Entries in the Category "Update"
The Name Game
Today we were hanging out and I asked Chip what his name was. He replied correctly with his nickname for his first name.
So I said, "Your name is Chip Travis."
In the cutest voice possible; he said "I'm Chip Rav-is." Huge grin afterwards. He was so proud.
"Yes you are! Do you know your whole name? It's Chipper Andrew Travis."
He repeats back "Hipper Add-new Rav-is." (Huge Grin)
So I asked his brother what his name is.
"Rye- Rye"
Ok. close, but not quite.
For the life of me no matter how many times I asked him to repeat his name- he wouldn't do it. It was always "Rye-Rye".
So my son is named after bread.
Oh and for the record- I'm Mommy Rav-is. The cat is Pum-kin Rav-is. and Chip's toy is Sca-ram-baler Rav-is.
11 Days of Vacation
Ah! Vacation. The balm that soothes the average worker's soul. Lazy days to do with as you please. Oh the joy! Here's how we've spent ours.
Friday-June 23rd.
Freedom!! No more teachers. No more books...err well you get the idea. Tonight we went to a Luau. We had a great time. Ate good food. Chatted with good friends. Drank good adult libations.
Sunday -June 25th
We took the boys to their first Professional Baseball game. I forgot the camera! Darn. They looked so cute in their little Indians shirts. They got free baseball gloves at the gate. Way too big for their little hands but they will grow- or so I've been told! We had Fantastic seats right next to the Reds bull pen. The boys did really well. They sat and watched (the people mostly). We even made it on the jumbo-tron!! We let them play in the kids land for a while before we left. What a mad house! Big kids pushing the boys out of cars they were trying to get in to. Kids Running everywhere. And the dirt. Boy did we Purell after that! Yuck!
All in all a fun event- the hardest part was getting the kids from the car to the stadium. That's a long walk for a toddler who wants to walk himself, near busy streets, and pick up all the trash he sees and give it to mom!
Monday- June 26th
Today we went over to a friend's house after our speech therapy session. My friend Angie has 3 children and one is the same age as the boys. Oh my! Having 2 older siblings has made him a talker. I was impressed with his vocabulary. Mean while my children spoke no words at all in his presence. We played for a while with toys we don’t have at our house. Dale learned how to roar like a dinosaur. It’s the cutest little sound- no aggressiveness to it all all. We ate lunch and then headed to the Outdoor Y. We’ve never been there before but they have a nice sized toddler wading pool and a new splash park that was opening that day. The boys loved the pool. It took them a little while to warm up to the idea but after a few rounds of “Ring around the Rosie” all was good.
We didn’t get our usual nap, which had me worried but it turned out ok because when they did nap- I got time to clean the house and take a nap myself! Naps rule!
Tuesday- June 27th
Well it rained today but we did manage to find time to squeeze in a trip to the park with our friends Pebbles and Bam-Bam, who are also twins. My kids love the slide. Can’t get them off of it. Pebbles is into some dangerous climbing. She’s too little to be that high off the ground and teaching my Chip how to do it too.
We had a nice visit from Elin, our Help Me Grow coodinator. And we played outside until bath time.
Let me pause for a moment and discuss bath time. Bath time has now turned into the Shamu and Friends splash show at Sea World. Dale likes to stand up and drop to this bottom- just like the end of Ring Around the Rosie. Recently he has taken to belly flopping like a Pro Wrestler. He does this every evening- water or not.
Wednesday June 28th
Happy Anniversary to us! Dear Hubby and I have been married 9 years today. Wow! 9 years. Who knew time could pass so quickly?
Today is my last day home with the boys by myself. Daddy starts vacation tomorrow. After a rocky start to our morning (the boys were B-A-D! Ugh! Destructive to the max), we went to the zoo with Aunt Jenny, Sandy, and Grandma and some of Aunt Jenny’s friends from work. It was a nice day. We had fun. With grandma there I was able to let the boys out of the stroller to run around a little. They were pooped by the time we left at 2:30. They didn’t wake up from their nap until 6!
3 + hours Bonus Time for Mommy. 5 loads of laundry done- 4 more to go.
We tried to go to Daddy’s softball game with a picnic but half way there the sky opened up and fell. There was lightening too so we went home and had a carpet picnic instead.
