1 Year, 11 Months

Just one more month until I have two two-year-olds. Life is getting a little easier as they become more capable. I marvel at how they manage to simultaneously seem so gigantic and yet still be such tiny little people. 

Who, us? Henry left, Jack right:

Outings
Our local parks remain popular with the boys. As with everything they do, their activity preferences demonstrate their strikingly dissimilar personalities.

Henry is all about swinging...

... and collecting wonderful treasures like rocks, sticks and especially flowers.

Jack has become shockingly fast for his short stature and spends most of his time at the park running (or riding his skuttle bug tricycle) to and fro. 

Nanny Kasey and I took the boys to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. We happened to go on a very quiet afternoon, so the wonderful volunteers were able to devote a lot of time to the boys at the touch tank.

Jack listens earnestly to information on the various ocean plants while Henry very much enjoys holding the sea grapes:

Having a great time! (Mom unintentionally cut off Kasey's head - oops)

The boys also went to visit their daddy at work.

Steve takes a call from his boss, Jack takes a call from the computer mouse:

I frequently have Fridays off work outside of tax season, so Kasey and I have been able to take the boys to toddler time at the local library. They sing songs, read stories, and then have community play time with the library's toy collection. Henry loves it. Jack... had to be taken out a few times the first session after he become overwhelmed. Jack still isn't exactly excited to go, but he's improved at handling the group activities. 

Henry gives a mountain of rubber duckies some serious consideration (while Jack plays with cars in the background): 

One afternoon, we got a tip-off from Steve that there would be goats clearing brush in the nearby lagoon park. The pictures don't do justice to the at least a hundred goats in attendance, dutifully clearing foliage. 

Goat Selfies, Version 1, Jack:

Version 2, Henry:

Around the House
Jack and Henry try their lungs at blowing up their new beach balls:

Jack demonstrates one of his favorite recurring games: sock hands!

How old are you, Jack? 

They'll now (sometimes) say "almost two" when asked their age.

The boys both talk a lot. Henry's vocabulary so far is more extensive than Jack's, but Jack has started putting words together on his own whereas Henry hasn't shown that skill much yet. That being said, both boys will say "thank you" when receiving an item and "here you go" when giving an item. Jack's longest sentence so far has been "Hi, yellow car!" Henry's most complex words so far have been "alligator," "helicopter" and "ambulance."

Jack is incredulous of the woodpecker facts on the tag of his gift from Grandma and Grandpa Pool:

Steve and I got the boys a wagon to have a transportation alternative to their strollers. The boys enjoyed trying it out in the house when it arrived.

Henry pushes as Jack cheers him on:

Jack settles in for his trip, Henry is starting to wonder if he got the short end of the stick:

While the boys are largely obsessed with cars, trucks and trains, they do sometimes enjoy hanging out with their baby dolls.

Jack with the babies:

Henry with the babies:

And now, a few Jack-Jack expressions. 

Really? 

Your point being... ?

Cheese!

Henry and Jack peruse and select future projects from Mom and Dad's This Old House magazine:

Henry studies his book:

Henry has started to recognize the shapes of a few letters, most reliably "o" and "e." 

The boys seem to have impressively good memories. For example, upon seeing a spider in his book, Henry's eyes lit up as he pointed to our yellow chair, on which he'd seen a spider a few days earlier. While passing by a house a couple blocks away from ours, in front of which a few weeks earlier Jack had seen a cat exactly once, he insistently looked around for the animal saying "cat!" 

Mischievous Henry:  

JACK!

Jack absolutely loves cars and will excitedly announce "park!" when people are parking on our street. He loves to learn new car part names. So far he knows tire, wheel, grill, headlight, taillight, mirror, door and handle. Jack absolutely loves playing with his toy trucks and cars, driving them around and lining them up to "park" them. 

I ask Jack to show me his train skills. He is not interested in giving me a demonstration. 

But I manage to sneak a picture of his train building anyway. 

Mealtime

They really are watching our every move...

Jack shares his milk with Henry: 

Jack explains to me how stacking his gnocchi on his cucumber slices is far superior to eating any of it:

Jack crushes strawberries in his fists, following which he will rip them to shreds and consume the remains, a process which leaves the kitchen with the appearance of a crime scene:

Occasions

Father's Day fell within the last month. The boys did an excellent job decorating the wrapping paper on their dad's gift (some pictures of them to hang in his office):