Well today was crazy to say the least. This morning I accidentally gave Emily the wrong bowl of oatmeal...the bowl intended for Savannah was made with whole milk, which Emily is very allergic to. So...15 minutes after eating the entire bowl of whole milk oatmeal, Emily got really cranky and was crying and at first I thought the redness around her eyes was from the crying and rubbing, but it turns out Emily was rubbing her eyes because they were really itchy and starting to swell. Then I noticed her lips were getting larger. Time to break out the Benadryl!! It took almost an hour before the Benadryl really started to work. Poor Emily, I felt bad because I had mixed up the bowls of oatmeal and given her the wrong one, which made her feel horrible. The reaction eventually stopped and she was back to her old self, but then I noticed she kept periodically breaking out in hives, so I decided to give both girls a bath to clean off any milk that might still be on Emily's skin or Savannah's since they like to hug and kiss, and sometimes lick each other's faces.
The girls really enjoyed their bath, splashing around, pooring water on each other's heads and their own heads. They really like to help shampoo their own hair as well as each other's hair right now. The only part of the bath they don't seem to like is the rinsing of their hair. It really makes Emily upset. I've been trying to teach her how to rinse her own hair so that the experience is within her control...so far she can rinse the front part of her hair. Other than that the bath was good. Neither of the girls pooped in the water this time, thanfully--that's always a big mess to clean up and it usually means an abrubt end to bathtime, which doesn't always set well with the girls. No, the challenge today for me was getting them both out of the tub, while trying to get diapers on quickly so they couldn't pee on the floor. Savannah is notorious for taking her diaper off if you don't dress her immediately after she gets a diaper on. So, while trying to get Emily out of the tub, Savannah proceeded to de-diaper herself. Thus the struggle began. I tried to dry Emily off, while also trying to keep her from climbing back into the tub, and also while trying to keep Savannah's diaper on.
Finally I got the girls out of the bathroom with diapers still on and into their room. I quickly dressed both girls and we were finally able read books. Both Emily and Savannah love to read books, although usually not the same book. We've been working on the whole taking turns with books. If they both bring me a book to read at the same time, I'll tell them we can read both, but whoever gave me a book first will be the one to choose the book to read first. Savannah isn't quite as accepting of this yet, but will cry and sit on my lap anyway to read the other book. Emily doesn't seem to be bothered too much if her's is the second book.
Lunch time was as usual...eat a little bit, then throw everything on the floor and laugh. Then try to kick Mommy while she cleans up the mess, another thing I'm trying to teach them is that kicking people is not okay, it hurts! So when I said "no kicking mommy, kicking hurts mommy!" they laugh and then see the dog, Billy, and start saying "Kick Billy!". Yikes, I hope they really don't try that. So, another thing to teach them, no kicking the dog!
Nap time lasted a little longer today, which was nice for me because after our really busy morning I needed a break. I did check my email and the JCMOMS forum for used toys/equipement for sale. I've been looking for a little tikes picnic table and someone was selling one. Yay!! We picked it up after the girl's nap and I cleaned it up just before dinner and the girls really were excited to sit on it. Potential safety problem now is that they want to climb on top of it and stand on the table part. Not sure how to address this as they seem to ignore my warnings of "not safe" "sitting only" "no standing on the table"...so Seth ended putting it away in another room. Maybe after a few times of it getting put away they'll stop standing on it. We'll see happens.
Dinner was chaotic. I often feel like all I do is get up and down, up and down, up and down. I probably could organize our meal better and keep everything within reach, but often when everything is in site, the girls will repeatedly ask for more milk and not eat anyfood or focus on one food and repeatedly ask for it...so I try to keep some things out of site in the kitchen. Which makes my job a little crazier. I'm sure this phase will pass...
My favorite part of today was just before we put the girls to bed. They recently learned the "Ring Around The Rosy" song/dance and they love it when Seth and I sing and play the game with them. They'll say "again" over and over after each "we all fall down!". They just laugh and laugh and have such big smiles on their faces. We played that for awhile then after getting pajamas on the girls, Seth and I pretended to ballroom dance with the girls--me with Emily and Seth with Savannah. We had briefly watched a few dances on "Dancing With The Stars", so the girls really kept asking to dance. It was a lot of fun. I hope I never forget that moment of dancing with our daughters.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Funny baby!
