Leah, Emma and Claire (and Jen and John)

Wednesday the girls had their follow up appointment for the workshop I went to last month. It was supposed to be another videotape and review session but our regular therapist is on mat leave and her replacement didn't mention the video (and I wasn't about to say a thing!). The appointment was well over an hour of the therapist asking me questions and trying to get the girls to speak. Emma was on her game but Leah was stubborn. She was all smiles but was more interested in all the toys than in having a conversation with the therapist.

Emma is saying 2 words all the time and has moved on to 3 and 4 word phrases. Leah still tries to get away with 1 word but if you can outlast the stubborness she will give you 2 consistently or 3 (an example of 3 being "cookie please mama" with a big cheesy smile). The therapist thinks Emma is speaking at around a 2 1/2 year old level  and Leah is doing everything a 2 year old should be doing. She was quite pleased with both of them…but we still are going to be monitored.

I always go into these appointments thinking we are wasting their time but I come out learning something new every time. It just amazes me how much we have to do with their speech progression. Of course every kid learns at their own pace but there are definitely things that I am doing that are both helping them and limiting them. The whole repeating back what they say but adding a word has really worked with both of them. They say cookie, I say more cookie. Once they get more cookie down I add mama, then please.

The therapist thinks Emma is ready for more complex grammar. Right now if I ask her where Leah is (and Leah is in bed), she'll say Leah sleeping. I'm supposed to get her to say Leah is sleeping. This is something I probably would not have clued in to for awhile. Leah sleeping sounds perfectly fine to me but in then mind of a speech therapist it (like most things) can be built upon.

Leah still has quite a bit of Leah speak which only Emma seems to understand. She definitely thinks she's saying something because she'll repeat it over and over again. In these situations rather than asking her what she's saying I'm supposed to take my best guess at what she wants and state it from her perspective. So when shes says blahblahblah mama I repeat back I love you mama and then she says no love mama, blah blah blah mama and I try again. It's supposed to give her confidence that I'm listening…we'll see if it works.

Other than that it's just the same old stuff. If they aren't pronouncing something I don't correct them I just repeat it back properly. We are doing lots of singing which they love. Their new favourite is Where is Thumbkin. You really just have to sing these songs and not think about it because some of them really are quite weird.

They are both doing well. We seemed to have had another switch. Leah has been an absolute pleasure while Emma has taken to constant crying and whining. Yet again Emma is having constipation issues. They are insisting they eat everything on their own and she's not eating enough veggies. She cleared herself out pretty good this morning so hopefully she's feeling better and maybe (PLEASE DON'T LET ME JINX MYSELF) I can have two little happy girls for a few days.

Our construction team left today. I can't believe how hard they've been working. They've been at it from 8am to at the very least 10pm since last Friday. I tried several times to get them to stop but the end is in sight and they want to get it done. The progress is pretty impressive. All the drywall is up and there is only a little more mudding to do before they sand it down. After that all that is left is painting (you have no idea how excited I was when they told us we had to paint asap), hooking up the electrical and lighting and then carpet and baseboards.

Here is a pic of the rec room. I put more pics up on Flickr (click on the pic below to get to Flickr).

We had a nice week in Windsor. We visited some family friends and the girls got to play with some other kids their age. They did pretty good. Leah is still very social and Emma still hangs back until she's comfortable with what's going on.

Thursday John's mom and I took the girls over to the Detroit suburbs to do some shopping. For the most part the girls were pretty patient and even allowed us to strip them down to their diapers and try on a bunch of outfits. It was a good thing because some of the stuff we thought would be nice looked pretty funny on them. They are still pretty slim and it's hard to find clothes that fit them properly - especially pants.

John had another busy week painting while we were gone. We are nearly done the downstairs and it feels much more cosy. We got back just after lunch on Friday and headed to Rona to pick up the drywall before the rain started. It's a good thing we didn't wait for John and Drew because it started raining Friday and it's still raining. A very miserable weekend. Drew stayed over Friday night and helped all day yesterday. John and his dad have been at it all day today. They are definitely making progress and you can see it coming together. John's uncle Van is coming tomorrow to do the mudding.

The girls have been a bit of a handful the past two days. They got spoiled with being allowed to roam in the fenced Windsor yard and they want to go outside. I took them out in the rain today but they have this thing about taking off their rain boots and it was too cold to let them go barefoot.

Yesterday we went to Amelia's first birthday party. I didn't take any pictures but I'm sure Alicia will post some tomorrow. It was fun to see Amelia opening her gifts. She is just starting to walk and is very interactive. She was very good about letting Leah and Emma assist her in opening and trying out all her new toys and books.

I'm pretty excited about playoff hockey - especially with the Leafs not making the playoffs! During the last playoffs I had to stop watching because I was on modified bedrest and I wasn't supposed to get stressed. Fun times. Let's hope Ottawa doesn't choke again or I might just have to become a Red Wings fan.

