Beckett and Eli at 2
My precious boys turned 2 almost 2 weeks ago and life has been so CRAZY that I am finally getting around to completing this post about them at 2. This big boy birthday was tough on me. As I worked on collecting pictures and creating their posters for school from the last two year, I cried every time. Here are some of my favorites.. doesn't it go fast!
I began to weep at those insurance commercials where the dad is talking to the little kid and then it's the teenage kid that drives away. Oh and Toy Story 3.. Andy growing up and going to college, kind of an ugly cry when I watched it. Songs like "You're going to miss this" .. stop it. Can't even think about it.
Isn't growing up so bittersweet? When they were crying and eating every 2 hours and I wasn't getting any sleep I prayed and longed for the day that they finally did. And now they do (most of the time) and I find myself longing for the nights with them snuggled against my chest just us rocking and cuddling in the night. I am so proud of the independent little boys they are growing in to be.. its a good thing I know but I can't help but feel the more I encourage that growth and independence the less they need their mom for everything. And its a good feeling to be needed by your sweet boys.
I LOVE this stage. Yes, the toddler emotions and antics can be draining and it requires an extreme amount of patience but it is filled with such joy and laughter. To hear them repeat what we say, "good and bad" is hysterical. To hear them sing and laugh and watch them dance, joy in my heart. To hear them string words together, and make jokes of their own - priceless. It is a life right now full of the excitement of the world, of learning, hearing, seeing, and growing.
My Beckett is never found very far from his beloved blanket (besset), pillow (lillow), and turtle. He laughs out loud all the time at his brother and anything he deems "silly". He flaps his arms so hard and fast when he is excited I swear he is going to fly away. We often call him flounder. He loves to fall on the floor and flounder like a fish. Rolling around and flopping he does that in the mornings too. His a JOY. He is a cuddler and a lover and freely giving of his sweet hugs and kisses.
When I look at Beckett, I can't help but think miracle! Starting from his conception through the experience in the NICU at birth and now his physical therapy. When he was evaluated and a plan was drawn out, the therapist said they hoped that he would walk by 2. Through physical therapy, a TON of hard work by Mr. Beckett, and prayer he is not only walking but RUNNING! He walked at 18 months (only 3 months after the evaluation) and he was done, graduated, and given 2 huge thumbs up from his therapist by 22 months. He still wears his braces, he still falls down a lot but he is chasing Eli, climbing, running, and playing with the best of them. God is so good!
I rarely catch Beckett on camera singing. But he has the sweetest voice you have ever heard. He loves to sing and loves to talk but Eli is definitely the dominant talker and dominant twin. Here is Beckett talking about Alicia (a friend from school).
Eli is my assistant. He watches out for Beckett. He tells me everything. He helps me with everything.. and he talks. Boy does he talk. And sing. He LOVES life. He is joyful and happy and SILLY. If he does something that he thinks you (or especially Beckett) think is funny, watch out. He will do it over and over again and usually says "Eli funny". Or "that was fun". He loves for you to "try it." He told his Dee Dee on Sunday at lunch "It's good Dee Dee, try it". He will usually try anything and what he want try he gets Beckett to! He is the ring leader and Beckett is his willing sidekick.
He sleeps with a variety of animals, toys, and items at night as well as his "scary blanket" (A fuzzy Halloween blanket he got for his 1st birthday) Tonight there is his beloved pillow, Elmo, turtle, bunny, and bear. Sometimes there is a farmer, a transformer, or his Woody cup. I have to switch it to water when he goes to bed on the nights Woody cup needs to sleep with him. We are constantly amazed by his vocabulary. We counted a 7 word sentence last night.. listen to this sweet singing voice.
and his favorite place :-)
And I really can't resist one more singing video :-)
The both truly love a lot of the same things. They play together as the best of friends and they fight passionately over the same toys. I love watching and the learning the unique and God designed twin relationship. It is an incredible bond that I am seeing first hand but can only imagine what its like. We are blessed to have our neighbors with twins that are 6. They give us so much advice and help and the boys are in LOVE with Addy Chloe.
The boys are SUPER SILLY have crazy silly games they play. One of their favorite activities is "trying on shoes". They love this box of too little shoes that I keep under Eli's bed. They love to try them on, get in the box, and we play "too big or too little".
The love to play outside. I love Eli's expression in the chairs watching Beckett. That is a very common look around here.
They still attend their same school. Here is their official 2 year old school picture. Too big! Pass the tissues please.
One of the most popular questions that I get is "why do you cut their hair different?" I don't! Beckett has the glorious thick semi curly head full of hair that we have to keep trimmed. Eli's hair we beg to grow. Has been that way since even in the womb. I also get lots of questions about their eating. We are insanely blessed with good eaters. LOVE their veggies, love to eat. Snacks don't ruin their dinner..they are bottomless it seems. We are blessed also with great nappers! We are not however blessed with harmonious twins! We have really had our ups and downs with their fighting. Twin aggression is a very real and very much studied effect in twins especially as this age. We are doing so much better right now but have to really watch the biting, pushing, and hitting.. Eli monitors it very well. He tells Beckett "no no time out" when Beckett hits or pushes! The boys both know about time out and at school they call it cool down. It's working for us right now. If they get out of handle we can usually say "do you need a cool down" and they either straighten up or go get in the chair. Eli likes to take his cool downs in his bed. He puts a couple of toys in their and takes a break until he can get it together again.
I know that we are in for so many good times and so much laughter over the next year as they learn and grow even more. I want to remember the sound of these sweet voices in my house forever. I want to remember the feel of those sweet heads curled up on my shoulder when we "wock" at night. I want to forever in grain in my memory the hugs, joy, and cuddles they give me just for simply being their mom. Most of all I forever thank God for allowing me the honor and blessing of being their mom. The BEST 2 years!
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| Beckett 9 days old |
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| Eli 9 days old |
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| Beckett 1st bath at home |
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| Eli 12 days old |
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| Christmas snuggles at 5 weeks |
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| Eli 6 weeks heading out with mom |
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| Daddy's big man |
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| Beckett 3 months |
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| Eli 3 months |
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| The boys at 5 months |
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| almost 7 months |
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| Beckett at 9 months |
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| Eli at 9 months |
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| ONE YEAR!! |
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| 15 months |
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| 18 months |
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| 22 months |
I began to weep at those insurance commercials where the dad is talking to the little kid and then it's the teenage kid that drives away. Oh and Toy Story 3.. Andy growing up and going to college, kind of an ugly cry when I watched it. Songs like "You're going to miss this" .. stop it. Can't even think about it.
Isn't growing up so bittersweet? When they were crying and eating every 2 hours and I wasn't getting any sleep I prayed and longed for the day that they finally did. And now they do (most of the time) and I find myself longing for the nights with them snuggled against my chest just us rocking and cuddling in the night. I am so proud of the independent little boys they are growing in to be.. its a good thing I know but I can't help but feel the more I encourage that growth and independence the less they need their mom for everything. And its a good feeling to be needed by your sweet boys.
I LOVE this stage. Yes, the toddler emotions and antics can be draining and it requires an extreme amount of patience but it is filled with such joy and laughter. To hear them repeat what we say, "good and bad" is hysterical. To hear them sing and laugh and watch them dance, joy in my heart. To hear them string words together, and make jokes of their own - priceless. It is a life right now full of the excitement of the world, of learning, hearing, seeing, and growing.
My Beckett is never found very far from his beloved blanket (besset), pillow (lillow), and turtle. He laughs out loud all the time at his brother and anything he deems "silly". He flaps his arms so hard and fast when he is excited I swear he is going to fly away. We often call him flounder. He loves to fall on the floor and flounder like a fish. Rolling around and flopping he does that in the mornings too. His a JOY. He is a cuddler and a lover and freely giving of his sweet hugs and kisses.
When I look at Beckett, I can't help but think miracle! Starting from his conception through the experience in the NICU at birth and now his physical therapy. When he was evaluated and a plan was drawn out, the therapist said they hoped that he would walk by 2. Through physical therapy, a TON of hard work by Mr. Beckett, and prayer he is not only walking but RUNNING! He walked at 18 months (only 3 months after the evaluation) and he was done, graduated, and given 2 huge thumbs up from his therapist by 22 months. He still wears his braces, he still falls down a lot but he is chasing Eli, climbing, running, and playing with the best of them. God is so good!
I rarely catch Beckett on camera singing. But he has the sweetest voice you have ever heard. He loves to sing and loves to talk but Eli is definitely the dominant talker and dominant twin. Here is Beckett talking about Alicia (a friend from school).
Eli is my assistant. He watches out for Beckett. He tells me everything. He helps me with everything.. and he talks. Boy does he talk. And sing. He LOVES life. He is joyful and happy and SILLY. If he does something that he thinks you (or especially Beckett) think is funny, watch out. He will do it over and over again and usually says "Eli funny". Or "that was fun". He loves for you to "try it." He told his Dee Dee on Sunday at lunch "It's good Dee Dee, try it". He will usually try anything and what he want try he gets Beckett to! He is the ring leader and Beckett is his willing sidekick.
He sleeps with a variety of animals, toys, and items at night as well as his "scary blanket" (A fuzzy Halloween blanket he got for his 1st birthday) Tonight there is his beloved pillow, Elmo, turtle, bunny, and bear. Sometimes there is a farmer, a transformer, or his Woody cup. I have to switch it to water when he goes to bed on the nights Woody cup needs to sleep with him. We are constantly amazed by his vocabulary. We counted a 7 word sentence last night.. listen to this sweet singing voice.
and his favorite place :-)
And I really can't resist one more singing video :-)
The both truly love a lot of the same things. They play together as the best of friends and they fight passionately over the same toys. I love watching and the learning the unique and God designed twin relationship. It is an incredible bond that I am seeing first hand but can only imagine what its like. We are blessed to have our neighbors with twins that are 6. They give us so much advice and help and the boys are in LOVE with Addy Chloe.
The boys are SUPER SILLY have crazy silly games they play. One of their favorite activities is "trying on shoes". They love this box of too little shoes that I keep under Eli's bed. They love to try them on, get in the box, and we play "too big or too little".
The love to play outside. I love Eli's expression in the chairs watching Beckett. That is a very common look around here.
They still attend their same school. Here is their official 2 year old school picture. Too big! Pass the tissues please.
One of the most popular questions that I get is "why do you cut their hair different?" I don't! Beckett has the glorious thick semi curly head full of hair that we have to keep trimmed. Eli's hair we beg to grow. Has been that way since even in the womb. I also get lots of questions about their eating. We are insanely blessed with good eaters. LOVE their veggies, love to eat. Snacks don't ruin their dinner..they are bottomless it seems. We are blessed also with great nappers! We are not however blessed with harmonious twins! We have really had our ups and downs with their fighting. Twin aggression is a very real and very much studied effect in twins especially as this age. We are doing so much better right now but have to really watch the biting, pushing, and hitting.. Eli monitors it very well. He tells Beckett "no no time out" when Beckett hits or pushes! The boys both know about time out and at school they call it cool down. It's working for us right now. If they get out of handle we can usually say "do you need a cool down" and they either straighten up or go get in the chair. Eli likes to take his cool downs in his bed. He puts a couple of toys in their and takes a break until he can get it together again.
I know that we are in for so many good times and so much laughter over the next year as they learn and grow even more. I want to remember the sound of these sweet voices in my house forever. I want to remember the feel of those sweet heads curled up on my shoulder when we "wock" at night. I want to forever in grain in my memory the hugs, joy, and cuddles they give me just for simply being their mom. Most of all I forever thank God for allowing me the honor and blessing of being their mom. The BEST 2 years!