Thursday June 29th
We got up early and went to the zoo again-this time with Daddy. We went to areas that we rarely go to because it helps to have a second set of eyes and hands around. We got to go to the Touch Exhibit where we touched sting rays and nurse sharks. Chip ran around and loved it. I’ve got a ton of funny pictures of him making faces with his hands in the water. Dale had a thoughtful/fearful expression on his face as he tried to touch the rays. We also rode the tram. Chip LOVED it! He giggles and waves and smiled the whole way in the 3 mph moving bus. Ah, the joy of the simple things!
One of the things I miss the most about my pre-children life is going to the movies. Dear hubby and I would go to the movies almost every weekend prior to the birth of our kids. Now that means getting a babysitter or a strategic planning of events- something akin to the storming of Normandy Beach just to catch the latest summer blockbuster. Well not any more. We took the kids to the drive in! That’s right! The drive in movie theater! Granted it didn’t quit go as I planned but it worked out. I was hoping they’d fall asleep in the car before we got there but they did eventually fall asleep before the movie started (around 9:30). I think this is something we will try again. By the way we saw Superman Returns. It was ok but not nearly as good as Spiderman or X-men or even Batman Begins.
Friday June 30th
When the day dawned we decided to let the boys have some down time. We hung around the house and played outside. We got them back on their nap schedule. When they woke up we went to the Outdoor Y to go swimming. It was a nice sunny day so there were a lot more people there then compared to earlier in the week. Dale loves the pool. He’s such a little fish. He jumped. He splashed. He ran around. He played with water toys. What about Chip you ask? He clung to my legs and wanted up most of the time. He's been my shadow the last few days. Cries when I leave the room. Wants to sit on my lap whenever I sit down. He's going to have a hard time going back to day care.
Saturday July 1st.
We decided we all needed some down time today. Dear Hubby worked on putting our kitchen back together from the painting we did last month. I did more laundry and cleaning. The boys played and took a big nap. We had a cook out in the back yard with our new patio furniture.
Sunday July 2nd
Despite the threat of rain, we decided to take the kids for their first visit to Lake Erie at Mentor Headlands beach. It’s a great beach with tons of sand and dunes, miles of parking, and clean water. The lake really looked like the ocean today with the choppy water and waves crashing. The water was dark and the sky was windy. It was so windy in fact that the sand was blowing so hard it felt like shards of glass. Needless to say we didn’t go down to the water’s edge. Instead we set up in the sand between two dunes out of the way of the wind. The boys LOVED the sand. They got right into digging and running in it. Chip was burying his car and digging it up. Dale liked to pick up all the bigger rocks and throw them around. I was worried they might not like the feel of the sand on their feet. Obviously it was a wasted worry. We watched some guy parasailing on the sand. That’s right-on the sand. He had a sail and he let it drag him across the sand from one end of the beach to another. Before we left I took Chip down to the water’s edge to see how warm the water was. (Not bad but still not the Bahamas. Official water temp is 70). He stood on the shore and held my hand as the water crashed over his feet. He laughed and giggled. He is such a child after my own heart. I could spend the entire day standing on the shore playing in the water. It always makes me happy.
We took off right before lunch and it started to storm on our way home.
Monday July 3rd
We took the boys to Geauga Lake today. Their first trip to an amusement park. The first ride that we rode was the choo-choo train. Chip was in 7th heaven from the moment we got in line. Dale looked apprehensive the whole time. I rode with Chip and Daddy rode with Dale. I got a ton of pictures of them. As I was getting off the ride I got yelled at by a 16 year kid for taking pictures. Well excuse me for wanting to document a first in my children’s lives. This is the second time this week I’ve gotten yelled at by a 16 year old. The other day we got yelled out for feeding the kids on the pool deck. We had to pack up and move with two screaming kids toddling behind us because they didn’t understand why we gave them food and then took it away.
I realized when we were at Geauga Lake that by the time the boys are old enough to ride the good rides at the park, we’ll be in our 40’s and won’t have the stamina to get thrown around like that all day.
Tuesday July 4th- Independence Day
Happy 4th of July! 230 years of the American way. That’s quite a milestone.
I woke up feeling sort of depressed. My time off is coming to an end. I’ve had such fun. Why is our culture set up to work so hard? Why can’t we have summers off like we did in school? It’s too bad we couldn’t just go to work for a few hours each day and leave when we finished our work. I bet people would be a lot more productive. I know I wouldn’t waste as much time wishing I was somewhere else if I knew as soon as I finished X, Y, and Z; I could go. So far this vacation I’ve seen 4 movies, watched my soap every day, read Angels and Demons, and got to cook out nearly every day. All good things in my book!