We left for Windsor Thursday night at the girls bedtime. We thought for sure they'd fall asleep, wake up, transfer well and sleep through the night. You'd think we'd know better by now.

They fell asleep about 30 mins before we got to Windsor but not before Emma screamed her head off if I didn't hold her hand. I usually wouldn't indulge such a ridiculous request but the high pitched wailing in the confined space of the Focus was getting to me. So the majority of the trip had me contorted so Emma (and Leah who of course wasn't going to miss out) could each hold one of my fingers. We arrived in Windsor at 10:45 and there was no way the girls were going to sleep. They weren't at all interested until 12:30 and even then there were tears. The little buggers were up at just after 8. I thought for sure they'd be terrors but apparently they can survive on 8 hours sleep if the company is good. 

We had a relaxing weekend. Friday the girls played outside for most of the day. I am really looking forward to getting a fence. The girls really like exploring and did a fair bit of dirt tasting…it took them awhile to get that the shovel wasn't just a big spoon designed to scoop dirt for sampling. Saturday we were all up early because John's mom wanted to take us to a neat art place. It's a good thing we were up because we hit the garage sale jackpot. A family down the street was practically giving away all these neat toys and we got so much stuff. Little People, , megablocks, Sesame Street stuff, wooden puzzles, books, Colour and Shapes Bingo (just for you Susan!), a tent, bikes…the list goes on. John even got the girls a Lava lamp and a fiber optics lamp that he's always wanted!

Saturday afternoon John's Aunt Tina, Brian, Jeff and Steve came for a visit. We did a big Easter egg hunt and the girls had a lot of fun. It's the first holiday they really understood what was going on. Thankfully they weren't old enough to clue in to the Easter Meanie who came around and took all the candy out of the plastic eggs…. They really enjoyed playing with Jeff and Steve and the boys were good sports about it.

The weather was really warm over the weekend and Leah's hair was a mess with her sweating and the humidity. One good thing about having the curls is there is no need for a professional cut. John's mom cut both their hair (Leah's mullet and Emma's rat tail curl) last night. They look much neater today. I can't download my camera here but I have the pics from John's parents camera. I don't have any after pics but there are some good before. I've uploaded all the Easter picsto Flickr.

The girls are doing really well lately. They are picking up words like crazy. They can both count consistently to 5 and sometimes as high as 10. They are also pretty good at their abcs and can sing all parts - sometimes even all together. It's usually goes something like "a b c d!! e f g hum hum hum hum hum p!!! q r s hum hum y z!!!" then every time "Now I know my abcs hum hum hum hum hum hum me". Emma is much more of a performer than Leah and she will sing and count on command. You are more likely to find Leah singing when she thinks you're not listening.

Right now we are saying colours more because it's funny than anything else. Before yesterday EVERYTHING was yellow. Now things are yellow, purple, red and the very odd time green. Sometimes (by fluke it seems) they get it right but it's funny to hear what they come up with. They are also getting good at naming animals and telling us what they say. The monkey "eeee eee eee ohh ohh ohhh" is pretty cute.

Emma is also pretty into Emma. She announces what is hers and what is Leah's. Leah could care less for the most part which is good because Emma will flat out refuse to sit in what she thinks is Leah's chair or let Leah use what she thinks is her tray (they are the exact same…). Leah is much less concerned with order and likes to explore and go off by herself. We are having a hard time keeping Leah inside. She gravites to the door chanting walk and outside.

The girls are also eating well. They are really into spoons and forks and it doesn't seem to be impacting the amount they eat (that was my worry). We took them out for dinner to Kelsey's tonight and they gobbled up pizza, rice and some of my chicken. They ate so much better with a normal fork and I've decided that baby forks are stupid. From now on they get a fork that can actually stab a piece of food rather than shooting it onto the floor.

Did you know that kid meals come with a dessert? John's mom and I had chocolate ice cream with crushed smarties and oreos. It was delicious

Drew and cool Leah

Helping Jeff find some eggs 

Good haul

Helping dad wash the car

"Hey Mom how about you get up early and check out garage sales every weekend."

Last weekend was pretty busy. We did a ton of shopping, painted the downstairs hall and one wall of the living room, cleaned the house, had Coby, Carrie and Ronan for lunch on Sunday and took the girls to the park. It doesn't sound all that impressive when I write it but most days just taking care of the girls seems like an action packed day. Things like painting and cleaning can't be done when the girls are awake so they make for long days.

I am so happy to have the warm weather. We have been outside a lot this week. Monday we went for a walk in my new effort to meet some neighbours. I didn't have far to go - our neighbourhood is full of stay at home moms. One woman in particular seemed to know everyone (she knew who I was….) and she went house by house "newborn there, toddler there, expecting in that house". I don't think there will be any shortage of friends for the girls.

