On Sunday afternoon the girls and I decided we would pack our bags (and playpens, and feeding chairs, and food, and lambie, and chickie etc etc etc) and go back to Windsor with John’s parents after my appointment Monday morning. We knew John was going to have a busy week with work and I just wasn’t up for 5 days with no car and no adult interaction.
We’ve had nice week in Windsor. John’s dad is very much like me in that he just likes to go out for the sake of getting out of the house. We’ve been all over Windsor and the girls have done a ton of walking. They are now very good at holding your hand (except Leah refuses to hold Emma’s hand) and the threat of being picked up if they don’t hold your hand works like a charm. We visited the convent where John’s mom works and the girls put on a show on the piano for the sisters. I got a good video I’ll post when I get back home.
The girls are going to a birthday party this afternoon and then John’s dad is driving us home tomorrow afternoon. He’s going to stay and work on the basement for a couple of days.
John has been very lonely with us gone. He’s worked late each night and discovered that with no traffic he can make it home from work in 35 mins (it takes him between 1 and 2 hours most nights). I’m thinking it might be easier on him if he sees the girls in the morning and goes into work later, avoiding rush hour traffic both there and back. I haven’t been able to convince him yet though.
Although he has been lonely, he was pretty excited last night at the prospect of sleeping in today and tomorrow. I must admit I’m a little jealous. I think I have been alone in our house a handful of times since the girls were born and it is very relaxing!
The speech appointment was better than I expected and I learned some new things which we can use. The main thing I came away with is that you should always be encouraging vocabulary in a fun way. I know that sounds like common sense but they encouraged you to always push them which I might not have done. If they can say one word, give them two back. Always add an extra word so they learn. Gestures also count as words so if they give you a gesture you’re supposed to say the gesture and add a word. They still don’t want us to teach them please and thank you (useless words to speech and language people) and you have to stop and think of how to add words. If they say “more mama” I say “more cheese mama”. It actually works. I have the second part of the workshop Monday morning and then I will have to take the girls in at some point to be videod (is that a word?) using the techniques they teach you. I think (hope) we might be done after that!
I’ll post some pics when I get back to Oakville.