So I had to put this on my blog before I forget. It was so funny at the time. Yesterday when I was trying to get Savannah dressed in regular clothes for the day, she decided to run down the hall to her room only wearing her diaper. About 2 minutes later she came back, totally naked and handed me her wet diaper, saying "here-go". I just laughed and then frantically ran to her room for a clean diaper. While I was getting the diaper I was calling to Savannah down the hall, "please don't pee!". She tried to run away when I put the new diaper on and she has become quite good at quickly unfastening the diaper velcro strips, so I finally got a onesie on her so she couldn't get her diaper off again. I'm sure this is just the first of many unexpected diaperless moments.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The 18th month...
Well since my last post we have all finally managed to stay well. Thank goodness! It's so hard to care for sick babies and yourself. Anyway, these past few weeks have been busy. We made a trip down to Willard to visit Seth's family. We had a good visit, although Emily and Savannah's sleep schedule got a little out of normal. It took a few days for them to adjust back.
We've been going to a Gymboree class for the girls on Thursdays. The class has directed activities along with the opportunity to just explore the equipment freely. Both Savannah and Emily just seem to be more comfortable watching everything that is going on, rather than participating. They have seemed to gain some more climbing skills from being on all of the equipment. They love the slides and are really focused on going up and down the stairs. The hardest part for me is getting to and from the car. We did discover a smaller side parking lot around the backside of the building, so that has helped with the "wandering toddler" impulse--not so much danger there as there was in the big parking lot. I'm working with the girls on holding my hand anytime we are out of the car and not in the stroller. They do alright most of the time, although this last week Savannah wanted to do some parking lot exploring while I was putting Emily into her car seat. I finally had to put Savannah in the floorboard just to keep her with me until I could get her into her seat.
New things the girls are doing now include doing the actions to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, trying to sing the "ABC's" song, speaking in 2-3 word phrases, building block towers, and helping mommy pick up toys and putting them away in baskets or on the toy shelf. Emily is really trying hard to sing the ABC's. Everyday she gets in a few more letters. Seth has been playing his guitar for the girls and singing that song along with several other songs. Both girls seem to really enjoy it when Seth does that.
Oh yah, another new thing is that Savannah has been assisting Emily down the stairs to their little slide/climber. It started last week when I was busy on the phone and Emily wanted help getting down the steps (she likes to try to walk down like a big girl instead of crawl) and so she kept reaching out to me and finally Savannah walked over and took Emily's hand and helped her get down the two steps of the climber. I thought that was neat. Since then it has happened several more times.
This month we are working on getting the girls to learn how to drink from a regular cup without a lid or straw. They never have used a straw before, so I don't know what they would think of that, but the Parents As Teachers info along with the info sheet from our doctor say 18 months is a good time to do this. So, nightly we poor small amounts of water into open cups and allow the girls to drink...or soak themselves. Savannah seems to be getting the hang of it much faster than Emily, but she is so focused tips the cup slowly so I think that helps. Emily doesn't have as much patience for the regular cup right now. She seems to dump the whole amount of water into her face as soon as she gets the cup or she gets interested in the water and ends up dumping the water all over her tray or bib. She'll eventually get it, I know, but for now she ends up soaking wet from neck to knee.
Difficulties this month are their resistance to many things. Savannah's favorite word is "no", which is normal. Emily doesn't say "no" quite as often, but physically she gets really resistant--sometimes almost combative. Teeth brushing is one of the most challenging parts to my day. The girls mainly chew on the tooth brush or try to brush their hair with it. I am using a timer so that they will know when it's mommy's turn to help brush their teeth. They really put up a fight, kicking, twisting, crying, yelling, hitting. It's a major wrestling match! By the time we are done, I am usually sweating a bit and feeling very frustrated. Another difficult part of life these days is the girls' desire to be into everything and to have or gain access to everything. I'm finding myself running out of things to block them with. I recently purchased another gait so that we can block off part of the basement so they can play while I use the computer or try to exercise--although the latter doesn't really happen because I have to stop so often to intervene in many fighting/biting occurences between the two girls. Lastly, both Emily and Savannah gave up one of their two naps all at once! Now I really feel like I have no time to myself and it's extremely hard to get anything done around the house. I am looking forward to warmer weather so we can play outside and go for walks--then I can get my exercise in while the girls enjoy a stroller ride in the park. I must say the last few days have been the most trying for me--the girls are so demanding of my attention and aren't always getting along so I feel like I have to sit with them every second they are awake just to refer or entertain. Somethings's gotta give or I will go crazy! We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.
