Some observations on the boys lately:

• They are working really hard on their sounds and words. They've been busting out with some crazy realistic animal sounds way beyond what we've taught them--chickens bucking, horses braying, ducks quacking, and fish glub-glubbing.
• Sunday night the boys suddenly began an insane obsession with the vacuum cleaner. Not because we use it frequently or even recently, or even had seen or talked about it recently. But Sunday when I put the boys down to sleep (usually a calm and happy time) Theo stood right up in bed and pointed and grunted at their closet door (where we keep the vacuum). I said night-night to the the vacuum, opened and closed the closet door, and told Theo the vacuum was going to sleep. He continued gesturing and grunting. I told him goodnight and that I loved him and that it was time for the vacuum to go night-night, and I left. He continued crying for about five minutes. I went back in, picked him up, and he stopped crying immediately--and resumed grunting and pointing at the closet. I decided maybe he was afraid of the vacuum being in his closet, so I had him help me take the vacuum out of the closet and put it in my closet. Then I closed the closet door and closed my bedroom door. I said the vacuum was going night-night and we waved goodbye. I still wasn't sure that was the real problem because he still cried a little but eventually went to sleep. The next day Mindy reported that the boys repeatedly went up to my closet to point and grunt at the vacuum. Tuesday they spent most of the day either looking at the vacuum or downstairs pointing upstairs and grunting. When Jeff got home I was pretty tired of the vacuum obsession. I moved the vacuum back to the closet in the boys' room to see if that would make it better, especially after the boys continually returned to their own closet, pointing and grunting at it. I still haven't figured out what the obsession was about but it's ebbed a little bit, for which I am grateful.
• We are hosting Christmas at our home this year and would like to get a live Christmas tree but we're not sure how the boys are going to do with it. We don't want to create a hazardous situation with a large live tree with water and ornaments. So Jeff put up our small artificial tree Sunday to see how they would do. So far they've been enchanted by the lights but also respectful of the tree.

• The boys are loving to mimic everything we do. From guzzling unopened cans of soda/beer to talking on the phone. Theo even likes to pace around the house babbling on the phone with it pressed up to his ear. We do have fake phones but Theo found the remote for the TV tonight and used it like a phone.

•  I have been giving the boys preloaded spoons of soup, yogurt, casseroles, etc. but had never given them a bowl of something soupy and let them have at it. I made rice and black beans, which had never been a big hit before. But Beck did incredibly well with his fork but Theo was just so hungry or frustrated with the fork or just feeling like a beast that he just shoveled the food right in his mouth. Both babies ate super well, requiring many refills of their bowls.