Leah, Emma and Claire (and Jen and John)

Nothing exciting to report from last week besides the girls new found love of Sesame Street (which has everything to do with us getting DVR). They have learned all the names of the characters (Emma calls Big Bird “Big Bob”) and they have even started chanting “Elmo on, Elmo on” whenever the tv is turned on. I indulged them a few too many times the first couple of days and I really noticed it made them whiny and restless. They are much better behaved when the TV is off and I save Elmo for a special treat. I know that sounds mean but I’m not kidding when I say it makes them whiny and they lose all ability to play by themselves.

Nana and Papa arrived on Thursday night for the visit. It has been nice having them and I took full advantage of having a car and the freedom to go out without the girls. Friday I had lunch with a friend and then in the afternoon John’s dad and I drove to Guelph to watch the team Drew coaches play in the provincial qualifier tournament. We were back in Guelph with John on Saturday afternoon to watch another game.

Spending time in a high school was weird. I clearly remember when the guys on the Senior Boys Basketball team looked old. The kids on Drew’s team (and all the kids in the stands) looked so young and it was a bit of a shocker realizing that I had at least 12 years on all of them. The even bigger shocker is that in 12 years the girls will be nearly in high school. There was nothing comforting about any of the teenage girls I saw. The third shocker of the day came on our way home from dinner when The Proclaimers 500 miles song was on the retro station.

Last night we met Coby and Carrie for dinner - in a restaurant! We haven’t been out just the four of us since a few weeks before Ronan was born. Ronan was 11 months yesterday. It was nice.

Today I had book club. I was supposed to host but I opted for brunch instead. This afternoon John and I did some shopping just the two of us. It was nice.

Tomorrow morning I have the first of two workshops with the speech people. I’m not looking forward to it but I will try and maintain a positive attitude. We are fortunate that the girls are being monitored and maybe I’m missing something when I think the girls are fine verbally.

Reading with Nana

Elmo time with Chickie and Lambie

“Don’t worry Mom, we’ll be good for Nana and Papa.”

Amazingly our camera is still capable of taking pictures without babies. This is us ready for our big night out on the town (dinner at a restaurant…)

Emma LOVES shoes.

For the first time this Winter it is cold outside. And it’s not even that cold, we’ve just been spoiled for months. There hasn’t been snow on the ground since early January. There’s still no snow, it’s just really, really cold (like -7 but the wind makes it -20. I am officially a Toronto winter wimp).

The weekend was good. Troy, Jess, Sarah and Brennan came over for dinner on Saturday night. Brennan is crawling everywhere - it’s nuts how fast all these kids grow. The girls really enjoy Sarah (she’s a year older than them) and Emma was calling her by name. The three of them spent a large part of the evening laughing and running around after each other.

Yesterday we did some shopping and then I put all off season (and in my case still too small but I’m not giving up - I will one day have time to myself to go to the gym again) clothes into rubbermaids. I am a little bit obsessed with putting things in rubbermaids these days. John’s mom and I watched a Dr Phil the other week on hoarders and it got me in the mood to organize and throw out junk we don’t need. The Salvation Army is cashing in. John’s dad is going to build me shelves in the storage room that will fit the tubs and it is going to be so neat and tidy. I can’t wait.

The girls are doing well. I am very excited to report that I have found a new way to trick them into eating veggies. Apparently in the States they have these things called spinach nuggets. I looked at the grocery store and at Costco but I can’t find them so I decided to try spanakopita (spinach and feta in phyllo). They love them. They ask for more. Yesterday I bought some phyllo and tried it with brocolli. They love it. They ask for more. I’m pretty sure I can chop up anything, wrap it in phyllo and give it to them. Good thing phyllo is low fat so I don’t feel too guilty about serving veggie pastries!

They are still sleeping well. I think their bedtime is creeping towards 8 again but we’re trying to keep it at 7:30 for selfish reasons like primetime tv.

Leah watched me put my hair in a ponytail the other day and whined until I put her hair in a ponytail (not a happy moment for me). She stood perfectly still and let me put two pigtails in. Her hair is pretty thin but the elastics stay in. I will admit she looks pretty cute. The camera has been dead but is now charging. I will get a pic of the hairdo soon. Emma has no interest in me touching her hair and ran away when I asked if she wanted a ponytail (good girl!).

This time last year I had the time (and the cooperative subjects) to take Valentine pictures. No such luck this year - not even an attempt. I didn’t even think to dress them in red until the day was nearly over.

We had a nice weekend. John hosted poker on Friday night. From the amount of yelling I think it’s safe to say they had a good time. The girls slept through it all. The rest of the weekend wasn’t very eventful.

