Miranda Murdock

Both boys are happy, healthy, and into everything!

They both love baths and come speed crawling or walking to the bathroom if they hear the water running. They started getting into more disagreements around 13 to 14 months. They still love to play together and follow each other around, but they are having some trouble sharing. Reece becomes suddenly interested in anything Liam plays with, especially if it's a toy I've given Liam to keep him distracted while getting his diaper changed. Reece makes diaper time difficult, no matter who is being changed! Even though they have trouble sharing, they have lots of fun playing together. Reece likes to push Liam around on his toy motorcycle. Both parties think that's a hilarious game.

Reece:

Hight: 31 inches

Weight: 24 pounds 10 ounces

Reece is still very social. I take him to a music class at my church and he goes from lap to lap making friends and checking out everyone's snacks. If you have food he expects you to give him some. Around 12 months if he saw you with food he wanted he would shout out "uhmmm, uhmm, uhmmm" until you gave him some. He started saying "uh oh" at 12½ months. Reece got really good at mimicking things around his first birthday. I even taught him to stick out his tongue. At 13 months Reece learned to say "no, no, no," from a friend of his. He would crawl around shaking his head no. I don't think he understood what it meant for a few weeks but he definitely knows now. When he doesn't get his way he yells "no, no, no!" He started to say "out" at 13½ months when he wanted out of the highchair or car and now he is learning the word "more" which he pronounces "me". He also tries to make the same sounds as you so he will occasionally say mom or dad if I tell him to and he likes to meow like the kitty. His two favorite things are our cat Orange and a big bouncy ball we have. Reece also loves his dad and any time he sees him he goes and finds the big bouncy ball and brings it to him to play with. Reece started trying to walk at 14 months, but he would always take a step or two and then fall. It took him 3 weeks to really master it. I'm not sure what you would call his first steps since it was a pretty slow process. At 14 months, Reece started to get destructive. He loves to take things apart and open things. I have these snack catcher cups which are supposed to help kids get just a few snacks at a time without spilling them all, but Reece figured out how to take the lid off. On the other hand, he is very vocal so I can tell by his squeaks and squeals from the other room that he has gotten into something he shouldn't. He is an active boy. I have a hard time getting him to sit still for more than a second to get him dressed or to change his diaper or to do pretty much any small task. Active as he is, Reece always needs some cuddle time after a nap. When Liam sees Reece getting cuddles, he will crawl over to get some brother-mommy cuddles, too.

Liam:

Hight: 30 ¼ inches

Weight: 23 pounds 3 ounces

Liam learned to crawl a little after his first birthday. This is also when he learned to clap and he would take it very seriously. He learned to say "uh oh" at 13 months and he still loves to say it all the time! He loves dropping things and saying "uh oh". Usually he will say "uh oh" first and then drop what he's holding. It took me a while to pick up that Liam knew other words because he mumbles quite a bit or doesn't say the whole word. "Out" is pronounced "ou". He loves all two syllable words and loves adding an inflection. I thought I heard him say cracker when he was a little over 13 months but he hadn't said much but "uh oh" at that point so I thought I must be hearing him wrong. I caught him trying to mooch a goldfish from a friend of mine and she asked me if he knew how to talk because she was pretty sure he just said "cracker". My mother-in-law Beverly came out to visit when they were 14½ months and taught them how to say "thank you" which is another one of Liam's favorite phrases. She also taught him to say "boo" for peekaboo. Liam isn't walking yet, but it seems to be because he's very cautious. If he even thinks for a second that he is in danger of falling, he collects himself and sits down on his bottom carefully. Liam is very gentle. We joke that he has a gift with bugs. I have found him playing with ladybugs a few times in the backyard and once I found him laying on the floor gently stroking a cracker. I came back a few minutes later, and on closer inspection the cracker was actually a large moth. The moth was unharmed and perfectly content to get scritches from his friend.

(notice the bug on his shirt.)

Liam does throw little temper tantrums that can last for a few minutes. He will whine and kick his feet and rock when he doesn't get his way sometimes. When he's not behaving he spends some time in his crib and comes out more loving than ever. Liam loves to play with toy phones and hold them to his ear and pretend to talk on them. It's odd, because the toys don't look anything like my iPhone and he's rarely seen me talk even on that.

Liam is becoming an avid climber. Our fragile and dangerous items are moving higher and higher as Liam learns to maneuver taller and taller furniture. He has even learned to push his motorcycle to strategic positions for use as a stepping stool.

Liam loves anything with wheels or that you can spin. Liam also loves to cuddle and lay on things. I used to feel honored that he loves to come over and lay his head on me, but then one day I saw him go over to a slide at the park and cuddle it and I realized that he just likes to be comfortable. Even on amusement park kiddy rides he likes to put his feet up and relax.

We play in the yard every afternoon with a few little yard toys I have including a slide the boys love to go down. Liam mostly likes to stand at the top, but Reece has gotten pretty good at climbing up, turning around, and then going down the slide the proper way.

They also have a water table with some toy boats that they like to splash around and squeal and generally get soaked with.

Both boys are decent eaters and will take at least a few bites of anything you give them. The only food Liam hates is bananas. Liam went through a phase for a while where he would hoard food in his mouth. They stopped letting me spoon feed them at 12½ months. Now they will only eat food that they can feed themselves. I gave eggs to Reece once at 12 months and he immediately broke out in a bad rash. We had him tested for allergies and it seems like that must have just been a coincidence. The boys like when you sing to them while they eat and Liam will try to sing along and Reece likes to dance. Then they clap when you are finished with your performance of each song. Both boys love the "finger spin" game. It requires a parent to extend a finger so that a baby can place a gear toy or a ring or a lego on their finger and then spin it around. If a finger is not readily available, a baby may find your hand and extend your finger for you.

Our boys have learned to be gentle with the kitties. They get in a few gentle strokes before they lose control and grab kitty's fur. They are good friends with Orange and are generous with their snacks. They have gotten the idea that Orange enjoys graham crackers and seem confused when he doesn't eat the crackers they shove in his face.

Both boys like to laugh and find many things funny. Reece likes to knock things over and see how they fall in amusing ways. Hiding under a pillow or in a tunnel and letting either baby discover you is sure to get a laugh. Any reaction by a cat to anything is very funny. No matter what Reece is laughing at, Liam will laugh too. He thinks that just laughing is funny, on its own.

The boys now clamor over to the window whenever they hear a loud car go by. They want to see what garbage truck or street cleaner is making such a cool loud sound. They also head for the window whenever anybody leaves. They press their faces against the window until the person is out of sight, then they go back to playing.

Traveling has gotten to be almost impossible during the last few months. The boys hate being in the car and wont sleep in their carseats even when I drive at night. I went to visit my family a few months ago and they pretty much cried the entire drive to Southern California.