Six months and two and a half

I feel like both those ages are a bit of a milestone for the kids. Six months feels like the end of the baby baby stage and the beginning of the rapid approach to one. It's a bit sad really because I just love the baby stage. So I am drinking it in and enjoying every moment and trying not to sweat the small stuff. Two and a half is harder than the baby stage for sure I think. Milo wakes up ready to go after his 12 hours sleep and he pretty much has one speed all day (except for nap time, please, please Milo, don't give that up just yet!!!).

So my bubbies, this is what you are doing at the moment:

OLIVE
You are much more dramatic than I remember your brother being. You have sass and you know what you want and you let us know when you want it too. It's not a bad thing little lady, because I know you will be able to take care of yourself as you grow up. You are very happy and very smiley. You have your two middle bottom teeth and I am sure I can feel more coming either side. You are certainly dribbling like there are more to come. You got them like your brother did, pretty much at the same time (just a few days apart). I am happy with that, at least it's less time teething overall. Every time you laugh you get the hiccups, so we can't make you laugh around feeding time. You're enjoying your solids, but when you've had enough of something you blow raspberries and the food goes everywhere, not so fun with orange foods like carrot. You still vomit constantly... we go through a lot of bibs, outfits and face washers every day. You are never where I leave you on the floor if I leave the room, you move constantly. You usually arch your back, look backwards and shuffle, but you also roll around the place too. For some reason at the moment you are rolling onto your tummy and whinging until I roll you back, you aren't rolling back yourself even though you have done this and know how to. You have a massive case of Infantile FOMO (fear of missing out) like your brother did and you watch everything. Your favourite person is your brother, all he has to do is fake laugh and you think it's the funniest thing ever. He puts his hands on your cheeks and you talk to him every time, you talk to him more than anyone else and you constantly watch what he is doing. You pretty much think he is the bee's knees. You are brown and juicy and absolutely delicious. I cannot help but squish your juicy bits all day. Your thighs are one of the greatest joys of my life! You like your toys, but really, your favourite thing to do is munch your fingers and see how many you can fit in your mouth at once. You're chatty and funny and you do a fake cough cry that is quite entertaining. You sit for short periods but then forget you're sitting and topple sideways, we are working on it though. You love it when we read to you and Milo reads his favourite books to you too. You love the bath and you are ALWAYS kicking. I can tell when you're asleep because your feet are at rest. Soon I could probably start weaning your 10pm feed but it is my favourite feed of the day... you are so sleepy and cuddly that I just treasure the snuggles I get at that feed, because you are speedy and efficient with all your other feeds. You're into boo and us singing to you and soon you will start music classes like your brother did around this age. Even though you are really busy and active, you are still a peaceful little nugget. You bring us so much joy little lady and we are so glad you're part of our family. Your current nicknames are Olivettie, Vettie, Vettles, Vettlerama, Vettie Lulu, Nugget and Nuggy. You are a little Lindt Ball and we love you.

MILO
Milo my darling boy. Where do I even start? Inquisitive does not even cover what you are. You are so hungry to learn new things and you ask me questions all the time. You haven't gone through a "why, why, why?" stage, instead you say things like "tell me why the cicadas whistle... tell me about the man with the leaf blower and why he wears a mask... what type of truck is that mummy? I will give you a clue, it's a type of truck..." (then I have to guess if it was a semi-trailer or a dump truck etc). Tell me why and tell me about are more your kind of questions. But you never have been one for monosyllabic answers like yes and no, so why would you just say why? I ask if you have done something and you say "I have" or "I haven't", not yes or no. I think you get that from your BFF, Grandpa. You cause me to learn new things all the time because I don't know the answers to all your questions, sometimes I have to look them up. Because of you I know cicadas live for 17 years and get noisy in the last few weeks of their lives.When I have told you something you find interesting you ask me to tell you about it a few more times until it is really cemented in your brain. You love all things construction, trucks and vehicles. You know the garbos come on a Monday and the street sweeper comes on a Wednesday. You get a bit nervous before we are going to see someone you don't know very well and often tell me you don't want to say hi, then when you get there you are just fine. You were one of the two kids in your music class last term who sang back to your bumble bee and I was so proud of you for getting to that point. You love music, you love dancing and you love Pharrell's song Happy. You enjoyed the Play School and Wiggles concerts but you are quite quiet and serious at these kinds of things, you take everything in then talk about it at home. You love craft, cutting and pasting and "bluing" (gluing), painding (painting) and you love it when we pray for you before you sleep. You pray for lots of people and even things that have happened, you often thank God for a fun game or experience. You have an excellent memory and talk about things and people that happened or you met months and months ago. You push your boundaries a lot to see how far you can go and we are finding we say the same thing often, but consistency is paying off. At the moment, you are doing jobs to help mummy so you can get 100 stars and get a rubbish truck toy. You pack up your toys and Olive's toys, help make your bed and read stories to Olive. You love putting your hard hat on and doing "jobs". You love to read books and you know your favourites off by heart (like Good Night New York City) and huge chunks of other favourites. I nearly fell off the couch the first time you read that whole book to me. You are so clever. You are great at playing by yourself with your cars or trains or puzzles. You love fruit toast and jam when we go to cafes, you love having some of my smoothie with your breakfast and you call it a "smooth operator" because we sing that song when we talk about smoothies. Milo, even though I find this age quite the challenge at times, I absolutely adore you and I love your love of learning and having conversations with you. You are a very special boy, I am sure you are on old man in a toddler's body!

Rudie nudies

Checking out his first haircut

Cheeks for days

FOMO in action, always watching Milo

Busy, busy, busy rolling around

Juicy hands

Dome feet

Us