Anyway, today we hung around the house again. It was raining when we got up and looked like it wanted to rain more. When the boys took their nap- I went and did some shopping for me. I need to get out and do some more. I still need to replace my oversized clothes from when I lost all the weight.
There is one nice thing about where we live- they do a major fireworks display every year about 1 mile from our house. For the last 6 years we’ve just watched the display in our backyard. It’s great. No fighting people to get a good spot on the lawn. No walking miles to your car and waiting forever to move 10 feet once in the car. Yep, definitely will miss that when we move.
Well vacation is over. I’ve got to go get ready to go to work tomorrow. Sigh. Only 354 days until my next summer vacation.
Mommy and Daddy's Big Night Out! Again!
We had another night out last night. I know. In the middle of the week?? Whatever has become of us? Well, we had tickets to see the touring production of Wicked. It was amazing. I had a great time. We had a lovely evening out. It started with a nice dinner at a little bistro up the street from us with an excellent bottle of wine. Then we went downtown to the theater. We had a babysitter too. This was our first time using her. I think it went ok. She said the boys were no problem and went right to bed. She's going to sit for us again in 2 days when we go to a luau!!
Now you ask yourself? What is becoming of Twinmomma and her Dear Hubby? Out two nights in one week?? Well- It's our anniversary. And we like to spend time together. We just don't get to do it as often as we'd like.
I think our next date will be after my niece's upcoming birthday party. We'll put the kids to bed at grandma's house and maybe catch a new summer movie.
Who knows? If we keep this up life might start to resemble our pre-children life. (Or we may end up with another baby! Ha!)
The words we know
This entry is more for me then you my 2 readers. This is so I don't forget later on.
These are the words we know or have used.
Dale
This (Dis)
That (Dat)
Stuck
ah-oh
cat
Da- or da-da
duck
ball
book
Dare (There)
These are words I've heard Dale say once or twice but not frequently
Thank You
Bear
Big Bur (Big Bird)
Elmo or Da-oh
Up
Dog
Block
step
Up
Where da at?
Truck
Chip
Ma
Da or da-da
day-day
ah-oh
Cat
Up
Down
Done or All done
I've also heard Chip say Dog once or twice. I think he said car once instead of cat. It's hard to tell since he doesn't always add the "T" to the end of cat. He called me Mommy twice in the middle of the night when we were up. Other then that I rarely have a name. Just the Crazy Lady who keeps telling him No.
Learning to talk -fast
On Monday we had the boys evaluated by a speech therapist to see how much of a speech delay they had.
Dale did very well. His receptive language, words and phrases he understands, is at an 18-21 month level. Closer to 18 months. I was so proud of him when I gave him two flash cards of a cup and a pair of shoes and asked him "Which one do you wear?" He correctly gave me the shoes. The Speech Therapist says that this shows a much higher level of thinking because it means that he is starting to learn that objects have functions and he's learning to group them accordingly. As for his expressive language, what he speaks; he's at a 15 month level. That makes him about 3 months behind for his adjusted age.
Chip on the other hand didn't do quite as well. His receptive language is at 15 months and his expressive language is some where between 12 and 15 months. This doesn't surprise me at all. Chip babbles and squeals all the time but it rarely sounds like conversation. And the few words he does say are Cat, All done, and ah-oh.
For the next 3 weeks Hubby and I are supposed to use simple sentences to describe the boys' play to them as they do it.
Dale picked up a ball.
Chip pushed the car
Chip put the block in.
Dale is running.
After 2 days I have to say it's pretty annoying to talk like this! The therapist doesn't want us to use questions with the boys. I know I usually say things like "Are you playing with the car?" and "Where's the cow?" when I am interacting with them so this is hard to do.
Dale was looking at me last night like I had grown a second head. He was babbling away at me and I swear he wanted to know where Hubby was at. (He went to go vote after dinner). Instead of having a conversation with him I'm saying "Dale is carrying a block." "Dale is stacking a block."
I read somewhere that when kids do learn to speak they can pick up 5-10 words a day. Last night I did hear Dale say Block. Step and up. Block and Step were new words. Last week he learned Book and Ball and the week before was Duck. The day of the Speech Eval, both the therapist and I thought we heard him say Stuck. As in the gate was stuck and he couldn't open it.
