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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (14 months - 61 weeks)

Soft downy heads and twin whispers. Sisters and soul mates.  Private jokes and sudden giggles. Copy cats and tormentors. Physical fascination and empathetic reciprocity. Exactly the same and yet so completely different. Sharing and swapping, continually negotiating. Spontaneous kisses and occasional nips. You look for each other when you wake up and smile when you see each other. You show concern when the other cries. You always want what the other has. You want to do what the other does. You want to eat what the other eats. Your milestones have tracked so closely, as if you've decided together when to stand and when to blow bubbles. A push, a pull, entwined hands. You trade as a form of sharing, as if by offering something else you can claim what the other has. They say the bond between twins is stronger than the bond between a mother and child. Watching you two I believe it's true.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (13 months and 4 weeks - 60 weeks)

I love it when babies mimic adult positions. The bending of knees to look at something under the table, walking with hands behind the back,  peering around corners. The position of a hand on a knee. A gesture that takes you by surprise in its unbaby-like fashion. In the same way that your thumbs seem too grown up for your chubby little paws.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (13 months and 3 weeks - 59 weeks)

I am amazed by how much you know and how much you understand. You find ways to communicate your wants, like little actions for water or finger pointing and closed eyes for ice from the freezer. You follow detailed instructions and can identify tiny details in the books we read to you. Those little brains are taking in everything, learning, copying, imitating. And then making it all your own.

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (13 months and 2 weeks - 58 weeks)

My mom told me that she loved the feeling of her babies on her hip so much that she carried us everywhere.  I know what she means - that perfect weight on your hip bone, a little arm around your back, sometimes playing with the hair at the top of your neck, sometimes tightly gripping the fabric of your sleeve, little legs swinging freely, face close and engaged in conversations about random sights around you, your arm wrapped around firm waists, warm skin, beating hearts. 

And I get to have two.  

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A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (13 months and 1 week - 57 weeks)

You've been taking little steps. Incidental, uncertain stumbles. But I am going to say today, Florence, you took your first steps. Wobbly, gleeful and full of pride.

Update: Anna took her first steps two days later. Not quite ready, but spurred on by watching Florence's achievement, it broke my heart to see you do it. The curse and blessing of being a twin.