I thought I'd just run through a bunch of the small but significant things going on in the babies' life. This entry is mostly intended for family.
Lenora currently has three teeth, but will have more soon. She is going through some really tough teething, and has been taking infant painkillers almost constantly for about three days. We can tell as soon as the painkillers wear off, day or night. Iliana is taking a break from teething, and has two teeth at the moment.
Iliana might be trying to say her first words - the great-grandparents on the Maier side think they may have heard her attempt at "good" and "Lenora". I myself could swear that she was trying to say "duckie" when playing with her favorite bath toy. It sounded like a normal "duh" sound, followed by a vague "geh" sound. Lenora is picking up verbal skills much slower, probably because she is too busy moving to talk. Today she did the first babbling I have heard from her - finally!
Both girls are crawling like champs. Lenora has been crawling since early December, and Iliana seemed to get tired of being left behind by her sister and worked it out just after Christmas. On the first day that Iliana really had the hang of crawling, she and Lenora were inseperable! They crawled all over the apartment together and played nicely together all day. Since then, they have only been growing closer. I was very surprised to see this sisterly behavior show up so soon.
Shortly before Iliana learned how to crawl, the girls learned to get themselves into a sitting position. Lenora only learned this skill a couple of days before Iliana did. Then Lenora learned how to pull to a stand around the time Iliana learned to crawl. I think it took about another week before Iliana pulled into a stand as well. Now both girls do some limited cruising and love to have someone hold their hands so that they can practice walking.
Iliana has also picked up a few new skills during the last couple days. I saw her stack one block on top of another several times yesterday, and she has suddenly started putting toys inside of things. Laundry baskets, the bottom of a set of open drawers in our kitchen, cardboard boxes, grocery bags - anything may end up with a random toy thrown into it these days!
Eating skills have been picked up quickly, and solids are becoming easier as the girls are able to eat food more and more like what Bjorn and I eat. They've had some of almost everything that isn't considered a major allergy risk. Cooked fruits and veggies, small pieces of meat, bread, and cheese are all parts of their diet - not to mention a disproportionate amount of Cheerios!
We've been trying out the baby sign language, and I have to say that I'm a fan. While I think Iliana's first clear word isn't that far off, Lenora will probably take a little longer to talk. However, Lenora signed the word "milk" during early December when she wanted to nurse (and then forgot it), and has shown that she understands several sign language words. Iliana signed the word "milk" yesterday while nursing, and also shows that she understands signed words nearly as well as Lenora (I think Lenora is a little bit better at understanding sign language). Hopefully the sign language will cut down on the frustration of the pre-verbal months. Apparently it's twice as useful for twin moms - at least, many of the moms in my twin moms group, Eastside Mothers of Multiples (EMOMs) rave about ASL for babies.
We're working on creating a photo gallery of the more recent girl pictures using a free service that will make the process easier than creating our own gallery. We're still working out what, though. Highlights include babies in the snow, babies unpacking groceries together, and lots of babies in high chairs.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Quit being cute so I can get some sleep!
Last night Iliana woke up, and then Lenora woke up shortly after. This isn't all that uncommon, but it's always a hassle since I need to wake up Bjorn, get his help getting the babies onto the nursing pillow before anyone gets too worked up, nurse, and then wake Bjorn up again to get his help returning the girls to their sleep spaces.
Well, we went through this routine last night, but when the girls returned to their cribs they didn't just fuss for a few seconds and fall asleep. No, instead they used their growing motor skills to stand up. Still, nothing that out of the ordinary - except that instead of crying at us to make it better (which usually means another trip back to the pillow for everyone) they started shrieking good-naturedly at each other! They were little attention-getting shrieks, like a game of baby Marco-Polo!
Very cute, and yet another sign of their rapidly growing sibling bond. Nonetheless, I was very relieved when Lenora climbed down, laid herself down, fussed a little, and went to sleep. Iliana continued to call at her a little more, than started crying. I got up and brought her back to bed with me, cuddled close, and let her nurse to sleep.
Well, we went through this routine last night, but when the girls returned to their cribs they didn't just fuss for a few seconds and fall asleep. No, instead they used their growing motor skills to stand up. Still, nothing that out of the ordinary - except that instead of crying at us to make it better (which usually means another trip back to the pillow for everyone) they started shrieking good-naturedly at each other! They were little attention-getting shrieks, like a game of baby Marco-Polo!