Yesterday I cleaned out the garage and fixed the garden. My mom planted 50 tulips in our little garden and I can't wait for them to come up. That's all there is so far - I meant to go flower shopping on the weekend but I ran out of time. The girls were really good about staying on our lawn. They made a few breaks for the road but I just called out to them that if they didn't come back on the grass we were going inside. I'm all about threats…bad parenting probably but it works…and I mean it…and I will do it if they don't listen. I think empty threats become a problem.

Leah was sick again on Sunday night. She barfed in her crib - 3 am again. She went to sleep fine after I cleaned her up and changed her bed and she was fine Monday so I think it might have been something she ate. I tricked her into eating some avocado Sunday night so maybe that was it. I was a bit worried. I've had my fill of vomit for a little bit. 

Nothing else to report. John's Aunt Bonnie is coming to visit this afternoon. She's bringing Tom and John's grandpa and the girls will be excited to have some people to entertain. We're off to Windsor tomorrow night for Easter. 

So like I said I've been stressing over what would ever happen if blogger died. I don't keep a journal for the girls - this is it and I was losing sleep over it so I did some research and came across this on the wordpress site…

"Is everything being backed up?
Absolutely. If a very large meteor were to hit all of the WordPress.com servers and destroy them beyond repair, all of your data would still be safe and we could have your blog online within a couple of days. (After the meteor situation dies down.)"

Very comforting words indeed! They also let you back up your site yourself so in case they didn't survive that meteor attack I would be ok!

So I moved the site. The only big functionality  I've lost is the ability to embed videos but I've linked them all to YouTube so they are still available, just not as pretty.

My favourite new feature is the categories (see section on right hand side). If you want to see all the posts with video then click on the video category. Pretty neat.

I'm also pretty excited to be able to make standalone pages again. I've added a growth chart and a pictures tab (at the top of the page)

I like the calendar as well and the search. I like it all. So far I am very happy with it.

So now I've just got to finish up getting the months I never migrated over from the original rogers site and their journal will be complete.

And finally I've decided to use Flickr to store our pics. I have tons of backup cds but I never look at them…and what if that meteor hit our house (when we weren't home of course). Click on the picture tab to see what I'm talking about

I know…blah blah blah…we don't care about how much you like your new blog, give us the update and the pictures…

We had a good week and I am happy it's Friday. We got out quite a bit this week thanks to the warm weather. The girls discovered puddles which was fun. Yesterday I walked over to the park and John met us there after work. They were much more adventurous this time and they both went down the tunnel slide head first. I will have to get the camera.

Tuesday I cleaned out their room and made the mistake of leaving out their bathing suits. Once they saw them there was no way they weren't having them on. We don't keep the house "lets run around in our bathing suits" warm so we compromised. They're going to love these pics when they're older!

Apparently wedgies aren't bothersome when you're still in diapers

Things are slowly getting back to normal. Leah has been in a very good mood lately which is much appreciated by all. Today Emma actually cried more than Leah. I honestly don't remember the last time that happened. Emma is having constipation issues again. The flu seems to have slowed down her system and she's not all that interested in eating - she's still eating and drinking water so we're not overly concerned yet. We have learned in the past that we really need to watch her diet and this week was an exception. Today she wouldn't eat her pears or veggies so I told her to show Elmo what a big girl she was - right away she opened up her mouth… Leah is just fine - apparently these two little girls are different right down to their bowels

Our weekend consisted of the usual trips to Costco and the grocery store. Friday night we watched TV and last night John went out for dinnner with some of his former co-workers. I was invited but I see my old co-workers quite regularly and I know it's nice to just get out and relax with only yourself to worry about. I spent the evening reading a book Coby lent me called Freakonomics.  So far I have to report it is quite fascinating and I can see why Coby thougth I would enjoy it (and I'm only 65 pages in). There is a chapter on parenting I am looking forward to reading.

This afternoon we took the girls to the park. I wanted to take the camera but the battery is dead. The park is far enough that we opted to drive. There is a huge park (complete with splash pad, soccer fields etc) slated for just down the street from us but who knows when that will be ready. The girls weren't walking last fall so this was their first trip to the park. They REALLY liked it. Leah loved the swing, Emma was scared. They both loved the slide and went down themselves no problem after a few runs holding our hands.

The park was pretty busy and again the girls very different personalities were apparent. Emma is pretty shy and could care less about other kids. She's quite content to play by herself. Leah on the other hand is fascinated by other children. She is not at all shy and will walk right up and try to engage kids of all ages. At one point today she was trying to play with 3 little boys (of about 4 years old) and their dumptrucks.

When we got home I brought out some stickers I bought them a few weeks ago.  Lazy me has been hesitant to give them stickers for fear of our walls but they actually really liked them. We gave them each a pack and a piece of paper and it was good for about 30 mins of entertainment. Not bad for some dollar store stickers that were of fruit and birds. Imagine if I gave them Sesame Street stickers!