Back from the blogging break

I have not been very good about posting recently. I’ll have to admit that spring has been a bit overwhelming between work, the babies (who really aren’t babies any more), end-of-year school performances and gardening.

I promise to write a more thorough post soon, but for now, this little haiku (in honor of Ethan’s new-found love of poetry) sums up life of late:

Babies with head colds

Both getting molars as well

Mommy needs some sleep.

Vacation – from the inhaler

It’s May, and that means we’re officially on vacation from Colin’s inhaler. I am fairly certain the pulmonologist will want to put him back on this fall again, because with his last cold he needed to have more Albuterol treatments, but at least for a few glorious months, we no longer have to pin the boy down and make him breathe through the mask.

Let me tell you, those treatments may have only been two minutes long, twice a day, but they felt like an eternity. (I can just imagine what Colin thought about them.) One of the side effects our doctor warned us about with the QVar is slower growth, another is problems sleeping. Hey, we have both those problems! 

Obviously, the benefit of keeping Colin’s lungs healthy, and him out of the hospital, has outweighed the potential effects the QVar may have had on his weight gain and sleep. But now that we’re able to take a break from it for a few months, I am really, really hoping he’ll get a growth spurt (and maybe sleep through the night somewhat regularly). 

Speaking of growth, the nutritionist was here last week. Colin did gain weight this month — but only enough to barely top his weight from two months ago. (He lost weight last month because he was sick and not eating.) So he is now up to 21.1 pounds and 30.5 inches. For comparison, Veronica is 32 inches tall. (We didn’t weigh her at the visit, so I don’t know for sure what she weighs. I would guess she’s close to 24 pounds now though.)

So we continue to make as many calorie-dense foods as possible for Colin, and are trying to add as much fiber to his diet as well. (We’d like to be able to take him off the Miralax at some point too.) Colin is generally a good eater and will try many more things than Veronica will. But he also never stops moving, and now that he’s walking he is burning even more calories. Add to that the fact that breathing is more work for Colin (and therefore burns more calories too), and you can see why we struggle to get enough calories into him.

Unfortunately, the calorie-dense cooking often works at odds with my attempts to lose weight. (Really, you think I’m going to be able to have a loaf of banana blueberry bread sitting on the counter and not have some?) But the high-fiber diet will benefit us all. Who in this country probably couldn’t use more fiber in their diet?

I am not Bobby

Yet that is what Veronica insists on calling me. To make sure I understand that she is referring to me, she will identify everyone in the room (Eeeth, Col-Col, Daddy) and then poke me while saying “Bobby.” Or, if no one else is in the room, she’ll find a book with a mommy in it, and point back and forth between me and the picture while saying “Bobby.”

John, of course, thinks this is hilarious and now calls me Bobby as well. I guess it is an improvement over “bubby.” Sharing a name with an exercise ball is somewhat deflating. 

I’m not sure why she has landed on calling me Bobby. She can, and does, say the “m” sound for other words. I suspect it’s a combination of Becki and Mommy, but I will never know for sure. I also suspect that this is one of those cute phrases that I will miss when she is a little older and no longer uses cute little phrases. 

Colin’s walking is progressing by leaps and bounds. He is losing the Frankenstein pose and keeping his arms at his side most of the time. He can still be a bit wobbly, especially if he is tired, but his gait is more like a typical almost-two-year-old’s now. Our biggest problem with him continues to be trying to get him to look where he is putting his feet. He simply will not pay attention to what lies below. 

He plows through any obstacles that are movable. Bigger things he either falls over or bounces off of. He spends a lot of time hitting his head, which can’t be good for him. This habit is especially problematic on the stairs, where he will plunge off the edge because he’s busy staring at the lights, or the trees, or the speck of dust … I am surprised we haven’t had a dislocated shoulder from all of the times he has ended up dangling from the hand one of us is holding. 

