New things

Jacob is really funny. He has so much energy, that he often doesn't know what to do with it. Normally, it's directed towards his quest to get a telephone or remote control. Once he has one, though, he just starts walking around in circles. He logs more miles than anyone in the family!

Another funny thing I've been doing with him recently comes from Finding Nemo. Remember Crush (dude) and Squirt (little turtle)? There's a little scene that they give each other 'fin', then 'noggin', then 'dude.' Jacob and I give each other noggin, 'dude,' and Jacob thinks it's hilarious! I love it!

Meanwhile, Claire has discovered her favorite cupboard - and it happens to be the one that Dani doesn't want her in because it has glass mixing bowls! She's really discovering how to push Dani's buttons - I feel that this is only the start, too!

More high chair pictures

Looking back through a few recent posts, there have been a lot of high chair pictures. This is likely because Jared takes most of the pictures and he's home at dinner time, Claire and Jacob are happy (because they are eating), and they are not moving around. Here are a few of the latest (and some of the cutest)
Claire has a really cute smile when she's not being crazy!
One of both Jacob and Claire's new tricks is biting the spoon and not letting go. Jacob is especially funny, because he gets this little mischevious look on his face when he does it.
In other news, we're beginning to introduce dairy into the kids' diet. It is so much easier to give them snack foods and foods we're eating because we don't have to worry about what's in them. They've had a little of everything recently, goldfish, cheese, yogurt, chicken nuggets and even some artichoke. Jacob is eating solid foods a lot better (though he still isn't a fan of broccoli, plain rice, or plain potatos), and Claire eats absolutely everything when she's not throwing it!

A few favorite things

Tupperware
It's become basically a daily activity for Claire and Jacob to empty out the tupperware and the mixing bowls out of the cupboards. Dani says it's an activity that keeps them busy so she can do something else and is worth the trade-off! We've found lids and containers all over the house, but somehow have managed to avoid any orphan pieces so far...
We love Jacob without a shirt on! It only happens right before baths because he's a big-time drooler right now.
The new car
We sometimes wonder where our kids get their energy until they get in the car and Jared pushes them around the house, sound effects and all. Jacob is the driver with the road rage (he loves to honk the horn). When he's not behind the wheel, he's trying to be the engine for Claire. She thinks it's hilarious! It is a good activity for 3 people to burn off some energy.

Climbing under chairs

Claire loves to climb over and under the bars under the chairs. She grunts throughout the experience, normally getting stuck for a few seconds, but then goes back for more. She must have learned this from her dad, too (except that she can actually get out).

Remote controls & Phones

If Jacob had his way (which is actually happening more and more often these days), he'd always have a remote control or a phone in his hands. At church, we're in a small class with a family that has a baby the same age. She brought 2 old cell phones and a remote control for their baby to play with, and Jacob ended up with all 3 within 30 seconds of her getting them out for him. He'll carry them all over the house, stopping to press the buttons. If you're holding him and he sees one, he'll dive to get it. The scary thing is that he'll know how to use them better than his parents in probably 5 years!

Anyone else see the resemblence?

Dani and I went to Spiderman 3, and before the movie, the Dolby Digital Sound intro was Curious George. We laughed because Curious George reminded us of Jacob - into absolutely everything! Recently, Jacob's been into standing next to things and shaking them. The list includes chairs, doors, toys, tables, lamps, our legs, Claire (he thinks this is particularly funny - Claire doesn't), among other things. Check out this picture - do you see the resemblence?
A few months ago, I won this monkey at a work function. When we got it, we thought it reminded us a little of Jacob with its big eyes and huge smile. It still does!

I was looking through our recent pictures of Jacob and Claire and I noticed there aren't many of them together. Taking pictures where both Jacob and Claire are (a) in the picture, (b) sitting still, and (c) happy is getting to be increasingly difficult! We'll keep trying, and I'll get a few up in the coming week

Swinging

Mom just got new baby swings and Claire and Jacob love them. I guess even being a grandma of twins makes you buy things in pairs! I think this may have been the first time this year the swingset has been used by someone other than Lydia! Check out Jacob's hair blowing in the breeze! It looks like a mohawk!
Apparently the swing passed all tests.

Fun in the high chair

Claire and Jacob spend a lot of time in their high chairs. They eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at least one snack every day (depending on their moods and on Dani's afternoon-grumpiness tolerance).

Sometimes, high chairs are used as a place where they can sit and we can get things done. One day, we left Claire and Jacob with some Cheerios while we went to look at the garden. When we got back, Claire had grabbed the bowl of strawberries off the counter and was close to finishing them off. Fortunately, Jacob had already had his strawberries. Caught you red handed!

Claire's favorite way to sit in her high chair is shown below - leaning as far forward as possible and grabbing her feet. We get some funny faces from them!
They have very different strategies of getting food. Claire's strategy (sometimes, at least) is flirting/charming her way to a trey-full of snacks.
Jacob's one and only strategy is yelling loudly. This was his response to his dad asking him to be 'so big.'

Dinner time is a lot of fun with the kids. Dani and I occasionally get a decent conversation in, but it's generally spent trying to get Jacob and Claire to be 'so big,' or to say 'dada' (which they say often) or to say 'mama' (which they, for whatever reason, refuse to say these days). Fun times!