universal translator

I need one of these. Remember? From Star Trek? I wonder if they work on toddlers.

Here are some of the words recently translated from Max's growing lexicon:

wee = eggs. Also, wee-digga-wee

gus = ducks

dwee = upstairs

some are more obvious:

waaa-da = water

fwo = frog

Sho-du = Shoghi

da-da-da (ad infinitum) = sing "What's the Name of that Song"

mo sa = some more

We also have many variations of "It's a..." "Is-a sun!" "Is-a tu-a!" (It's a turtle) "Is-a cats!" "Is-a twee!"

Max probably has about 300 interpretable words by now! But there's so much more endless babble that defies translation! It's really cute, squealy and delightful, this toddler talk!

playful

My, my, how these kids now play! Every week, we notice them playing together more, imitating each other especially at mealtime, chasing each other, playing peek-a-boo, and handing toys back and forth. OK, that last one more commonly plays out as them taking toys from each other and then the other bursting into frustrated tears, but sometimes we'll all three be sitting and they will play with a toy together, taking turns kissing our stuffed kitty, puppy, or lamb.They still love to play with the same playsilk that has entertained them since little babyhood, only now they notice each other and will hide under the silk and laugh.


They love to stir containers of water - this is an especially absorbing game for Shoghi these days - it can keep his attention for 15 minutes sometimes!


Sometimes interactions go best when they are somewhat separated - here they are playing and laughing while Shoghi was in the highchair:



They also like to watch us do things now - they try to brush our teeth and feed us, put hats (and boxes) on our heads. It's pretty fun, except of course that it involves half-chewed food...


Shoghi is doing a lot of standing, and now takes notice of other kids. He hasn't quite figured out the social graces involved with being in other people's space yet...


On the other hand, Max loves engaging socially with others. We see our best friend Ruby almost every day, and if I say "walk," "Korin" or "Ruby," he starts calling "Weeee-be" or "Beeee-be" until he lays his happy eyes on her. Here they all are, playing in the Sandy River at Oxbow Park:


Here he is with our little friend Madden. They were playing peek-a-boo together, and Madden had Max laughing away!

When I think back, a few months ago, there was a lot more whining. I couldn't leave them alone for more than 2 or three minutes at a time. Now, though, things are much easier. I guess when they say if you make it through the first year with twins, this is what they mean. Life is good!!

one small step for man, one big leap for a baby!

Today, 13 and a half months after his birth, little Shoghi took his first steps. Of course, they weren't for me --- he walked his first three, and then four steps for his babysitter. Good thing we love her!! He repeated this incredible feat for his mama and auntie this afternoon, much to our delight and urging. Forgive the video soundtrack - we were using a woodwind recorder to entice these precious steps out of him.



I love you, little man! I know you're going to love your new walking life, and it fills me with joy to watch you grow!!!

Looks like our ride with twins is about to get a whole lot more interesting!

ta da!

One fun thing that's been going on, pretty much since the boys' birthday a few weeks ago is that they are imitating songs and finger plays. Laurie had taught Shoghi to clap a month or two before we left, and the boys were both starting to do the signs for more and milk, but now it seems like a giant leap in understanding has taken place.

signing "more" after his first ice cream cone during our visit to cape cod.

My mom, dad, and I sang songs with them quite a bit, and now they will make the hand motions for pat-a-cake, 5 little monkeys jumping on a bed, some of them from the wheels on the bus, peek-a-boo, and open, shut them. Max has mastered blowing kisses and making the "shhhhh" sound with his finger in front of his mouth.

"throw it in the oven for baby and me!"

We have a new DVD of some old Sesame Street songs, and Max has started actually singing - I kid you not - "ba-ba-bamba" and "quack-quack-qwamba"(only the ba and quacks!) to one of the songs. It is pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen or heard.

This morning, Laurie was doing "ta-da!" with them, and I got these cute photos of Shoghi:



Today was a great day. I opened the back screen door and the boys went in and out of the house to the back yard for probably an hour or more. It seemed to prevent the stir-craziness that occurs here about twice a day. Our back yard isn't great - there are prickly plants in the "grass" so I have to keep them contained on the "patio" (which we call "the slab"). It started to rain and I just let them keep going:


To answer Jen's question from comments, I started giving the boys pasta when they probably each had 4 teeth. I cooked some rice pasta really soft and let them eat it with their hands. For a good month or two, I mostly fed them orzo or alphabet pasta if I wanted to give it to them. As of today, they both have 8 teeth - Shoghi has 4 front tops and bottoms, and Max has 4 top fronts, the bottom middle two, and newly the top two molars! I just stayed close and really observed them to see if they were ready for the pasta. Lately I've been giving them sauteed polenta - they really love it with marinara sauce (or pesto!). HTH!

words, muscles, and messes

Here's another highlights post - happenings from the past week or so:

There's been a lot of fun and laughter around these parts as the boys play with each other more and more. I remember those days of wondering when Shoghi would even begin to smile - Max smiled so much earlier. Now Shoghi is our laughing, squealing boy, full of vivacious, high energy, while Max is full of good cheer, loves to be tickled, and giggles for his "bra-bra".

the twinnies received their first First Birthday gifts - hank knit sweaters from Auntie Knittah!
They have no idea how lucky they are!

