10 months old - bedknobs & broomsticks (and Evie walking!)

This month 4 very very exciting things happened.
...and as Dermot O'Leary from X-Factor says "these are in no particular order"

(by the way that little Irish 'yoghurt' chappie will never win. Dad says that you should never trust anyone with hair that big)

1) We kidnapped M+D's 'sonic' toothbrushes.
Now, everyone's seen the Tombliboos clean their teeth - and you've got to admit, they're pretty quick.



And Mum says with the amount of junk we eat, we'd better look after our pearly whites. But we've gotta be honest, brushing is pretty boring, and we ain't got time for that.

So we stole M+Ds sonic things - they apparently do 30,000 strokes a minute!

And with only 6 teeth, this means we can finish brushing practically before we even start! = RESULT.

(We don't actually care what they do - we just like the fuzzy feeling you get when you hold them and stuff them in your mouth.)


buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2) We got 'Pyjamas'
Up until now we've been sleeping in 'sleepsuits' - which are pretty much the Ronseal of baby clothes.

This month we literally grew out of all our sleepsuits, and moved up to the grown up version which are called 'pyjamas' - which doesn't exactly describe what they are.

Apparently, the literal translation is 'leg garment'.
You'll all be glad to hear our versions cover more than just a leg.
However, we still haven't discovered why Evie's version includes a ridiculous hat.



And why anyone would want to put a banana in one is beyond us. There's clearly room for a whole fruit salad!

3) We discover the kitchen 'broom'
It has been said that we're not exactly the tidiest of eaters.
In fact, Dad once thought that a small hurricane had swept through the kitchen - but it was actually just the fallout from us devouring some salmon, peas and sweet potato.

So M+D use the 'broom' to sweep up all our debris.
The broom is ace. It's really long, has a tickly end and you can knock things off window ledges with it. You can also trip up over it and smash your nose on the wooden floor. That's not so ace.

Joe immediately understood what the broom was for, and started clearing up after himself.



Evie on the other hand, tried to play it.


'waaaaaaaap'

4) Evie learned how to walk
It turns out, despite her confusion over kitchen tools, that Evie is a quick learner.
Ever since Joe started crawling she hasn't been able to torment him quite so much, so she came up with a plan to keep him chasing after her:

9 months old - climbing, crawling and jumping

Who needs diets??
We can't understand why Dad keeps going on and on about not eating carbs.
We've been so active this month we've burned off our own body weight in Cheerios.

[You'll remember that last month Evie decided to stand.]
This month I decided to move things up a gear and alternate a crawl with a stand. This apparently is how you learn to 'climb'.
I can now climb almost 6 times my height without stopping.

Dad says this is roughly the same as Chris Bonnington climbing Everest, except there's no snow at the top of our stairs. Impressive huh!



Joe has been a little slower on the uptake, but this month finally got crawling sorted.
Now it's like "Strictly Come Crawling" - and man do we make perfect dance partners:



Check out our "hip-hop-trance-funk-tango":

This month we also went on holiday to the Lake District with Jack and Jamie who brought our Godparents along to carry their bags.

Dad and Uncle Dabba did some light engineering work to get us all into the car:


(Jack's in the boot, but because you can't see him apparently we weren't breaking any laws)

And Mum introduced us to 'al fresco' dining:



Evie got some new rattles:



But best of all we learned how to 'jump'.
Jack taught us how to do this on a 'trampoline':



Finally this month we decided to hold a competition to see who could get the biggest "awwww they're just so cute!" from our grandparents.

Joe thought he had it nailed with this one entitled "my first balloon"...



Sadly for Joe, Evie had other ideas.
Give her a ball and some blueberries and she'll melt someone's heart in a flash...

8 months old - goodbye bouncy chairs, hello ball pit!

Evie: "Dad - you're wrong. We're not too small for the bouncy chairs. You can't take them away, we need these as much as Joey and Chandler need their La-z-boys!"

Joe: "Evie - just pass me the tortillas and a beer - I think this is the episode where Yasmin Bleeth runs up the garden"



Well despite our protestations, M+D have taken our bouncy chairs away. Apparently we were too 'heavy' or something. This sucks.

However, since we've got the attention span of a Tombliboo, we've already gotten over it and moved onto greater things.

Evie: On the plus side, I can now 'stand' (almost) by myself. Standing is great. It doesn't last long, and it doesn't seem to achieve much, but it sure beats the crap out of sitting in a bouncy chair. Turns out chairs are actually rubbish, this is way more cool.