We’re working on that in physical therapy now, along with stairs and jumping. Both babies love to work on jumping when we pull out the Mother Goose book and read “Jack be Nimble.” They both squat down low and spring up when I read, “Jack JUMPED over the candlestick.” Veronica can get airborne on her own; Colin needs a little lift from Mom to get off the floor. 

So we’re continuing to take advantage of the nice weather for lots of walks (building endurance), physical therapy at the park and extra time “helping” in the garden. Which is why I have been so bad about posting.

Talking the talk

We are officially a family of chatterboxes. Both babies now are saying many, many things. Colin still is somewhat hard to understand if you're not part of the family, but his vocabulary has exploded. And, even more importantly, he now is starting to actually use his words to communicate with us. 

Veronica has moved into the stage of chattering away to herself, complete with all of the inflections and pauses that a “real” conversation would have. It’s fun (and funny) to listen to her go. I sometimes wonder if she thinks she’s really talking to one of us, or if she is just enjoying the sound of her voice. It is clear, though, that she is very proud of her ability to communicate. 

Both babies have mastered the names of their body parts, and enjoy playing the “name that part” game: “Colin, where is your … knee? Where is your … nose?” Veronica will sit down next to you and just run through the entire list: legs, arms, toes, feet, hands, belly, bottom, hair, teeth, ears … you get the picture. 

Veronica is consistently using two-word sentences, and has even branched into the world of three-word sentences a couple of times (“Uh-oh, baby up” and “Daddy, jacket please” are two she has used). Colin, on the other hand, is really focused on opposites; particularly “on” and “off” with the lights. 

We walk past our next door neighbors' house: “Off. Off,” says Colin, stopping and pointing at the porch light. On we move to the next house: “Off. Off.” Looking ahead, he spots a house with the light “On! On!” We pick up the pace to get to the light, then stop again. We have a lot of lights in our neighborhood. Which makes walks very long, and very slow. 

But he is walking, and talking, so I really have nothing to complain about. Life is good.

On the same level

Colin’s walking has just taken off. He now is confident enough to walk without pushing anything in front of him, and at the end of last week, he started to stand up by himself in the middle of the room (without pulling up on something). 

He also now is primarily walking when we’re outside the house (he still crawls inside fairly often) and is doing really well with turns, slowing down and stopping without falling. It’s quite amazing to see him, really. After all, it was only a few weeks ago that I was wondering if he ever was going to get it figured out. And now he’s practically running.

He and Veronica seem to be enjoying being on the same “level” now for playing. They play a game of chase in which Colin chases Veronica around — looking somewhat like a Zombie, since he still holds his arms in front of him for balance — while she runs away squealing. Then, when he catches her, they both crack up. It’s very cute. 

 
Ironically, as his walking has improved, Colin’s speech has exploded as well. He is adding new words pretty much every day, and is getting better about using his words when he wants something. He continues to surprise me when he points out something new by name. 

Veronica also continues to expand her vocabulary, and has gotten to the stage (which I love) where she chatters away as if she’s deep in conversation with someone. Only she’s speaking gibberish and is by herself. I think it’s so fun to watch and listen when they do that.

Veronica also now clearly demonstrates that she is left-handed, much to John’s delight. He’s been hoping at least one of the kids would be. And since right now Veronica shows the most interest in sports — especially those involving balls — John will be able to teach her how to throw and so on quite easily.

I’m hoping to get pictures and stories from Easter posted soon. I’ll just say the twins think hunting for eggs is great fun. We had a blast. 

Of Bikes and Babies

With spring (and sometimes summer) having arrived so early here (at least for now), we have been able to spend a lot of time outside. The garden is in full swing, the neighbors all have emerged from hibernation and the roving gang of kids has been set free from their winter confines. So of course, our thoughts have turned once more to biking.

Our spring garden, as photographed by Ethan.

We love our tulips.

I so desperately wanted to be able to start doing family bike rides last summer. But, alas, Colin wasn’t big enough (or strong enough) to wear a bike helmet. In fact, at 21 pounds, he is just not getting big enough for most helmets. So we had to wait. And realistically, we probably would only have been able to squeeze in a few rides, given everything else that we had going on. 