This weekend I'm going to try to spend some one on one time with Chip. I'm worried about him. He doesn't seem to be himself lately. I can't quit put my finger on what's wrong either.
Crazy like a Fox
Chip is driving me nuts right now. He's so BAD!!! agh! We've hit the terrible 2's and we are only 19 mo. old. How is that possible?
He is into destroying and hitting right now. He runs around like a crazy person. He's throwing trucks at people's heads. He's ripping apart book cases. Agh! Frustrates me to think about it.
I hope this little phase passes quickly. I think he's in a perpetual time out! I'm sure it all stems from frustration. He's in a new room at day care. From what I read that alone causes quit a bit of discontent. I'm sure there are other toddlers demonstrating behavior I'd rather not let him witness and their abilities are more advanced than his since he's one of the youngest in the room. Plus, there's the language thing. He's not speaking, so how can he let us know what he wants or needs?
We get their speech evaluated in 10 days. I can't wait to see what they have to say- good bad, or otherwise. Dale's language is starting to take off. Today he said "book", when Chip tried to hand him a book.
What's New?
Well since our last entry a lot has changed.
Walking:
The boys are walking. Quite well in fact. Usually in the opposite direction and fast. Already I see this as a tactic they can use to their advantage as teenagers. They think it's great fun to walk down the drive way or into daycare. I swear... they look so dang cute in their little winter coats and hats, walking away. It makes me what to scoop them up and smooch them!
I need to teach them how to hold my hands. I fear one of them darting away from me in the daycare parking lot and getting hit. Don't even want to think about that!!
Words:
Chip can say "ma-ma", "da-da", "day-day" (no idea what that means), and "cat". I've heard him say up once or twice.
Dale can say: ma-ma, da-da, cat, duck, thank you, yeah, dat? (for what's that?). I've also heard up, dog, giraffe and bear. It was so funny the first time he said bear. It was more like "ba-ba-ba-air-rre." The second time it was more like Bayer, the medicine.
They both know "Ah-oh" too. We use that one a lot. Something falls on the floor..."ah-oh". Something is out of reach..."ah-oh". I also hear them say "who dat?" I think this means "what's that?"
We're way behind though. Should be able to say 10 words each. It's a twin thing. What can I say? They have each other to talk to plus they don't get all that one-on-one talking and listening with Mommy and Daddy that singletons get.
Actions
Their receptive lanaguage is amazing. I can ask them to give Daddy something and they will. I can ask them to choose between two things and bring me the one I asked for and they can do it.
They are destroying my house. Our new favorite game to play is climb up the bass speaker, slide down the arm of the chair, climb up the other arm of the chair, and try to slide across the end table to the other chair- all before Mommy throws a fit.
Dining Room chairs are for climbing up and standing on. Then trying to reach the sharpest object still on the table. Sigh! I feel more gray hairs happening every time.
Chip has figured out how to drink through a straw this week. he'd suck up the liquid then spit it out. ...He wasn't thirsty. He just wanted to practice.
Behavior:
Oh my do they fight now! Hair pulling, biting, shoving, pulling, pushing. We now need to have two of the same toys. And we have to be much more viligent about watching them. You have to be right there to see the behavior to correct the behavior. The only time they get along completely is in the bath tub. They love the tub! They've started "swimming" on their stomachs and kicking their legs. Too cute. Dale likes to lean over and pat Chip on the back in the tub. I put some bubbles in the tub last week. At first they were very confused. They didn't see their toys but after a while they thought the bubbles were great fun. They stuck their faces in it. They blew the bubbles. They swished them around. Who knew getting clean could be so much fun??
And so begins year 2
The boys turned One year old on Friday. It was sort of bitter sweet for me. On one hand I've loved seeing them grow and change so much and I look forward to seeing them develop and change more. But now my little babies are no longer babies. They are growing and and becoming so independent (oh and the temper tantrums when they want their way)!
Chip started walking a week ago on Sept 21st. He's not very good at it yet. He can take about 3 steps before he falls over. Or my favorite, he goes to take a step with his leg raised and then falls over sideways. He looks around like "How did I get down here?"
Dale started walking a few weeks ago so he's gotten good enough to walk across the room before he falls down. When he was still at Chip's level, he'd get so excited about moving forward that suddenly he'd start walking sideways-really fast. It was almost as if he was being pulled off a vaudville stage with a big hook. Cracks me up just thinking about it.
