Friday, November 14, 2008
Less sleep, more talking
D: The best advice I’ve gotten about parenting is, “if there are big developmental changes underfoot, everything else is going to get a little nutty”. Or something like that. Basically, if the baby is learning how to roll over or crawl or walk or eat solid food, you can bet the little guy is going to be keeping you up all night for a few weeks, or until he’s mastered the skill. We’ve relied on this advice to be true for our boys pretty much like clock work. The problem is, it’s usually always the last thing I remember to consider when they are crying for hours on end for seemingly no good reason. It always, “Is he tired? Poopy? Hungry? Crabby? Hurt? Teething? Sick? Or scared?” (Sometimes it’s all of the above.) Not “Is he going through a developmental milestone?”
Alas, I have determined this to be the case with our most recent bout of restlessness. And what is this milestone, you ask? Language. Finally.
Language is something that we’ve been working on for quite a while here in Twintown. We have been carefully pronouncing every single word in the books and repeating the word twice when pointing out everything we see around us. We’ve been using sign language for many actions and requests (more, stop, please, thank you, help, go). We are even emphasizing certain words when we talk such as, "would you like to go UP!! in the CHAIR!?" or "Would you like some APPLE!?! APPLE!!" (I wonder how this is effecting how I talk to people at work?) But up until a week or so ago the boys’ vocabulary was pretty slim. It was limited to:
Baa (Ball)
Ba- Baa (golf ball)
Anana (banana)
Ba-ba (bottle)
Da (dog)
Ca (car)
Uck (truck)
Er-Oh? ( where’d it go?)
Oh-oh! (I just broke something and moms going to be really mad)
And of course, Mamma and Dada.
Oh, and their animal sounds were pretty amazing. O can quack like a duck way better than I can.
They have always mumbled to each other with similar sounds and expressions, leading me to believe they are forming an intricate language of there own that they will have for years to come. They’ve let us in on one word, “DA – DOW”. Which means, “I’m pretty darn excited.” We say it back and forth to each other and they seem delighted that we are catching on.
On the flip side, I could not be happier that they are also learning how to use our language as well. I’m going to refrain from divulging any of my anguish and concern over the boys' speech delay and focus on how exciting it is that they are finally able to communicate better with us, each other, and even the dogs.
Here is what they are saying lately:
Wa-wa (water)
Go, go, go! (as in, Dog, you better get out of my face!)
Ocks (blocks)
Baby
Nana (their grandma)
Anna (thier Au Pair)
Choo-choo (trains)
Choo (shoe)
Coa (coat)
Ba-Boon (balloon)
Caa-caa (cracker)
Eh-oo (hello)
No, no, no! (Which is pretty ironic, since we never say the word unless they are in serious danger!)
And while this isn’t what you’d call a ‘language explosion’ that I’ve heard happens with some kids, there is a definite shift in their interest towards becoming great conversationalist!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Happy Holloween
So much of being a parent is about reliving your youth through your children's experiences. Holidays such as Halloween are probably as successful as they because of this reason alone. And sure enough, this Halloween I felt a little closer to my memories and what this holiday used to be all about: cheesy costumes, mass amounts of candy consumption, getting carted around all over town by mom. Although, I gotta tell ya, it's a whole lot more exhausting being the mom!
Here's how our fright fest went down:
2 months ago I think I'm way ahead of the game by purchasing two costumes from Costco for the boys.
2 days before Halloween I pull out the Costco costumes and realize they no longer fit.
1 day before Halloween I rush back to Costco, grab the only two costumes they had left in their size. Once I’m home I realized they do not fit either.
The night before Halloween I rush to Toys R Us (my version of hell). I, along with a few other last minute mothers frantically sort through a huge pile of left over 1/2 price costumes. The only 3 costumes I could find in their size were a chicken, a dinosaur and a super girl costume. That's right, super GIRL. I cut the skirt off, but it certainly didn't make it any less feminine (he definitely had some midriff showing, and his cape and boots were very sparkly). I was really hoping the Dino and Chicken costume would fit.
The next morning, after a slight struggle, I transformed O into a tyrannosaurus rex minus the head. F, on the other hand wouldn't go near the chicken costume with a ten-foot poll. The super girl outfit was also a no-go, until after naptime, when I snuck it on during a groggy diaper change.
Our Halloween adventures included preschool in the morning (North end of town), trick-or-treating at Dad's office (South end of town), trick-or-treating in our friend's neighborhood (North end of town), then finishing off the trick-or-treating at my mom's house (Even farther North of town) before carting our little gremlins to bed well over an hour past their bed time.
Although it was an exhausting day, we all had a good time. It was fun to watch the boys experience the enjoyment of Halloween.