Here's Shoghi looking rather cheeky...

***

Max's language skills are improving by the day.
He can say mama, no, more, brother, and done, and he signs hi and more!
Looks like Auntie might be the next word, just in time for her birthday...

Fun with Food!

I decided to let the boys have at it, and defrosted some raspberries and marionberries.
What a hit, but what a mess! Thankfully it was warm - after it was all said and done, I plopped them into the kiddie pool to get cleaned off.

Shoghi looking a little dazed...

Max definitely got more on his lap than in his mouth!

***
Finally, yesterday Max surprised me by pulling up to standing! Since he's not truly crawling, hasn't figured out how to push into a sitting position from his tummy, and wasn't doing the kind of acrobatics Shoghi was when he stood, I really didn't even see it coming!

growing, growing

This week, the boys will be nine months old. How astonishing is that? I know I've been putting up comparisons a lot lately (at least it seems that way to me), but really, their development is happening so quickly right now, I'm just constantly amazed. Laurie and I have been talking a lot lately about their growth, transporting ourselves back to the days when they were first born in amazement. I remember one friend asking how big their heads were - and my response that they were about the size of a big orange now shocks me... because of course their noggins are now probably the size of a big cantaloupe, and just as heavy, lol.

Soon after we moved to this house in February, I took this photo of the boys. They were just pushing up high on their bellies:


Yesterday I repositioned them at the door for a comparative photo:

this is a little deceptive... although they are obviously attracted to each other, Shoghi tends to be a little too aggressive for Max's taste, and we usually have to protect them from each other. Shoghi loves to screech and bite, and Max is very sensitive to the noise. As a result, they don't play "with" each other as often any more, although they are of course always together.

just 4 days shy of being 9 months old.

Now, as you can see, they are sitting unassisted, and Shoghi is not only properly crawling, he's also climbing under the exersaucer, pushing himself into a kneeling position, and starting to try to climb into things, like the bouncy chair.

Shoghi on his first successful under-the-exersaucer mission

Max, on the other hand, is now starting to get up on his knees and rock back and forth - so cute! It's a little sad, because he keeps pushing himself backwards when he wants to move forwards, but that's just part of the learning. While Shoghi is clearly a kinetic learner, Max is all about the words. Amazingly, he repeats syllable sounds, saying things like "this" and "dit" and "gook". He also tries to repeat the Dr. Suess rhyme: "dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum" by going "da, da, da" - it is incredible to realize what he's trying to do. The other day, we were playing peek-a-boo for the video so that I could capture him putting the silk over his own head, and realized that he was also saying "boo"!



I tell you, the acquisition of new abilities never ceases to amaze. We take such pleasure, such awe at the new things that emerge every day.

And now for Self Nurturing, Day 2:
Our napping schedule still isn't as pretty as I'd like it to be, and that means that we're still doing a LOT of car naps - particularly the last nap of the day, which is usually sometime between 2 and 4pm. In fact, the boys are waking up consistently between 5 and 6am, and that results in them taking THREE naps a day. This whole thing is a great frustration for me, and when they're car napping, I can't even stop the car for very long - maybe 5 or 10 minutes maximum. I listen to Fresh Air, or a book on CD, and drive the neighborhoods around Mt. Tabor. In this glorious spring weather, this drive isn't very much fun - I'd rather be doing chores around the house so that in other free and awake time we could be out walking.

Many days my sister ends up taking the boys for a walk just so I can get a half an hour to get something accomplished. I find that my post-pregnancy body is very much changed - one of the biggest differences is that my knees and my feet are always sore, probably from the pregnancy weight I am still carrying around.

So, yesterday was Tuesday, which is also chores day. This means that we spend several hours outside the house, doing groceries and other errands. Because it was raining, I knew that we wouldn't be likely to have the opportunity to be outside walking, so I planned our walk at a mall. This wasn't the most ideal way to get in a walk for my sore body, but it was important for me, and the walking with my sister and the boys was pleasant. We gawked at the store fronts and expressed our gratitude that there wasn't anything that we actually wanted! Although it was a pretty exhausting day, the walk was definitely the best thing I did for myself. :o)

comfort level

Uncharted territory. Sleep training has introduced me to a new aspect of parenting: allowing (or forcing?) your child to be uncomfortable for the sake of his growth. Last night was our second night of what seems to me to be hard core sleep training, and it really pushed me to the limits of my comfort. It's like walking the edge of the sword, and it hurts. You're constantly evaluating your child, yourself, the situation... and if you're really not sure just how much you'll be able to do, it makes for a very draining experience, because you're not just holding the line - the line is its own living, breathing entity, and you are discovering it minute by minute, breath by breath.