Joe: And I've got a new hat. It's got 'animals' on it. I've been asking Dad to do impersonations of them, and so far I think his 'elephant' is my favourite. Apparently a 'giraffe' doesn't actually have a voice so it's impossible to do impersonations of them. I wondered for a while how they communicate, and then Dad explained they are telepathetic. This is the reason why they've got small aerials on the top of their head. To send emails to other giraffes.

Dad sure knows his stuff.



We were also in luck this month because even though it's too cold to fill the paddling pool with water, M+D decided that it could easily double as a 'ball pit'.

Being in the ball pit is great fun, even if there are splinters from the decking poking us in the bum. We could stay in here all day, or at least until Joe has thrown all the balls over the side (that's in about 100 balls time by the way - which is roughly 20 minutes at his current rate)



Being in the ball pit also made us realise how lucky we were to be in the garden in September:

Evie reflected on how the sunlight shining through the leaves casts a myriad of shadows and offers endless hues of green and turquoise.



Joe reflected that it's been at least 4 minutes since his last rice cake....

7 months old - teething, talking, typing!

Sigh - well it looks like it's the end of summer already (well it is August after all...), and Dad had only just sorted out the outdoor pool as well. Here we are testing it out and praying for sunshine so that we can fill it up...



...and then M+D remembered that Joe has discovered 'grass' and (like father like son) he's keen to get his hands on some...



...the pool is now back in the shed.

Joe: "sigh - I love the garden, but it looks like it's all over until next year"
Evie: "never mind, now that you can crawl I can stitch you up for all the mess I made indoors!"



We've mentioned before that Dad was born in Scotland, which means he simply can't walk past a bargain, so imagine our surprise (not) when he came back the other day with 2 new high chairs!



we were so impressed that we thought it was only fair to reward the poor bloke with some impromptu talking:



Which loosely translates as:
"yes Dad, they're lovely chairs, and the sales lady certainly didn't see you coming, and who would've thought you could have fitted both in the boot of your car, NOW GET ON WITH THE FOOD YOU SAD PENNY-PINCHING MUPPET!"

This month Mum has introduced us to 'snacks'.
It started with carrot sticks and cucumber sticks, which are kind of ok, because you can actually chew them (or pop them in sideways - which is great for parents of a nervous disposition).
Next she tried Joe on a 'rusk' - which don't so much get chewed, as worn....



In response to 'snacks' we've started growing 'teeth'.
Teeth help us chew, and they also help us scream at the tops of our voices in the middle of the night for no reason.

They also give us ruddy cheeks, make us dribble like drainpipes, and make us poop with un-nerving frequency. Teeth are also quite difficult to photograph, but you know by now that Dad doesn't give up easily:



On the educational front, Dad has wasted no time teaching us all about 'maps'.
Mum's over the moon because quite frankly after 7 years of it she's just about had enough.

Here we are showing our appreciation of the Ordnance Survey:



All we know right now is that maps are only marginally less tasty than rusks.
(although to be fair they are quite chewy)

Finally this month, Joe helped Dad out in the office.

Here is his first email:

" hlkkmn9ullhlhmnm#kgvbtyh `zZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ65651577/666666666666666666666666777777777777777777777777777777777777777/*/oe vvvff x c \xxxxxxxx\fgssssssssztxczzn bUJHM7Hgy +.m, +68/52
'',vcc\a v+++--++++++++++++++-##]
++++++ikik4e3.85. bjhh4959595*/ 39*63333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333338/8/8/8/8/8/8 g 4"



Joe is now applying to Bletchley to join the codebreakers team.

6 months old - the start of monthly reviews

Soooooo - you're maybe wondering where we've been - it's been a while since we blogged, and there's PLENTY to tell you all about.

Dad decided that weekly blogging was a mug's game, so from here on in it'll be monthly updates
- so strap yourself in for a bumper issue!

First up, Mum's still introducing us to all sorts of 'music' - and we still LOVE it.
To celebrate our favourite genre we got all dressed up in the t-shirts Dad's mate Paul gave us:


(this was when we were listening to Magic FM - it was a Queen special!)

Next up, Evie's started to 'laugh'. The funniest thing about this is that Evie doesn't actually realise how funny it is. And there's nothing better at the end of the day for putting a smile on your face than listening to this:



Towards the end of the day, we now take a 'bath' together. This is brilliant fun. Evie's has learned how to splash the water, and Joe has learned how to poo in there too.



