Nearly 20 Months

So many things happening at once. No need to talk about work more than to say this is the do-or-die period and it could not be more hectic than right now.

The girls continue to grow rapidly. They are nearly 20 months old now and changed into bigger size shoes today. They can also do so many new things. For example, last night they took off their own jackets after school. They have been eating hotter and hotter food (temperature-wise) for a couple months now. At this point the really want food almost the same temperature as me and Hirono. Or when its too hot they say so and then blow on it themselves.

We need to get Leia to a gym. She can jump up into the air and do so many physical things beyond her age that it would be a waste not to encourage her in gymnastics or some other athletics. She’s even pretty good at climbing up the slippery end of the slide now, or stopping halfway down the slide and walking down the rest of the way. The trick is to find one that both is fun and can stretch her abilities.

For Alisa, its all about language and books. Her pronunciation has improved dramatically over the last two weeks. She can now clearly articulate staccato consonants. For example, the ‘k’ in ‘book’ or the ‘t’ in ‘hot’ are surprisingly clear (at least to a parent’s ear.) And her vocabulary is larger than I would expect. Many times she repeats the important words of a sentence that I say to her. From that moment on she’ll remember those words and can use them (usually) appropriately. Leia is similar but not nearly as advanced linguistically. Leia seems a little more inclined toward Japanese than English. They really are sponges at this age.