Poor baby had a hard time last night. I am trying to get him to drift off without his binkie and without me bouncing him on the yoga ball. So far, we've already been able to completely eliminate the ball, which is astonishing. The binkie, though, is not so easily cast aside. The problem is, he can't put it back in his mouth. If he could, this wouldn't be an issue. He's been a thumb sucker in the past, and still does occasionally, so I'm to try to get him to think of his thumb, which is monumentally hard to do when he's upset. If I touch him, he thinks I'm going to pick him up, so the fact that I'm trying to guide his hand to his mouth seems very confusing. He has taken a little to sucking on the corner of his satin-edged blanket, but once he reaches a certain level of unhappiness, that's no longer good enough. So, it was an hour of trying to soothe him with my voice, with my hand on his head or chest, giving him his blanket or thumb, my pinkie (which caused further crying when I removed it). Hard stuff. I finally gave him his binkie, which made me feel defeated and like I'd caused him to suffer needlessly, which I don't actually believe, but in the moment, it felt terrible. I remind myself that when we're in the car, he does cry, and he also falls asleep without assistance. This is evidence that he can do this, it's just going to be somewhat uncomfortable. I happen to think it's my job to determine what is uncomfortable and what is distressed and panicking.

Later on in the night, he did really well. When he woke up at 11, I managed to keep myself away, and he only complained a little before finding his thumb and going back to sleep. And at 3 after his bottle, I laid him down so I could bounce Shogh, and he again fell asleep with absolutely no fussing after about five minutes. Pretty damned good. He's also had longer naps, so we're obviously progressing towards better sleep... it's just getting through the initial putting-down that is really testing me.

I think it's just one more way that this journey of raising twins has taken me away from the parenting style I always imagined having. That's not to say that I regret having twins, but there's just no way to form (at least there wasn't for me) in your mind a realistic expectation of attachment parenting for twins vs. a singleton. Even with all my childcare experience, I had no idea what it would be like, and just assumed that I could go on making decisions as I would have with one. Maybe if I had a husband in the picture, it would be different, but I'm not convinced of that, either.

I started off sleeping with the boys in my bed and loved it. It was so joyful, until it was just keeping us all up all night long. I never managed to tandem nurse with any success, and certainly not in bed. Today I'm having a king-sized bed delivered, but wonder if the boys will ever be able to sleep in it with me. Not that this is the absolute end of our journey with sleep, by any means... it just makes me sad to see how far from my ideal we've come. Attachment parenting isn't just where the boys sleep, nor is it about whether or how much they were nursed. It's a far broader concept, and although I don't limit my sense of my parenting style to one philosophy, I am probably closest to this one.

It's not all bad, by the way. During the day, the boys have become so full of life and personality that it's a lot of fun. We're doing a lot of laughing at their funny little antics, their sounds, their learning. Max is all about peek-a-boo, which Shoghi doesn't get in any way. He makes so many funny noises and laughs so easily... Little Mr. Social, he continues to be. Meanwhile, Shoghi is a little roly-poly, covering distance across the room. He's all physical activity: he does little baby sit-ups and crunches, he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, he rolls all over the place. It's a wonder to behond them, they are so different.

And so we continue... tonight I will not allow as much crying as last, knowing as I do my comfort level with it. Hopefully Max will move closer to figuring out how to calm and soothe himself for the initial to-bed lie-down. I'll keep you posted. Sorry if this post is all jumbled up - I'm pretty sleepy at the moment.

scowl

some days, you just wish to be able to hit a reset button. i'll admit it - i'm having a tough week. so many thing have gone wrong, i've lost track. teething is here in full force, bringing with it ceaseless whining and crying. my bank account where i have all my savings has been frozen, presumably because they've had a security breach with their cards. i won't know what happened until tuesday, but it's leaving me fearful that all my money is somehow gone. sleep has been awful. i'm a grouchy, panicy mess.

good thing we firgured out that the boys both really like to roll around in the n*de. also good thing that these kids are so cute, and that they laugh once in a while. after playing like this for a half hour last night, sister and i stuck them both in the sink for a bath. the things we'll do for 10 minutes of peace, i tell you.

rolling around on the floor

so thankful for this swing from eliz!

a new napping spot is well appreciated.

exersaucer? yes, please.

max takes a spin in our new toy.

shoghi and his tricks.

and now for some photos

all from this week's shenanigans:

Shoghi adores his tongue, and will stick it out all day long. Here he is "eating" avocado.