John’s dad arrived on Sunday night to work on the basement. He is working really hard and making good progress. The girls are so used to drilling and hammering that they don’t even flinch. Today I had to go to North York for a focus group for former patients and he watched the girls for me.

The girls are doing well. They are still sleeping. Emma continues her obsession with taking her sleeper (and then her diaper…) off. This morning they were up early and I let them play for a bit only to go in and find Emma sitting naked on her soaking mattress. The only consolation is that it was warm pee so she wasn’t cold yet! I don’t know how people do it without laundry.

Jackson ruined one of the girls comfy chairs over Christmas and we finally decided to replace it. We were going to get the same style of chair (room for one) but then we saw this Sesame Street pull out couch and changed our minds. They both really like it and for the first time ever they will sit for 30 mins and watch a Baby Einstein video. It’s great.

After months of waffling we finally got DVR (Cogeco’s version of TIVO). We got it in the mail yesterday and I didn’t waste any time setting it up. I love it. I can now record shows on Treehouse that I want them to watch like Sesame Place and cut out shows that aren’t geared towards them or are guaranteed to make them (or me) go mental. Poomba (sp?) will not be played in this house again
Another thing we discoved this week is the girls love playing in the dark. If you turn out all the lights they run around (they didn’t inherit my eyesight!) laughing. The both used to be kind of iffy on the concept of off but they sure get it now. They chant “light off” , “off”, “off”.

Their new couch. Check out Emma’s little belly and the couch potato posture.

Sitting still…watching Baby Einstein

Leah loves all the animals

I keep on thinking I’m done with this but then I realize how much fun it is to look back and see where they were at in one place.

They were 20 months on Tuesday. We missed the 18 month NICU follow up visit when we were in Florida but I think it’s safe to say that they have caught up to their actual age. We’re still supposed to correct (18 months) until they’re 2.

Teeth:
I don’t know. They bite.

Hair:
Leah’s is getting quite long in the back and it is now a true mullet. There is talk about cutting it. We’ll see. It’s got a slight wave to it so it doesn’t look too bad, just messy. Emma’s is still really curly but hers is also getting longer.

Sleep:
They are finally sleeping through the night again. We’ve had three bad nights in the past three weeks. One night Emma took of her diaper and proceeded to wet herself and the bed. The other two nights Leah has woken up awake and played a little too loudly and woken Emma up. We haven’t (and won’t) given them a bottle in the night since we got back from Florida. They are going to bed at 7:30 but they usually play til after 8. They’ve been getting up around 8am. I’ve managed to get them to give up napping in the morning and they now nap after lunch. Somedays they nap for an hour, somedays I wake them up because I won’t let them sleep more than 2.5 hours.

Getting around:
They both started their obsession with climbing this month. They are both surprisingly sure footed and they have yet to really fall. We set up the slide on their play house and although they really enjoy it, any chair is still their favourite. They can both run and Emma has started jumping which is pretty funny. They like to dance and chase each other around. Emma is starting to walk up the stairs rather than crawl. Leah can walk as well but she prefers crawling.

Food:
They are eating better these days. Emma is very open to trying new things and she will eat most of the things we give her. Leah is still throwing new foods (unless it’s a bread product) on the floor without even trying it. Their favourites are pasta and pizza. They still get their bedtime bottle - now that they’re sleeping again I have a whole new excuse not to take it away. Emma had some constipation issues in Florida but she didn’t eat well for the first couple of days. She’s been fine since.

This month I’m going to start them on utensils. Yes I know I should have done this months ago but as I’ve said 100 times by now they are not good eaters. I don’t care if they eat with their hands til they’re 3 but we’re going to give it a try.

I weighed them the other day…well actually I told them to stand still on the scale. They are both 21lbs exactly (our scale goes to 0.1lb).

Potty:
No change. They are not all that interested now that the novelty has worn off. They do come running seconds after they poop to let me know though. I’ve started changing them on the floor downstairs and whoever isn’t getting changed likes to try and wipe her sister’s bum with a wipe…

Talking:
They are doing really well. They learn new words every day and they are constantly pointing out things and telling us what it is. Emma has really started speaking in two word phrases. She is contantly telling us who an object belongs to. It’s no longer book, it’s mama’s book or Leah’s shoe. Leah uses two words but only on special occasions like “no Emma”.

I got a call for the second workshop with the Speech and Language people. I have to go at the end of the month. I don’t think they need it anymore but I know if I say that they’ll just think I’m one of those moms that thinks her kids are perfect.

Personalities:
Leah has really mellowed the past few weeks. She is loving and will come for hugs and kisses throughout the day. This is a big change for the girl that used to hate being cuddled. She is much more patient and easy going. I think it might have something to do with her expanding vocabulary. She can now tell us when she’s hungry, tired or upset. She is really good about sharing with Emma and if I give her a cookie she will give it to Emma and then come back for hers. Emma won’t give Leah one until she has two and even then sometimes she tries to keep the two for herself!

Emma on the other hand is not as loving as she once was. At the beginning of the month there were times when only I could hold her. She wanted Mama mama mama mama mama. It got to the point where she wouldn’t let John push the shopping cart if I was there. The past couple of weeks she’s been a lot more independent which is good because she was getting a bit clingy. She’s even much more friendly with strangers. Emma is a hoarder. She will accumulate a pile of blocks and scream “Leah Leah Leah” when Leah tries to take one. Sometimes I think she’s very lucky Leah is easy going when it comes to toys. Emma has also started taking off her clothes, the dolls clothes and tonight she took the sheet off her bed. Sleepers with buttons are no longer safe and I think the zippered ones days are numbered. We’re going to have to put them on backwards soon! Leah has unbuttoned her sleeper once but thankfully she didn’t take off her diaper.

They’ve both started running to me saying the others name when something has happened. John and I are both pretty set on letting them figure things out on their own and it seems to be working.

When they get hurt they’ll stop crying to tell you what hurts.

For the most part they get along well. They are never far from each other and sometimes you can catch them giggling over some secret. The two of them can get pretty silly and they just feed off each other. They like to dance and yesterday they were holding hands going around in a circle. It was very cute. They still talk and laugh in their cribs which is nice to hear now that it’s not at 3am.

It’s good we got two buckets of blocks.

“Look at us mom, we can handle the ceramics”

Emma on the slide

Plotting in the coat closet

There are two things that are very clear in our house…
1) The girls are not ready for toilet training (or learning as some people like to call it)
2) The girls are not even close to ready to understand time outs.

With the second one pretty obvious, John and I were forced to relax. I would say that for the most part we aren’t what you’d call uptight parents but on Friday I was pushed to my limits. On Saturday the girls put on the same climbing show for their dad and his reaction was pretty much the same as mine. We talked about it at length and decided that we need to relax. We even managed to figure out the obvious - that us freaking out over them climbing was making them want to do it more. It’s amazing how freaking out can blind you from the obvious.

Here’s the plan we came up with. The girls have one of those plastic houses (that we keep in our living room rather than the backyard) and we decided it was time for us to add on the slide. The plan being it would be something they could climb that they were actually allowed to climb. They love it. We are also letting them climb on the couch. If they stand up we just take them down and calmly tell them they are not allowed to stand on the couch. Does it work everytime…no, but it’s better. They are stil not allowed to climb over the ceramic tile. I don’t care if we’re too uptight about that, until they learn to listen and be careful they are only allowed to climb in the carpeted areas.

This week flew by. Nothing really exciting to report. John’s mom was here for most of the week which was nice. John’s second week of work was uneventful.

The girls had a cold for most of the week. They were very clingy on Tuesday and both of them wanted me to themselves. It made for a lot of attempts to push each other off my lap and of course tears. Lots and lots of tears. The rest of the week they were just really congested. They think it is hilarious to randomly blow their nose and watch me jump to get a kleenex. It’s definitely a good example of why you don’t strongly react to anything because now they know that it gets me moving - fast. They’ll both start doing it at the same time then take off running and laughing when I try to wipe their noses. It’s actually pretty disgusting but funny at the same time. The key is to get to them before they start wiping it with their hands.

Their climbing is becoming an issue. They climb everything. I don’t know what to do. I can’t just let them do it because they will fall. It’s not like they climb up on a chair and sit like good girls - they climb up and then stand up on the chair/couch/whatever and then get silly. It’s the silliness that scares me because they are not careful and the ceramic tile is just waiting to crack their heads open. They climb the kitchen chairs, the dining room chairs, the couch, their toy trunk - everything. I tell them not to do it and they laugh and think it’s a game. I try and distract them and within seconds one of them will be back at it and the other will follow. Today I spent 4 straight hours following them around trying to get them to stop. For the first time in my parenting career it wasn’t even safe for me to leave them so I could go to the bathroom.

So I’m at a loss. I’m thinking it might be time for time outs. When they’re bad make them sit in a toddler chair. I don’t know if they’ll get it but I need something to make them understand that they need to listen. The logistics of doing timeout with one while the other one runs free will be a challenge but based on today they’ll both be in the same boat. I’m open to suggestions on this one.