The twins have changed yet again in just a short month. Today they turned 10 months. Each month makes my lament for the loss of my newborns, each month makes me eager to see them become real people.

This month was another big month for growth and change.

Last week Sam up and refused to breastfeed. He’ll still take the stuff, if it’s in a bottle. Aaron shows no preference either way, but it easier and quicker to fill their bellies with formula. And after I see all the different kinds of foods they are eating now I am having a hard time touting the benefits of breast feeding an entire year verses making 10 months. I’ve decided to start weaning.

As if my body belongs half to Aaron and half to Sam, one breast has also given up, giving me a measly ounce or two each time I pump while the other side still produces a robust three or four ounces.

I have also reached a breaking point with putting them to sleep. A back breaking point. I don’t think I can rock them to sleep any longer. Another system I will work on changing this month.

Sam continues to be my poor sleeper. Last night he was up 3 times, just sitting up in his crib crying. Didn’t even want milk when offered. Both babies can make it until the morning, (which is anywhere from 4:30 to 6am for them) but it doesn’t mean they do. If Aaron wakes up, feeding doesn’t put him back to sleep like it used to do for Sam. So often I’ll be stuck with a super excited baby babbling his lungs out at 5am while the rest of the house sleeps.

Not that I’m complaining. Whenever people ask me how I’m doing, I answer, “It is so much better than it was 3 months ago, it’s hard to complain.”

Both babies can pull up to standing and scale furniture. Sam however has started to just stand. Free stand. He has also started to move from furniture to furniture with little breaks in holding. I wonder if I’ll finally get an early walker. Jack and Ben were closer to 15 or 16 months. I did carry them everywhere like the princes they are, though.

They can also perform other amazing feats like crawling up stairs, feeding themselves finger food and bottles. At this rate they’ll be shaving in another year.

My goodness another month has passed for the twins already! In fact, I’m so late on this post that they are closer to 9 months at this point.

Once again I’ve noticed them changing in leaps and bounds in some ways while in other ways things are annoyingly the same…

Always together!

Sam continues to give me trouble with sleep. He cries out at night at least twice. The first time, anywhere from 11am until 2am, I try to let him sooth himself back to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes I go in and feed him. Aaron can sleep through the night and often does, but every couple of nights he cries out with a cry so harrowed that nothing but a feed will help him get back to sleep.

Adam thought with the colder weather maybe they were waking up, so he started putting a blanket on them at night. Aaron woke in the morning with the blanket still on his back. Sam’s blanket was in a corner, I found his body flailing in various positions through out the night.

I’m starting to see this pattern a lot. Sam being the feisty one and Aaron the even-tempered one.

Always wanting the same toys! (With their maracas)

Sam seems to get things quicker, but he also tires of them quicker as well. He learned to eat first, but he hates sitting in the high chair for more than a few minutes. He’d prefer to be let down on the ground, then eat the scraps that Aaron drops instead. Aaron takes longer to learn things, but has a inner patience and calmness that is very unCalisoffish. He will sit there trying to get food in his mouth quietly and methodically until we take him out.

Mostly I’m feeding them table scraps, cut up small. Cut up tofu, bite size pieces of grapes or blueberries that have been halved. Steamed diced carrots, sweet potato, green beans. Anything I cook at night that is soft enough I’ll throw on their trays and give it a try. In between I still try to shove some baby food or yogurt in their mouths. If I’m really tired, I get the fruit in a squeeze pouch and squeeze it in. I’m pretty sure they did not intend it for that purpose, and later someone will sue them for obesity or something, but it so clean and portable I just can’t help myself.

Aaron has been practicing his pull up to standing in earnest now. Every time he does, it reminds me of the muppets. His scrawny legs impossibly small and normally slightly swaying underneath him, like Elmo on Sesame Street. Sam, having mastered the pull up to standing for some time now, is now starting to take his hands away and try to balance while standing. It’s completely scary and nerve racking to watch, because you already know how it’s going to end. In tears.

Unlike my previous babies who used to follow me around everywhere begging to be held all the time, Sam and Aaron pal around the house together. If Sam crawls off into another room, Aaron will follow. It’s super cute and makes me wonder if they will have their own twin language.