He's become quite the little ham, and I'm not talking about his sense of humor! Look at the chunk on that babe! This is Shoghi's first sink bath.

Max, sweet boy. He was less sure about this bath, but it was infinitely better than his last bath in the bathtub, which totally freaked him out.
His favorite seems to be to sit in my mesh sling and come in the shower.

Max loves to stand and bounce, holding your fingers in his hands.

I love how both of them clasp their feet together. Here's Shoghi, in some beautiful longies from Devon, knit before they were even conceived.

Begin and end with that goofy tongue!

another monday sum-up

here we are at monday again... this is our last few days on the east coast with my parents. auntie laurie flew out and made it safely here to snuggle her (enormous) nephews, and since then we've been paying visits to our grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends, visiting with our folks, and planing our post-return-to-portland life.

max and shoghi, napping at great-grandma & grandpa's house. as with all babies, sleep is the topic of much discussion over here. so far, the boys continue to sleep first at night in their carseats, which i instituted because they (used to) hate being in the car. (fortunately, this has changed, and they now take much better to being put in the car for both short and long rides.) then when they wake, i transfer them into bed with me. this visit has brought no shortage of people telling me horror stories about babies dying in a shared bed, and at the same time, the boys are starting to move and roll a little. what am i going to do when we get home? i'm not sure. i'm considering cribs, which i thought i might get away without. i'd like to be getting better sleep, though, and i'd also like to see shoghi sleeping a little more deeply at night. similarly, it would be good to have somewhere other than their carseats to nap them during the day. we have a really nice twin graco pack and play, but i think they might have just weighted out of it, since they weigh 15 (shoghi) and 16 (max) pounds now, and i believe the weight limit is 30#. anyway, i clearly have some big decisions to make. i'd love to hear some feedback from co-sleeping families, as well as those who have decided to put their twins in seperate cribs.

my dad, multi-tasking with the boys.

i have to admit, the prospect of being apart from my dad during the day, and my parents in general, has me a little nervous! i've had so much help with the boys, since they were born, really, and now is the time when i will be taking over full care of them. laurie doesn't usually get home from work until 8, and of course then she's exhausted (not to mention the babies had better be asleep by then!), so i don't want to be relying on her for so much assistance. this next stage in my life as a solo parent is really going to be interesting...
hopefully it will not be the test i am fearful of.

shoghi and max have both learned not only how to grasp,
but how to transfer from hand to hand and lift objects to their mouths.

this week, max has mastered the kissy noise, and shoghi is spending much of his awake time trying to blow raspberries and make other souds with his lips and tongue.
this involves a lot of drool, and laughter on the part of the observers.

shoghi has had such a great week, with lots and lots of happy, exuberant awake time. he rolls around, squealing and sticking out his tongue. it's very funny and delightful! poor max, on the other hand, seems to be having a harder week. he's been more fussy than usual, and has been spitting up a lot. then again, during the day, max only naps for about 30 minutes at a time, while shoghi goes down for beautiful 1-2 hour naps.

shoghi has taken to holding his own bottle, a very bitter sweet thing for me. although it's helpful, i don't know if i'm ready for my baby to hold his own bottle. as you know, the very fact of giving them bottles is full of emotion for me. my amount of nursing has definitely decreased over this trip. interestingly, i stoped taking the herbs and am now only on motilium (domperidone), and feel like my supply has actually responded positively to this change. when i can pump, i'm getting about 2-3oz at a time. i'm hoping being alone with the boys and not having to isolate myself will mean that i can pump more. i might also start making my own formula. i'm just so sad that i've had to give them so, so much formula over these past nearly six (!!!) months.

the latest, possibly hare-brained, idea i've had is that perhaps getting the boys to eat some rice cereal and progress to solids may mean that i have to give them fewer bottles, and thus will be able to give them a higher percentage of nursing time to bottle feedings. this combined with their great interest and reaching for food lately lead me to introduce them to their first food - organic brown rice cereal (mixed with some probiotics, thanks korin!) last friday night. they both took to it well, and shoghi really seems to love it! last night he ate the whole 2-oz bowl! the photos are on my mom's camera, so i'll try to get those uploaded tonight. we'll see!

so, that's been our week. i can't believe we're about to head back home; it fills me with such mixed emotions. these boys have really transformed my relationship with my parents and larger family, and i can't help but feel terrible about being so far from them. on the other hand, my life in portland is even better than i had dreamed, and i can't wait to get back and really start shaping my daily life with the boys. that's it for now - i'll try to get some more photos up before we leave, and then it will probably be a while before my next post, since i have to get a new computer in order to do so.

love to all!

happy awake time

at 6 weeks adjusted age, we're finally getting some consistent happy awake time. here's max, cooing away a couple days ago.