Very cute, and yet another sign of their rapidly growing sibling bond. Nonetheless, I was very relieved when Lenora climbed down, laid herself down, fussed a little, and went to sleep. Iliana continued to call at her a little more, than started crying. I got up and brought her back to bed with me, cuddled close, and let her nurse to sleep.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
ASL Vocab 1: Daily activities - milk, eat, bed, play, more
Welcome to week one of our family's ASL vocabulary building! I chose to start with words describing daily activities for our babies - drinking milk, eating, sleeping, and playing - and doing more of all of these!
I am using http://www.mybabycantalk.com/ for the Windows Media Player version, and http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm for the Quicktime version.
MILK (quicktime)
MILK (WMP)
I'm guessing that this sign will be a favorite with the under 1 crowd. I know it's popular with my girls. And it's so easy to sign!
EAT (quicktime)
EAT (WMP)
BED (quicktime)
BED (WMP)
'Bed' is a little simpler than 'sleep'.
PLAY (quicktime)
PLAY (WMP)
I use this a lot when offering the girls choices. For example, "eat or play?" when they start throwing food off of the high chair, and "milk or play?" when they start wiggling around a lot on the nursing pillow.
MORE (quicktime)
MORE (WMP)
The word "more" can also be used with any of these words and is one of the top words recommended to me by parents who use sign language with their children, so I threw it in here as well.
ACTIVITY: Storytime! Tell your child a story about their daily routine, using the signs whenever possible. For example:
"Once upon a time there was a smart little baby named Iliana. Iliana woke up each morning in her bed, where she had slept all night long (bed). Iliana's mama would lift Iliana out of her bed and carry her to a chair to nurse her (milk). Once Iliana drank enough milk, her dada would carry her to her highchair to eat breakfast (eat). After breakfast, Iliana would play with her sister Lenora and have lots of fun (play). Then Iliana would get sleepy, and would need to get some more rest (more bed), so her mama would nurse her to sleep (milk) and she would take a nap (bed)." You get the idea.
If you are really creative and have the time, you could even create a short book, complete with photos of your baby. An easy way to do this would be a photo album that has one page on each side. Use one side for photos, and the other for the story text. That way, you could change the pictures occasionally. Another way to make a book would be to print out half-sheet sized pages with a photo and text, and then "laminate" them with packing tape so they can withstand a little drooling or chewing.
DOES ANYONE KNOW . . . any guidelines for signing names? I'd like to make up a sign for each of my girls' names, but can't come up with anything. If you have any ideas or know of any rules or guidelines for ASL names, please comment!
I am using http://www.mybabycantalk.com/ for the Windows Media Player version, and http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm for the Quicktime version.
MILK (quicktime)
MILK (WMP)
I'm guessing that this sign will be a favorite with the under 1 crowd. I know it's popular with my girls. And it's so easy to sign!
EAT (quicktime)
EAT (WMP)
BED (quicktime)
BED (WMP)
'Bed' is a little simpler than 'sleep'.
PLAY (quicktime)
PLAY (WMP)
I use this a lot when offering the girls choices. For example, "eat or play?" when they start throwing food off of the high chair, and "milk or play?" when they start wiggling around a lot on the nursing pillow.
MORE (quicktime)
MORE (WMP)
The word "more" can also be used with any of these words and is one of the top words recommended to me by parents who use sign language with their children, so I threw it in here as well.
ACTIVITY: Storytime! Tell your child a story about their daily routine, using the signs whenever possible. For example:
"Once upon a time there was a smart little baby named Iliana. Iliana woke up each morning in her bed, where she had slept all night long (bed). Iliana's mama would lift Iliana out of her bed and carry her to a chair to nurse her (milk). Once Iliana drank enough milk, her dada would carry her to her highchair to eat breakfast (eat). After breakfast, Iliana would play with her sister Lenora and have lots of fun (play). Then Iliana would get sleepy, and would need to get some more rest (more bed), so her mama would nurse her to sleep (milk) and she would take a nap (bed)." You get the idea.
If you are really creative and have the time, you could even create a short book, complete with photos of your baby. An easy way to do this would be a photo album that has one page on each side. Use one side for photos, and the other for the story text. That way, you could change the pictures occasionally. Another way to make a book would be to print out half-sheet sized pages with a photo and text, and then "laminate" them with packing tape so they can withstand a little drooling or chewing.
DOES ANYONE KNOW . . . any guidelines for signing names? I'd like to make up a sign for each of my girls' names, but can't come up with anything. If you have any ideas or know of any rules or guidelines for ASL names, please comment!
Weekly ASL for babies
After our small recent successes with ASL with Lenora, Bjorn and I have decided that we want to increase our vocabulary. Our goal is to learn five words a week and get into the habit of using those five words around our babies.
I've decided to post our vocabulary words for the week on my blog, in case anyone else wants to follow along. I'll just post the words, links to videos of the ASL word, and a short activity or two you can do with your baby to help you learn the words (and maybe your baby as well). I'm hoping that including an activity to do a couple of times during the week will help my husband and I get used to the new words. Not to mention that it will provide some fun "quality time" with our babies - time that is educational for us!
I will try to post every Friday before midnight. That gives those of us who work during the week the entire weekend to really work at learning the words before going back to work. Then we can use the work week to just practice them a bit more and get used to fitting them into our lives before moving on to the next set of words.
I've decided to post our vocabulary words for the week on my blog, in case anyone else wants to follow along. I'll just post the words, links to videos of the ASL word, and a short activity or two you can do with your baby to help you learn the words (and maybe your baby as well). I'm hoping that including an activity to do a couple of times during the week will help my husband and I get used to the new words. Not to mention that it will provide some fun "quality time" with our babies - time that is educational for us!
I will try to post every Friday before midnight. That gives those of us who work during the week the entire weekend to really work at learning the words before going back to work. Then we can use the work week to just practice them a bit more and get used to fitting them into our lives before moving on to the next set of words.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Baby sign language is working!
Bjorn and I were first introduced to the idea of baby sign language while I was pregnant, and thought it seemed cool and fun. I don't know if we really expected the babies to get much out of it, but it was interesting and easy.
We only recently started putting much real effort into ASL, however - probably around the time the girls turned eight months. Our first evidence that it was working came about three weeks ago, when Lenora signed "milk". We told my MIL, who watches the girls three days a week, about it that evening - and learned that Lenora had actually signed it some later that day as well! However, we haven't seen the sign from her since then (although she does wave "Hi" when she wants attention, now).
Tonight I decided to mix up the bedtime routine a little as part of my efforts to get the girls to go to sleep more independantly instead of nursing to sleep - which has caused sleep associations and a lot of nightwakings. One of the things I did is nurse with the lights on to discourage the girls from falling asleep. The other thing I did was not carry the girls to the nursing pillow. Instead, I sat down, put the pillow on my lap, and called their names and said "Come here! Milk!" while beckoning them with a wave and then signing the ASL for "milk". They took their time about it, but then figured out what was going on. Lenora worked it out first - Iliana was too busy playing, and wouldn't look at me. So Lenora came over quickly and started nursing. Iliana finally turned around, and when she saw the motions and sign, she suddenly put it together, got pretty happy, and started to try to crawl onto our mattress. I ended up having to pull her onto the mattress, but then she crawled the rest of the way to the pillow!
My interest in baby sign language has been renewed - and great timing. This Monday the Eastside Mothers of Multiples First-Year parents are getting together for their monthly meeting, and the discussion topic is ASL for babies! Hopefully the specialist they've invited will be happy to help my MIL and I expand our vocabulary. Assuming I can talk my MIL into attending with me.
We only recently started putting much real effort into ASL, however - probably around the time the girls turned eight months. Our first evidence that it was working came about three weeks ago, when Lenora signed "milk". We told my MIL, who watches the girls three days a week, about it that evening - and learned that Lenora had actually signed it some later that day as well! However, we haven't seen the sign from her since then (although she does wave "Hi" when she wants attention, now).
Tonight I decided to mix up the bedtime routine a little as part of my efforts to get the girls to go to sleep more independantly instead of nursing to sleep - which has caused sleep associations and a lot of nightwakings. One of the things I did is nurse with the lights on to discourage the girls from falling asleep. The other thing I did was not carry the girls to the nursing pillow. Instead, I sat down, put the pillow on my lap, and called their names and said "Come here! Milk!" while beckoning them with a wave and then signing the ASL for "milk". They took their time about it, but then figured out what was going on. Lenora worked it out first - Iliana was too busy playing, and wouldn't look at me. So Lenora came over quickly and started nursing. Iliana finally turned around, and when she saw the motions and sign, she suddenly put it together, got pretty happy, and started to try to crawl onto our mattress. I ended up having to pull her onto the mattress, but then she crawled the rest of the way to the pillow!
My interest in baby sign language has been renewed - and great timing. This Monday the Eastside Mothers of Multiples First-Year parents are getting together for their monthly meeting, and the discussion topic is ASL for babies! Hopefully the specialist they've invited will be happy to help my MIL and I expand our vocabulary. Assuming I can talk my MIL into attending with me.
Cry it out with twins
I'm really not a fan of cry-it-out (CIO). However, I no longer believe it should be avoided at all costs, either. There are worse things than having your babies cry for a long period at bedtime until they go to sleep - and for us, one of those things is having your babies cry for long periods of time at night until they go to sleep because Mom is too exhausted to wake up and care for them. Oops.
We had another one of those "too exhausted to wake" nights recently, and it prompted me to do another round of CIO. We've done CIO before after two months of unsuccessfully working with no-cry methods, including the end of our cosleeping, when Iliana and Lenora were seven months old. I never felt comfortable with my decision to resort to CIO, though, and I got back into the habit of nursing them to drowsiness . . . and sometimes to sleep. Again. And the sleep associations redeveloped, and the nightwakings came back. Then I got sick - and realized that night wakings due to sleep associations are a luxury we can't afford. While I could handle their extra wakings when I was healthy, being sick and handling nightwakings pushed me past the point of being able to care for my children.
CIO with twins is a bit more complicated than CIO without twins. You have two temperaments to consider, not one. If you are in a small apartment, like we are, then they will hear each other crying and keep each other up to some extent.
And then there are all the questions about which version of CIO to use. I started with Ferber's method, just at bedtime, and over one week of CIO plus the last three days have ended up doing something very different. What I do is more hands-on when the babies are upset, and more hands-off when they are calming down. If they are worked up, I will do anything to calm them down again - even nurse them a little. The calmer they are, the less I interfere. Two nights ago and tonight it worked amazingly well. Last night I accidentally nursed them to sleep, oops.
I also see the brief visits to soothe differently now that I have more experience. Ferber says that they are there to reassure the parents that the child is OK and to reassure the child that the parent is there. I see them as a way to keep the baby from getting too worked up. Tonight, the girls seemed really upset when I first left the room, so I went back in after only a minute. But that was the only time I went in - after that, they slowly wound down, and then got quiet, and the whole CIO was over in less than ten minutes. Two nights ago CIO only took 15 minutes. That is much better than the 90 minutes scream-fest when I used Ferber's method for the first time two months ago. And much better than an hour or more of crying in the middle of the night while Mom and Dad, two feet away, sleep through it all - or, if I woke, fell asleep before actually getting up.
Something else is different this time around besides having more experience. I also have no guilt. I still consider myself an attached parent in spite of using CIO, and my babies seem attached as well. I actually had fun tonight when I went in to soothe them because I was so sure I am doing the right thing. Why? Well, it's because of how they acted the day after I was sleeping through their cries. They were MAD at me. They fussed whenever I was around, and quit only when I left. I gave them some extra attention that evening, and by the next day things seemed to be smoothed over and they seemed to have forgiven me. A couple days later we tried CIO - and they were fine the next day. Perfectly normal and cheerful. Of course, I did make sure I coslept with Iliana a little in the early morning since she is more sensitive emotionally, to help smoothe things out a little :-) I really like cosleeping, but these days it is a treat I enjoy less frequently since it leads to nursing to sleep which leads to - sleep association problems!
We had another one of those "too exhausted to wake" nights recently, and it prompted me to do another round of CIO. We've done CIO before after two months of unsuccessfully working with no-cry methods, including the end of our cosleeping, when Iliana and Lenora were seven months old. I never felt comfortable with my decision to resort to CIO, though, and I got back into the habit of nursing them to drowsiness . . . and sometimes to sleep. Again. And the sleep associations redeveloped, and the nightwakings came back. Then I got sick - and realized that night wakings due to sleep associations are a luxury we can't afford. While I could handle their extra wakings when I was healthy, being sick and handling nightwakings pushed me past the point of being able to care for my children.
CIO with twins is a bit more complicated than CIO without twins. You have two temperaments to consider, not one. If you are in a small apartment, like we are, then they will hear each other crying and keep each other up to some extent.
And then there are all the questions about which version of CIO to use. I started with Ferber's method, just at bedtime, and over one week of CIO plus the last three days have ended up doing something very different. What I do is more hands-on when the babies are upset, and more hands-off when they are calming down. If they are worked up, I will do anything to calm them down again - even nurse them a little. The calmer they are, the less I interfere. Two nights ago and tonight it worked amazingly well. Last night I accidentally nursed them to sleep, oops.
I also see the brief visits to soothe differently now that I have more experience. Ferber says that they are there to reassure the parents that the child is OK and to reassure the child that the parent is there. I see them as a way to keep the baby from getting too worked up. Tonight, the girls seemed really upset when I first left the room, so I went back in after only a minute. But that was the only time I went in - after that, they slowly wound down, and then got quiet, and the whole CIO was over in less than ten minutes. Two nights ago CIO only took 15 minutes. That is much better than the 90 minutes scream-fest when I used Ferber's method for the first time two months ago. And much better than an hour or more of crying in the middle of the night while Mom and Dad, two feet away, sleep through it all - or, if I woke, fell asleep before actually getting up.
Something else is different this time around besides having more experience. I also have no guilt. I still consider myself an attached parent in spite of using CIO, and my babies seem attached as well. I actually had fun tonight when I went in to soothe them because I was so sure I am doing the right thing. Why? Well, it's because of how they acted the day after I was sleeping through their cries. They were MAD at me. They fussed whenever I was around, and quit only when I left. I gave them some extra attention that evening, and by the next day things seemed to be smoothed over and they seemed to have forgiven me. A couple days later we tried CIO - and they were fine the next day. Perfectly normal and cheerful. Of course, I did make sure I coslept with Iliana a little in the early morning since she is more sensitive emotionally, to help smoothe things out a little :-) I really like cosleeping, but these days it is a treat I enjoy less frequently since it leads to nursing to sleep which leads to - sleep association problems!
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Doctor's visit
We visited the doctor yesterday morning. Everything looks fine, and she isn't very concerned that Lenora isn't babbling. She said to come back in a month and a half if she hasn't started by then. I'm not too worried, either. Lenora is actually doing better with language and communication than Iliana, except that she doesn't babble. She uses gestures more effectively, though, and even had a day where she was using a word of sign language ("milk"), although she hasn't used it since. Lenora is also better at responding to spoken language than Iliana, probably because we need to speak to her more frequently - she can be so mischeivious! I'd be more concerned if she weren't able to communicate, but it looks like she is just slow to make certain noises with her mouth.
Yesterday we also had a breastfeeding "Oh, cute!" moment. It was after the girl's bath. Bjorn was lowering Iliana's crib since she became a pro at pulling to a stand in it overnight just the night before. I wanted a few minutes to relax with a book, but knew that the girls would want to nurse. I solved this by declaring an open buffet - that is, I lay down with my shirt off and let the girls crawl over to nurse at whim. At one point, Lenora was draped across my chest, lying on one breast and nursing on the far side, keeping Iliana from having nursing access. Iliana started to fuss, so I shifted Lenora all the way to the far side. By that point, Iliana had already started to go around, so I called her back. "Iliana, look!"
She turns around, and seeing that her sister has been moved and she can now nurse, she begins to crawl as fast as she can with this *amazing* expression. It was sort of a, "Wow, it must be Christmas, I'm so lucky, thanks, Ma!" look, with her mouth wide open and her eyes gleaming. I really wish we'd had a camera!
Yesterday we also had a breastfeeding "Oh, cute!" moment. It was after the girl's bath. Bjorn was lowering Iliana's crib since she became a pro at pulling to a stand in it overnight just the night before. I wanted a few minutes to relax with a book, but knew that the girls would want to nurse. I solved this by declaring an open buffet - that is, I lay down with my shirt off and let the girls crawl over to nurse at whim. At one point, Lenora was draped across my chest, lying on one breast and nursing on the far side, keeping Iliana from having nursing access. Iliana started to fuss, so I shifted Lenora all the way to the far side. By that point, Iliana had already started to go around, so I called her back. "Iliana, look!"
She turns around, and seeing that her sister has been moved and she can now nurse, she begins to crawl as fast as she can with this *amazing* expression. It was sort of a, "Wow, it must be Christmas, I'm so lucky, thanks, Ma!" look, with her mouth wide open and her eyes gleaming. I really wish we'd had a camera!
Monday, January 1, 2007
Happy New Year's Day . . . with twins!
Welcome to 2007 from the Ellison twins, Iliana and Lenora, and myself, Ethel. Iliana and Lenora are 9 mos. old today. They are fraternal twins who are very different, though obviously sisters. Iliana is older by one minute, though almost everyone is surprised by this for some reason. She is the smaller and quieter of the two, but also the more social and better at her fine motor skills. Lenora is a very large baby, weighing over 22 pounds at 9 months, and into the gross motor skills. They have very complimentary personalities, just like I imagined they might during pregnancy.
This is a great age to have twins. Iliana finally got the hang of crawling during the last week, after several weeks of watching her sister move around the apartment at whim. Up until this point, they loved to look at each other and would occasionally play small games, like Lenora rubbing her head on Iliana's stomach to make Iliana laugh (this first happened when they were as young as five months . . . wow). However, yesterday was their first day together as crawling buddies.
It's like watching my daydreams from pregnancy come true. They spent most of the day hanging out together, with Iliana following her faster sister all over the babyproofed parts of our apartment. They laughed a lot, and there were only a few minor squabbles - such as when Lenora tried to crawl over Iliana, or when one baby took the other baby's toy.
I think the highlight of the entire day was when I had one of those "Hrm, it's awfully quiet" moments while Bjorn (my amazingly wonderful husband, also known as SuperDad) and I watched a DVD on the laptop. I glanced over at the girls, and noticed that Iliana was playing with an orange. We've had a number of them rolling around here since Christmas Day from our stockings. Then I noticed that she had actually managed to bite off a piece of the peel and eat a fair amount of the fruit! We rescued the orange and fished the peel out of her mouth. Fortunately, it didn't seem to upset her stomach at all.
Hrm, maybe I can get around to posting my New Year's goals (not resolutions, I resolved not to make New Year's Resolutions back in the second grade) later today. But probably not - I'm really very sick. Fortunately, I am blessed with a wonderful MIL who will be coming over and giving me a chance to sleep later today. Yay good MILs!
This is a great age to have twins. Iliana finally got the hang of crawling during the last week, after several weeks of watching her sister move around the apartment at whim. Up until this point, they loved to look at each other and would occasionally play small games, like Lenora rubbing her head on Iliana's stomach to make Iliana laugh (this first happened when they were as young as five months . . . wow). However, yesterday was their first day together as crawling buddies.
It's like watching my daydreams from pregnancy come true. They spent most of the day hanging out together, with Iliana following her faster sister all over the babyproofed parts of our apartment. They laughed a lot, and there were only a few minor squabbles - such as when Lenora tried to crawl over Iliana, or when one baby took the other baby's toy.
I think the highlight of the entire day was when I had one of those "Hrm, it's awfully quiet" moments while Bjorn (my amazingly wonderful husband, also known as SuperDad) and I watched a DVD on the laptop. I glanced over at the girls, and noticed that Iliana was playing with an orange. We've had a number of them rolling around here since Christmas Day from our stockings. Then I noticed that she had actually managed to bite off a piece of the peel and eat a fair amount of the fruit! We rescued the orange and fished the peel out of her mouth. Fortunately, it didn't seem to upset her stomach at all.
Hrm, maybe I can get around to posting my New Year's goals (not resolutions, I resolved not to make New Year's Resolutions back in the second grade) later today. But probably not - I'm really very sick. Fortunately, I am blessed with a wonderful MIL who will be coming over and giving me a chance to sleep later today. Yay good MILs!
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