It's Boxing Day!

Boxing Day, Wikipedia tells me, is known as "The Day of Good Will" in South Africa. The name comes from the tradition of putting gifts into boxes for the less fortunate. In many commercialized parts of the world, however, it is now associated mainly with a day of shopping deals. Hmmm....

Moving on from that tidbit, of even MORE significance than Boxing Day (at least to the entire United States, I'm sure!!) - Viva & Jake are 18 months old today. A year and a half. Craziness.

Viva has a favorite word: no. She says it with great feeling and quite often. Once in a while if we're tricky we can get a yeah out of her, but she is much more sparing with her positive answers to questions. When she's not busy with no, she can be found asking "what's that"?? She's even borrowed a trick from Bentley, and sometimes nothing can stop her from repeating her question over and over. Even after it's answered. :-)

Jackson has more words than Genevieve, I do believe, but I can't pick out any favorites of his. He prefers to use sentences - albeit, I'll admit, short ones! I want down. I want that. No, not that! Hold me. Hold me. Hold me! Okay - hold me - that's probably still his favorite, now that I think of it.

The twins are very charming little creatures although they don't always share well. Jake has a tendency to take what he wants. Viva is starting to fight back more often, though! I'll even admit that sometimes she grabs a toy she knows he likes - and then she leads him on a merry chase with a glint in her eye, just to get him worked up. I've seen it more than a few times!

In honor of this great day, the chairs are back! Please enjoy the dynamic duo as they move backwards in time, starting with a shot from earlier today: