Mama's favorite parts about having 19 month olds

• The sense of humor. From playing peekaboo to mimicking us to teasing that they don't want (whatever it is they obviously want), I find them hilarious. One of my favorite things that Beck does now is to say "nah," and shaking his head no when he doesn't want something. It's just such a grown-up mannerism, it makes us laugh every time (which of course encourages him!).
• The helping. Parents who don't let their children help them with things are just doing themselves a disservice. First of all, kids from even a young age really want to be helpful. Second, they actually CAN be helpful. The boys can take the diapers off the drying rack and put them in the hamper, empty the bottom rack of the dishwasher and hand them to me to put away, put books and toys away, and clean their own faces after meals. It's great to see that they are gaining skills and self-confidence, and even better that they can start to pull their own weight around here!
• The working at language. Before he goes to sleep at night or nap, Beck sometimes just practices all his sounds. I can hear him say "pa, ma, da, thuh, ba" etc. from his crib. Both of them put things in front of me and point so I can name them again and again. It seems like every day or two now they each have a new word. New phrase of the day: brown bear, because of one of their favorite books.
• The routine. After so many months at the beginning when there was no routine, and no time I could count on that was my own, it is such a gift to know they will sleep for somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 hours each and every afternoon, and will go to sleep at 7pm and sleep until morning. For a little while a few months ago I was trying to encourage them to sleep longer in the morning without nursing, but the only achievement of that period was that we all slept pretty poorly from about 4am until 6am. Now the boys are back to waking up to nurse at 4 or 5 (sometimes 6), and then going back to sleep. Grandma Joanie reminded me recently that really does count as sleeping "through the night," since it is 9 or 10 hours of sleep uninterrupted at night. After nursing, they go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Theo has been pretty consistently waking up at 6:30, and Beck at 7:30 or 8.