On the food front, Mum has started feeding us outside when the sun's out. Here we are sporting the next line of "Jackson Headgear" that M+D continue to fashion out of other bits of clothing (see previous entry of http://theadventuresofjoeandeviejackson.blogspot.com/2008/03/11-weeks-old-its-all-about-joe.html)




(according to Cosmopolitan magazine the muslin is this year's 'must have' accessory)

We've also been to another fesitval - this one was Latitude in Suffolk, and this time we made our own music with instruments that Nana Linda brought back from Brighton.

We had an audience of 3.
(which Dad says was only marginally worse than some of the bands on stage)

The phone hasn't exactly been ringing off the hook, but we're sure our first single will be on YouTube soon.



Oh, and Joe had to take Iggle Piggle with him - for moral support or something.



Finally, we just can't stop being cute. This is all very well and good, but Dad's getting a little tired of endlessly running into the house for the camera when we do anything remotely photoworthy.

Baby hoodie anyone?

26 weeks old - 6 months!! and our first holiday

Lord Belborough and Brackett may well have thought that time flies by when you're the driver of a train (there's a test for you...), but I bet they didn't figure on how fast time flies when you're a pair of twins in PB.

6 months already - and only a few scars to show for it.

This week to celebrate our anniversary (we don't know the word for a half yearly celebration) M+D took us to Brighton on holiday.

We met loads of M+D's friends (Marv Jo Rosie & George, Lara, Katie & Lyla, Paul, Michelle, Darren Sophie & Charlie, and our cousins Fiona Eric Louis & Samuel) but one of the highlights was having our photos taken by Dad's mate Paul, who is a professional photographer (check out his website at blueturtlestudio)

here's a selection of his handiwork:











And to finish off - here's two of our shots:

From Dad "Confusious say: Yes it will frickin fit":



From Mum: "Supersonic ducks":

25 weeks old - in OUR night garden

"Yes our names are Joe & Evie, Evie-weevie-evie-weevie-evie
Yes our names are Joe & Evie, Evie-weevie-evie-weevie-woo!"

The sun came out in PB this week, so we decided to get back to nature and take in the sights and smells of our garden.

And imagine our surprise when we had a few visitors....

Isn't that a pip!

(did you spot the Pontipines? - how many?)

24 weeks old - our first birthday party

No, not ours you numpty, we mean the first one we've attended

Cousin Lucy was 2 this week, so we asked M+D to drive us up to Rutland to see her and the rest of our family.

First off we dropped in on Great Grandad to say hi.
...and Evie suffered her first embarrassing photoshoot....



So we made a sharp exit and headed off to see Lucy.

Grandma and Grandad were desperate to get a photo of us all together - you can see how successful they were in getting our attention...



Finally, Evie and Lucy had their first bonding experience as the new breed of Jackson girls:

23 weeks old - weaning begins in earnest

Well we don't know anyone called earnest, but by golly we love this green crap that M+D are serving up.





We started eating from a 'spoon' over a week ago with some fairly boring baby rice - man it beats sucking on those ruddy latex teats anyday. This week Mum brought out the interesting gear. Peas are our new best friends.

Plus we can spread it all over ourselves, the chairs, the cat, eachother - keeps us entertained for hours watching M+D chasing around wiping stuff up.

(a taste of things to come no doubt)

22 weeks old - ants in our pants

Things are beginning to look up.

We used to think that there wasn't much to do during the day except stare at the ceiling, dribble and poop our pants.

How wrong we were.

'Legs' it turns out are quite exciting - and have been keeping us amused all week.

Joe:
I'm rather partial to tapping out an imaginery tune with my leg:

Evie:
A couple of weeks ago you saw pictures of me in the door bouncer. Well here's footage of me in the exo-saucer doing a similar dance routine:

Roll on school discos!

21 weeks old - our first festival and market

Now you all know that M+D are hippies at heart, and love nothing more than a good festival and market (Cider and falafel are obligatory at each).

This week they introduced us to both, but don't get all excited just yet...

Always being inclined to support local events, they took us to the Rickmansworth Festival of Waterways and Boating - it was the 'highlight' of Ricky Week....
(Joe shat himself he got so excited).

Actually it was good fun, there was live music, skinny dogs on bits of string, men in grubby coats, and cheap cider.



And from there, they took us from the sublime to the ridiculous (or at least mildly bizarre) - Camden Lock market - where we had a walkabout.

It was great, there was live music, skinny dogs on bits of string, men in grubby coats, and cheap cider.....



And finally this week, at Mum's behest, here's Evie sporting the latest in "Hello Kitty Haute Couture"...