Practice saying their names to each other? That's such a (Japanese) couple thing to do. They aren't even dating and yet they are hitting all the dating milestones. At this rate they are going to exchange wedding vows before they "officially" date
Jokes aside, it's quite brilliant writing actually. In an ordinary dating progression, the main exciting part is the "will they, won't they?" routine before they actually date, but it can get very tiring when it takes too long. But after they date, if the author still writes that, things like birthday gifts or messaging each other are only natural and most conflict comes when one of the people involved screws up or an external force interferes, which also aren't always pleasant to read. Meanwhile, by moving the post-dating stages to before they officially date, each one of them gains new levels of excitement just by being done, as evident here. It's genius.