Until then...
We've been going to a Gymboree class for the girls on Thursdays. The class has directed activities along with the opportunity to just explore the equipment freely. Both Savannah and Emily just seem to be more comfortable watching everything that is going on, rather than participating. They have seemed to gain some more climbing skills from being on all of the equipment. They love the slides and are really focused on going up and down the stairs. The hardest part for me is getting to and from the car. We did discover a smaller side parking lot around the backside of the building, so that has helped with the "wandering toddler" impulse--not so much danger there as there was in the big parking lot. I'm working with the girls on holding my hand anytime we are out of the car and not in the stroller. They do alright most of the time, although this last week Savannah wanted to do some parking lot exploring while I was putting Emily into her car seat. I finally had to put Savannah in the floorboard just to keep her with me until I could get her into her seat.
New things the girls are doing now include doing the actions to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, trying to sing the "ABC's" song, speaking in 2-3 word phrases, building block towers, and helping mommy pick up toys and putting them away in baskets or on the toy shelf. Emily is really trying hard to sing the ABC's. Everyday she gets in a few more letters. Seth has been playing his guitar for the girls and singing that song along with several other songs. Both girls seem to really enjoy it when Seth does that.
Oh yah, another new thing is that Savannah has been assisting Emily down the stairs to their little slide/climber. It started last week when I was busy on the phone and Emily wanted help getting down the steps (she likes to try to walk down like a big girl instead of crawl) and so she kept reaching out to me and finally Savannah walked over and took Emily's hand and helped her get down the two steps of the climber. I thought that was neat. Since then it has happened several more times.
This month we are working on getting the girls to learn how to drink from a regular cup without a lid or straw. They never have used a straw before, so I don't know what they would think of that, but the Parents As Teachers info along with the info sheet from our doctor say 18 months is a good time to do this. So, nightly we poor small amounts of water into open cups and allow the girls to drink...or soak themselves. Savannah seems to be getting the hang of it much faster than Emily, but she is so focused tips the cup slowly so I think that helps. Emily doesn't have as much patience for the regular cup right now. She seems to dump the whole amount of water into her face as soon as she gets the cup or she gets interested in the water and ends up dumping the water all over her tray or bib. She'll eventually get it, I know, but for now she ends up soaking wet from neck to knee.
Difficulties this month are their resistance to many things. Savannah's favorite word is "no", which is normal. Emily doesn't say "no" quite as often, but physically she gets really resistant--sometimes almost combative. Teeth brushing is one of the most challenging parts to my day. The girls mainly chew on the tooth brush or try to brush their hair with it. I am using a timer so that they will know when it's mommy's turn to help brush their teeth. They really put up a fight, kicking, twisting, crying, yelling, hitting. It's a major wrestling match! By the time we are done, I am usually sweating a bit and feeling very frustrated. Another difficult part of life these days is the girls' desire to be into everything and to have or gain access to everything. I'm finding myself running out of things to block them with. I recently purchased another gait so that we can block off part of the basement so they can play while I use the computer or try to exercise--although the latter doesn't really happen because I have to stop so often to intervene in many fighting/biting occurences between the two girls. Lastly, both Emily and Savannah gave up one of their two naps all at once! Now I really feel like I have no time to myself and it's extremely hard to get anything done around the house. I am looking forward to warmer weather so we can play outside and go for walks--then I can get my exercise in while the girls enjoy a stroller ride in the park. I must say the last few days have been the most trying for me--the girls are so demanding of my attention and aren't always getting along so I feel like I have to sit with them every second they are awake just to refer or entertain. Somethings's gotta give or I will go crazy! We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.
Until then...
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