oh where, oh where did my babies go?

I realized recently that I still think of Noah and Lily as being just barely out of babyhood. But apparently I blinked, because they're not. They're FIFTEEN MONTHS old! A quarter of a year, gone in an instant.

They're both "officially" toddlers now--Noah walks around as if he's never done anything else, and Lily can make it across the room without a problem. Along with this new mobility, their attention span is completely out the window. We rarely make it through an entire board book these days, let alone a half-hour DVD. Excursions out of the house have become an ongoing dog-and-pony show, with Mommy as the star attraction. We point out hats, we sing songs, we look for babies--and that's just in the frozen food section of Wal-Mart.

At home it's a little better, mostly because we have baby gates and it's easier to contain the madness.

Any given activity entertains a baby for approximately 2.4 minutes. That is, if the other baby doesn't want to take it away. (The other baby ALWAYS wants to take it away.) So our day runs in a cycle that goes something like this:

• Lily finds the shapes and the shape bucket. She settles herself in for some quality shape-sorting time.
• Noah sees she has the shapes. He chases her down and wrests them from her, amidst screams and attempts to bite.
• Lily moves on in search of the phone, while Noah plays with the shapes for 12 seconds before tiring of them.
• Lily finds the phone on the other side of the recliner. Noah follows her to steal it. She sees him, squeals, and runs away.
• Noah thinks Lily is playing peek-a-boo around the chair. Ridiculous giggles and raucous laughter ensue.
• Peek-a-boo ends when the chair swivels unexpectedly, catapulting Lily's head into the baby fence. She cries. Noah siezes the opportunity to finally take the phone.
• Repeat sequence approximately 482 times throughout the day.

It sounds tiring (and it is), but it's fun too. Major accomplishments are made every day. Things like First Successful Climb Onto the Coffee Table and First Time Closing the Drawer Without Squishing Fingers happen all the time. They're still using signs like crazy, with over 3 dozen signs each. Lily has said a few words lately too--"cracker" and "banana", and I think she's trying to say "diaper" and "shoe".

In the evenings after dinner, the backyard has cooled down enough for us to go and play before bathtime. As soon as I say the word "outside", Lily and Noah start a mad, shreiking scramble for the back door as if the house is on fire. I'm not sure why a 100-degree backyard, complete with poky, half-dead grass and scattered dog poo holds such an appeal. But it does. It will be nice when things cool down a little bit and we can spend some true quality time outdoors.

In other news, the babies' 15 month appointment was today. Noah weighs almost 25 lbs and Lily is almost 23. The fact that they've gained 4 lbs in the past 3 months isn't really a shock, given the fact that they've gone through 2 sizes of clothing this summer alone. One surprise: Lily has a heart murmur! The doctor wasn't concerned and said it was a small, benign murmur that she'll most likely outgrow as she gets older. Maybe it happened one of the times that Noah stepped on her in pursuit of a toy.