Talking, Walking and other Developmental Milestones

Many babies who were born prematurely are behind developmentally, and my girls are not the exception. They have done most of their development behind, but are catching up quickly. They still are behind on motor skills (gross and fine), but are beyond their ages for other skills, like communication, self care, feeding, etc. Having twins really lets you have a good view of the developmental growth of children. Emma & Robin are VERY different - personality wise and developmentally. Robin likes to take everything in, and is typically the last to start a new skill, but as soon as she starts it she pretty much has it mastered (she's observing and learning before doing). Emma is the complete opposite - she wants to try everything, and it doesn't matter how many times she fails. A good example of this is crawling - Emma started crawling at 9 months, and spent many hours up on all fours and trying to coordinate the hand/leg movements. Robin had no interest in joining her sister, and was content just sitting and playing. Robin finally started crawling right before she was 11 months old (and right before we went to Disney), and did it just as well as her sister who had months of practice! Words are slowly coming to my children, and of course Emma is chatting away (not that we understand what she's saying). I would have expected her first words to be the "traditional" ones that you would expect a baby to say, like "up", "more", "milk", etc. But no, Emma is particularly fond of "cracker", and it was her first real word. She LOVES crackers, and knows where we keep them, and will point and say the word until she either gets a cracker or is moved from the room. Another word she loves is "car", which she repeats throughout the day. She is good at repeating new words, "door", "dog" "duck" "quack quack", and uses "mama" "Dada" and "Nana" when she wants our attention. Robin will say "mama" "Dada" and "Nana", but that's her limit right now. I know she understands everything that's being said, and I think she's waiting to just blurt out some big sentence! Walking is another skill the Tater Tots are clearly behind on. My goal is for them to be fully walking little munchkins by the time Morgan and Ryan arrive (sometime in either March or April). Both girls can pull themselves up to standing, and can "cruise". Emma is much more adventurous and will stand up from sitting (not holding onto anything) and just stand there (clapping, screeching and smiling). Robin has no desire to do this, and I don't push her. Emma is also starting to walk by holding onto our hands, and has even done pretty well with just one hand. Every night I spend time doing laps around the living room and let her climb up the stairs. She is very determined and would do it for hours, but mommy is tired (and big)!