The Littler Ones

I've been struggling with what to call the littler girls lately. As in the shorthand when we refer to the two of them together, the unit of two. Used to be "the babies," but now they aren't, although they still seem so much younger to me than Rosemary was at the exact same age. (It's the language thing. I think that makes a big difference.) I can't call them "the twins" - that sounds to me like I'm talking about someone else's twins, somehow generic. Can't call them "the girls," because of course that refers to all three girls. This comes up more than you'd think, and I know what you're thinking. They have names, right? How about you use their names? But that takes too long. I'm open to suggestions.  

On the language front, things are picking up speed. Sylvia says whole sentences we can't quite understand, while Maggie tends to say one word at a time, but just the first part of it. Sylvia is getting so she'll repeat things back to you, which could be useful because then we hear how she says it and can (in theory) start to recognize it when she says things on her own. Maggie often shakes her head no when you ask her if she can say something. But I'm pretty sure she said alligator today.