Audrey and Antonino At 18 Months

twin toddlers playing

Audrey and Antonino turned 18 months old last month! I'm still having a hard time grasping the fact that my two little babies who were born 3 weeks early are now one and a half years old! As cliche as it sounds, everything really went by so quickly!

Two words to describe both Audrey and Antonino are active and talkative. They love running around and climbing, and don't ever get tired! They're also talking more and more. They've already mastered mommy and daddy and no matter how many times Joey and I hear them say it, it still melts our hearts.

A few days after they celebrated their 18th month, they learned to say "NO" and actually knew what it meant. It's now their favorite word.

Joey: Just one last bite please.
Antonino: No. (Purses lips)

Me: Can we go to sleep now?
Audrey: NOOOOO! (Runs away from the bed)

Joey: No fighting, share your toys.
Audrey & Antonino: NO! (Turn away from each other while clutching their toys)

At this point, almost all of our requests are met with a "no." But aside from loving the word "no," some other things they both love are:

Wiping stuff.
Whenever they see a pack of wet wipes, they immediately say "Wai, wai, wai," which means wipe. Once we hand them a wipe each, they proceed to wipe their hands and whatever surface they can reach like the table or their high chair tray. I guess they picked up this habit because they always see Joey and me wiping their toys, high chairs (especially when we're out), and basically anything they come into contact with. Not bad training for toddlers.

Imitating us.
Aside from imitating our expressions like wow, oops, and oh no, Audrey and Antonino love copying everything we do. Like when Joey sneezes, they would also do their best fake sneeze sound. And if I clear my throat, they clear their throats too!

Playing pretend kitchen.
Joey and I bought the twins pretend kitchen and tea sets to encourage imaginative play. They love them and spend hours cooking up dishes made of wooden and plastic ingredients. One time, we brought them to an indoor play area and all they wanted to do was play in the pretend kitchen and pizza stations. Nevermind that there was a bouncy house, an inflatable slide, and a huge ball pit. All they wanted to do was cook air soup and bake felt pizza.

Sunglasses.
Audrey and Antonino love wearing sunglasses! In fact, our family finds it really funny that whenever they're about to have a meltdown, they instantly behave once we let them put on their sunglasses.

Mickey Mouse.
It all started with the Mickey Mouse Hotdog song. My mom came across it while looking for upbeat songs Audrey and Antonino could listen to. The moment she played it, the twins loved it! So whenever they see us on our phones, they immediately say "Atdaaaa!" which means "Please play the Hotdog song." When my cousin found out about this, she gave Audrey and Antonino Mickey and Minnie stuffed toys. They love them so much! They always look for Mickey and Minnie when they wake up. And when we hand them over, they hug them and point out Mickey and Minnie's nose, eyes and ears.

But while Audrey and Antonino are twins and share a lot of common favorites, here are 5 things they've been up to individually:

AUDREY
Thanks to the "Please" book we got earlier this year, Audrey already knows how to say "Peeees" (please) whenever she asks for something.

Audrey: Bee? (Bread)
Me: What's the magic word?
Audrey: Peeeeees!

She also says "Tatooo!" (thank you). But the funny thing is whenever she and Antonino fight over toys and books, she ends up snatching the book after a brief tug-of-war while shouting "Tatoooooo!" Like snatching the toy/book from Antonino's is OK as long as she says thank you.

Audrey loves dressing up! Whenever she sees one of her dresses in the closet or hanging in the wash, she would point to it and say "Piteeee" (pretty) and begin to tug at her own "pambahay" clothes as if signaling us to help her change into her going out clothes. Once the dress is on her, she'll say "WOW!"

Audrey likes tidying up. I feel like I lucked out on this one. I didn't really plan on teaching the twins how to put their books and toys away this early but for some some reason, Audrey really likes helping out whenever she sees me  putting their board books back in the book shelves. She even makes sure that they're on the right side up. You might think this is unusual, but I think it's only fair since she also has the capacity to strew the contents of one tiny book shelf onto the floor in one second.

Audrey loves books. She likes it whenever we read board books to her but what she enjoys even more is fake reading big people books. My mom has a ton of novels at home and whenever she sees my mom reading, she goes up to her and points at the pages while reciting made up words "Da ba da ba di ba ba bi ba!" I just find it so funny!

ANTONINO
Antonino loves cheese pizza. We had it on their 18th month and after his first bite, he kept on asking for "Pitpa!" Antonino is a picky eater who sometimes even pretends to fall asleep on his high chair just to get away from lunch or dinner, so imagine how glad we were that he was actually demanding food!

Whenever we're at the dining table having a meal, Antonino likes doing a roll call. "Daddy? Mommy? Adeeee? (Audrey) Mom? (LaMom)." We all need to respond with something like "Hi Antonino!" or else he would keep on repeating our names. Maybe it's also a tactic to avoid eating.

Antonino is obsessed with Dr. Seus' "Go, Dog. Go!" The first time I read it to him, he kept saying "Go go go!" which meant "Read it again ten times straight," which I did and still do until today. He can never get enough of it!

On Sundays, Antonino always wakes up at around 5:30AM. Joey gives him some toys to keep him occupied so Audrey and I can sleep until around 6AM. But Antonino wants all of us to get up at the same time so he'll go to my side of the bed and say "Mommy? Moning!" over and over, which I think really means "Mommy, it's morning! Quit sleeping in and get up now."

Lastly, Antonino is such a thoughtful brother. Whenever he sees Audrey's toys on the floor, he picks them up and brings them over to her. Whenever I hand him a snack, he always says "Adee?" like he's making sure if Audrey also has a snack. And whenever he reaches for his sippy cup to drink water, he automatically gets Audrey's cup too and hands it to her so she can have a drink as well. How sweet is that?

What have your toddlers been up to lately?

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