Developments and special talents

It has been a while since I wrote about Gabi & Alexi in more detail, mostly due to lack of time.

Well, they have become an absolute joy and we cannot get enough of them.

The early mornings are their favorite time of day, after they wake up. They are FULL of smiles and giggles and baby talk. We place them down facing each other and they get very excited and give one another huge smiles and try to 'talk'. They are both very good at holding their heads up and keeping their backs straight and they squirm around when placed on their bellies. They also both prefer to sit up then lay down while awake, so they try to lift their little heads on their own continuously.
Lately, we have been taking them for their evening walks in the Bjorn (carrier) instead of the stroller so they get to experience the world more and they really enjoy it. We meet a lot of people during these strolls and have become very popular around the neighborhood in Astoria.

Gabi is especially good at standing in our laps. She is a little peanut but she is so strong and demands that we let her stand. Also, she loves her own voice. Everyday she practices talking in long ooh's and ahh's and screaching. She tries to respond to us. Just yesterday she started experimenting with her tongue and lips, trying to make different, funny sounds. She is in a good mood most of the time (somewhat more than her brother; he is more sensitive to change) and smiles a lot. She is much smaller than Alexi but she is so alert and active that we believe she will be helping her brother with homework and letting him cheat off of her tests later in life. :-)
Gabi seems to be quite vain as she likes to look at herself in the mirror. :-) She smiles and coos at the cute baby staring back at her.
Today was her first time getting her feet wet in a swimming pool. And boy did she enjoy it. She kicked her little feet and smiled at the water.

Alexi (Ocsi as I call him, the Hungarians will understand) is very sturdy and strong. His special talents are his hand coordination skills. About 2 weeks ago he started to rub his eyes regularly and tug at his ears. I find him staring at his hands (usually the left one) several times a day. He also LOVES the pacifier and sucking his (left) thumb. Today was the first day that he really tried to play with one of the toys hanging on his baby chair. He kept punching it. I moved it over a few inches to see if he would still try to reach it and he did, so Alex and I were very excited.
He also started to giggle recently almost as if he was trying to imitate us.

Some recent pictures follow: