hilina walks

i'm sorry i haven't been posting too much. our computer has been on the fritz thanks to hilina dropping it off the couch. but it's feeling better and so i hope to be able to update more. the last few months have been amazing. i can't believe how quickly everything seems to be changing. the girls are getting so big and learning so much. i think most parents hope their kids will love to read. i know i had visions of my little ones toddling over to my lap, book in hand, and i promised myself no matter how busy i got i would read to them for at least 20 minutes every day. i just never imagined they would do it 15 thousand times a day. especially saida. every time i sit down and sometimes when i'm changing a diaper or whatever, i look down and there she is with hop on pop or goodnight gorilla or brown bear and phew. hilina's occupational therapist is jamaican and it never fails that when she's working, saida drops a book in her lap. she says, "now miss saidie i'm not going to read you no more brown bear, brown bear going to have to take a rest now miss sadie". if you can picture that being said in a booming accent with andrea laughing and saida then making fun of andrea laughing, you'll think it's funnier. anyway, it's awesome how much they love to "read" to themselves now too, and it's helping them learn more words and doesn't involve going outside so i'm happy as a clam. saida now can say with meaning "mama, dada, dog, night night, mouth, nose, no, judah, hi, bye, cheese, milk, dog, pop pop, and raf raf (her stuffed animal's name). she's started saying hina but doesn't use it you know what i mean? she is loving dancing and has started running and has cut 5 teeth in the last few weeks which was freaking horrible.
hilina is turning into a total spaz. now that she's more mobile (she can crawl as fast as saida walks now), she's into everything. surprisingly, she's the trouble make of the two. she's a dancing fool. she gets her arms up in this chicken move and shakes them back and forth making the weirdest intense face like she's concentrating so hard and then she yells "wooooooooooa" likes she's really been breaking it down. i've tried to get it on video but you know how that goes. she's also learned a lot of words in the last few months: mama, dada, da (for saida), ju (for judah), woof woof (for hound dog), NO! which she uses all the time, it's awesome, hi, bye, etc. she's also got some made up words like bia bia which, trust me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of her bia bia outbursts - it means she's really mad. whenever i get a few minutes alone with her she wants to talk. and boy does she say what's on her mind. she tells entire stories if you just keep asking her questions she will go on and on. it's made me really excited about them getting older and anxiously awaiting when they speak in sentences so i can find out what's really going on inside their minds. she's really doing great in therapy as you can see here:

i'll be out of the city for 2 weeks with lots of extra hands on deck and sammy has said to just walk with her all over the place. so hopefully she will really get it in the next month. the first steps she took were beautiful (not the ones on video) and i cried like a little baby i was so happy.
judah just had his 4 month check up and the boy is 17 lbs already. that's how big saida was when we brought her home. crazy for me to think about. he's brought so much joy to our family. he's started rolling over and smiling at just about everything. his favorite pastimes currently include: chewing on his fingers, eating, sleeping, looking at himself in the mirror, watching his sisters, being sung to, and practicing standing.