his second!

Thank goodness for this blog (which I've been told, and I am counting heavily on, that you can turn easily into a book) because it's the only way I can keep up with recording all these big moments.

In terms of our actual week at the cottage, the weather was mostly beautiful with only a few little bits of rain. The lake is 80 degrees, and Brendan lived in it. He really is a daredevil and a stunt man. He has a great time making up "tricks", and his favourite one this week was "watch me pretend to walk off the dock" (where he literally pretends to be chatting and looking the other way while he walks off the end of the dock - with his floatie on and then swims back around to the ladder and starts again). Rob pulled the surfboard out and it was resting up on a stump at the beach. At one point I was sitting with the babies, who were splashing in the shallows and I suddenly noticed that Brendan had pulled the surfboard out by himself, paddled it out a little, hopped up, knelt on top (excellent surfing form - where has he seen this??) and was paddling off down the lake. Ahhh! Now I know where grey hair comes from!

On Thursday our gang of high school friends arrived and we had a fabulous weekend full of kids, laughs and a few cold beverages. It was pefect. It takes really, really good friends to enjoy 6 adults and 6 kids together in one tiny cottage but we had a ball and even managed to fit in a few quiet moments on the dock. Mmmm.

The twins turned 11 months yesterday, and I will get their Paddington picture taken and posted as soon as I can. Heidi is napping and Harrison is out getting groceries with Dad. We tend to divide and conquer for all errands, although it always seems strange to be out with one baby. Who knew we'd get to a time when it would be strange to only tote one infant around?! I'm pretty sure the rest of the world thinks that's normal behaviour. Ah well, I've never been very good at normal behaviour... (: