25 Months

Age: You are now 25 months old and every day you are learning more and more new things!

Development: You are both growing so fast! You are tall and strong and getting more agile by the day as you get better at balancing and moving. You both love playing down in the garden but are only starting to be aware of the dangers around you like high walls, sheer drops, stairs, the pond etc. Our garden is fraught with these things so we have to be on the super look-out when we play down there. You both love playing with water and I am sure both of you would just step straight into the pool if it was uncovered! You are going to swimming lessons and we can't wait until you can both swim so we don't have to worry about that.

You go to Toptots on Tuesdays and swimming on Wednesdays alternatively which is nice as you get to have one-on-one time with Silvana - but you miss each other when you are apart and ask "where are you". You are learning to say your names now and proudly say RebeccaLor and FinnLor and you called Daddy, DaddyLor the other day. When one of you cry the other one says "stop crying" sometimes shouting it. Not sure if this is because I said it once to you sometime but we will have to help you understand that it is absolutely okay to cry if you need to. You both love cleaning and you wipe down everything frantically when given a wet cloth. This will be handy to help mum and dad clean up!

Finn loves vaccuuming and pretends his upside down hobby horse is a vacuum cleaner. Becky is a whizz at Lego and so good at building things already. You both love singing and playing in your sandpit and with your little stove and wooden toys. Your imagination is really starting to grow now as you pretend to feed your little animals, or pat your dolly or cook or make tea in your tea set. Oh the wonderful times that are still to come with pretend play...

You are starting to be very interested in the potty and your nappies and Finn is leading the pack on this front - he has already made quite a few wee wee's in the potty! You have both started taking off your nappies whenever you can and also love stripping off and running around kaalgat. Finn made a poo on the stoep the other day! So yes, potty training is starting seriously as you seem ready and in December holidays, we will make a focused effort to get you super-used to it.

Becky has her last two bottom molars which arrived without a fuss - so just two more for Becky and the last four for Finn and then all your teeth are here! You are both very good about brushing your teeth so let's hope no cavities until your big teeth arrive.  She had slapped cheek disease for a while - a raised rosy rash on both cheeks with a bit of a fever. You also both had a few colds this season but otherwise are strong and healthy. Finn has a little eczema still which flairs up now and then and his hair is growing long, but I will not cut it...yet.

Eating:  Your appetites are back! You are both eating so well and eat almost anything. I love this and I want to start making you more healthy superfood snacks. I also want to start making you yummy healthy smoothies and with summer coming I want to get an ice lolly maker so that we can make coconut ice-cream lollies and frozen yoghurt lollies - yum! We don't give you loads of sugar to eat or juice to drink, but if we are going to a party or for a special event you just love the sweet stuff. We will try limit it to honey at home ;)...

Sleep: You are both sleeping so well from 7pm to 6am with a 2 hour nap from 1pm to 3pm.  If it has been a busy disrupted day, Finn sometimes wakes up but he cries a bit and then goes back to sleep with no fuss. When you wake up in the morning, Becky usually throws Pea and her dummies out the cot and then cries for them, or you call "Mummy Uppie" or "Daddy Uppie" and you get quite upset if we take too long.  We tried to change over to the sippy cups with rooibos tea in the mornings but Becky gets very upset and wants her bottle. Finn doesn't mind but he doesn't drink much from the cup.  So we have gone back to the bottles for a bit.  We don't really mind if you keep drinking from a bottle as we are sure you will give them up sometime.

Mommy and Daddy musings: You two are growing up too fast...sometimes I wonder what happened to our tiny little babies and how time can go so fast and yet I don't want to stop time because you delight us every day with all the new things you are learning. We cannot imagine how how lives would be without you now. Yes, sometimes we don't get a single minute to relax as you are so busy and loud and demanding and learning to deal with your frustrations at not being able to communicate effectively yet, but it would just be too quiet and boring without you two precious tots around. We love squeezing you and snuggling and sometimes you love it but sometimes you protest loudly. You make us laugh every day - this is such a glorious age.