This year, however, I am determined that we will be biking. I am working to get back into biking shape so I can start riding to work again, Ethan has been out riding his bike again (and is getting used to riding on the streets with me so we can make some of our local runs that way), and we have managed to find one trike for the twins (I don’t want to buy a new trike, so I’ve been watching craigslist). But we hadn’t been able to squeeze in a trip to the store to get helmets. Until this week.

Finally on Sunday, we make a quick dash to BabiesRUs between lunch and afternoon naps to get the twins their helmets (and diapers, and wipes, and … ). It probably was not the best choice of timing, or the place with the most options, but it was close. So we went. And we managed to find two helmets that fit (Veronica) and almost fit (Colin). 

Veronica was very excited, and kept repeating “bike, bike” while she was carrying her helmet. Colin was more interested in trying to climb onto all of the shelves, and to figure out how to make the motorized motorbike work. While we were there, I also had Veronica pick out her first baby doll, and we got Colin his own doll stroller so they would stop fighting over the one John bought for Veronica a while ago. 

Biker baby ready to roll.

We weren’t able to actually get out on the trike on Sunday, but I took a vacation day on Monday and after breakfast we decided to work on getting the helmets adjusted for a better fit. Colin will have to wear a hat under his for now — his head is still too little for it to fit snugly. (I may actually head to the bike store to see if they have a better selection, and possibly a helmet with a smaller circumference.) As soon as she saw her helmet, Veronica was excited and took up the chant on “bike, bike” again. Colin … well I wish I had thought to bring the camera up before we started. I could have taken a screaming baby in the bike helmet picture to match the one we have of Ethan from all those years ago.

So Veronica, Ethan and I set out on a neighborhood bike ride (okay, I had to walk so I could push Veronica’s bike). She was very happy to be decked out in her new helmet, Colin’s fleece and her [sun]glasses. (Because we don’t go very many places without the glasses now.)

The baby was a big hit too, although apparently I should have bought one for Colin as well. I didn’t get one for him originally, not because he is a boy and I don’t think boys should have dolls (that’s certainly not my opinion), but because he hadn’t shown a lot of inclination to play with the one doll we have. Or at least, that’s what I thought. However, he was all over Veronica’s baby, much to her dismay, giving it lots of kisses and hugs and trying to put the baby’s pacifier in her mouth. And thinking back, I guess he does do all those things with the stuffed animals — I just think of stuffed animals as totally different than dolls because to me, when I was a kid, they were. 

So, again to minimize fights, I think we may be making another trip to the store so Colin can pick out a baby of his own. But in the mean time, they seem to be doing better with sharing this one.

Baby didn’t want to put her book down when it was time to go outside. 

The Perils of Posting Pre-Coffee

Okay, I know there are many things I shouldn’t do before I’ve had my first cup of coffee, and apparently posting to the blog is one of those. As John so kindly pointed out last night, my post yesterday saying that I thought Colin would be done crawling by Ethan’s birthday makes no sense — Ethan’s birthday was this past weekend.

What I meant to say, was I thought he would be done crawling by John’s birthday — which is at the end of May. 

It appears that I didn’t even jinx myself by publishing that post: Last night, despite being very tired, Colin walked pretty much the entire block by himself. John was washing the dishes after dinner and looked out the window in time to see Colin strolling down the sidewalk … alone. He (John) was just starting to worry when he saw me dashing after Colin. (I let him get much farther away than I normally would because I kept expecting him to stop or fall.)

Apparently, in Colin’s mind, he has the walking thing mastered. He is now starting to work on walking down the stairs like Veronica is learning, rather than continuing with his backwards crawl method. Sigh. One more thing to worry about him doing while my back is turned.

I’ll post more pictures as soon as I can find where the cord to connect the camera to my computer disappeared to. Maybe after my coffee kicks in …