Daddy Time

I was out of town this weekend for a conference, but Mike did an admirable job holding down the fort by himself (with the wonderful assistance of current and former babysitters N and N). The boys did their part by not giving him too much trouble. :)

I think the boys have gotten taller -- I don't remember Matthew's feet reaching the footrest of the double stroller before the holidays! And Jamesie weighed 19 lbs on our home scale last night. It's always nice to reach another pound!

James's new word is star ("tar"), and I think he was trying to say "cheese" as well (but he was mostly just getting the long e part). Mattie has some new ones, too, but the only one I recall right now is "applesauce."



P.S. I was in San Antonio. I didn't go to the Alamo this time...but I remembered it. Ha!

Why Toddlers Need Supervision

We leave the room for a few minutes, and one baby empties the Kleenex box while his brother grabs the remote. :)

All Ears

James is definitely saying "outside", "all done", "up", and "bird." And I think he's saying "book", and I also thought I heard him repeating "cloud" this morning (when he was watching, what else, Baby Signing Time). It's great to hear new words coming along again!

We took him to the ear doctor yesterday for a follow-up. (It was the typical 40 minutes in the waiting room for five minutes with the doc.) The tubes are still in and there's no fluid in his ears, which is good news.

(When we were in the waiting room, we talked to a family with a ten-month old baby who had just gotten cochlear implants. Hearing aids hadn't worked for her. They were having the implants activated that day, so the little girl was going to hear sound for the first time. They were so excited, and we were excited for them -- what a miracle!)

Today we took James in for a speech evaluation as part of a study on outcomes of children with hearing loss that we're participating in. He's too young for a formal speech eval, so the evaluator just listened to him and asked Mike about what kinds of sounds he was making. (I was disappointed to miss the session, but I had to be at work.) Part of the session was playing games, and in another part, they played pictures/audio of the sounds babies make, starting with the earliest ones and working up to "jargon" (what sounds like sentences but doesn't make sense to the rest of us). James made that part easy, because he just imitated all the sounds (at least until he got to the jargon section)! James was happy and attentive the whole time. The evaluator said he was making good sounds, and commented on his patience, perseverance, and good disposition. (Mike said James also did well on the problem solving games.)

All of this bodes well for his communication. The evaluator said that kids like James, who aren't shy and don't get frustrated easily, tend to have better outcomes. That makes sense, because hearing problems are likely to create obstacles or annoyances, and people who have the personal characteristics or resources to push past that probably have better experiences. (Go, James!)

Mattie and James both continue to be just wonderful little guys. They're so sweet and so much fun! I may have mentioned this before, but about a year ago, I started saying what a great age they were. Three different parents of kids a couple years older than the boys all said the same thing: "It just keeps getting better and better." I didn't completely believe that at the time, but I think they were right. :)


P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, parent of teenagers say the reverse! A couple of them, seeing us pushing the little guys out in their strollers, have said, "It gets worse!" And then they laugh in a not-altogether-pleasant way. And then mutter something about paying for college.

High and Hello

Mattie was playing with his music table today, and it has a slider that says "high" in a high-pitched tone and "low" in a deep tone. When it said "high," he stopped and waved hi! :) Ah, the glories of homonyms.

He seems to be getting an early grasp on the phases of matter (or at least, of water). During the Signing Time song about rain, he said, "water." And then he said, "ice." Yep, that's right, kiddo, they're all water!

Recent new words include "nail" (as in fingernail), "letter" (for the letters that go with his toy mailbox), and "tail." He also says "elbow," but today was pointing to his wrist when he said it.

Jamesie was saying "hello" (ah-oh) today (while using the toothbrush as a telephone). Mike also heard him say "all done" twice tonight, and I've heard him say "bird" a couple of times (once for Big Bird and once for the birds on Signing Time). He's also signing "baby", "light", "time", and "up" (the last two in response to hearing me say the words).

They were very well-behaved today during both our shopping trip and dinner at a Mexican restaurant. :)

P.S.  After we took them out of the bath, James was fussing and I asked if he wanted letter O, one of his foam letters.  We could have sworn that Mattie said, "I want E!"  (He knows E but hasn't used first person I before.)

All (or Not) Done

Mattie used to say "all done" when he was actually finished eating or drinking, but these days he's been doing a lot of fake "all done"s -- he'll say it, and then immediately put the bottle back in his mouth or continue eating. I don't know what's up with that!

One of his recent words is "flush" (for the toilet). He doesn't mind sitting on his new potty seat, but we haven't had any actual potty uses since that one time in South Dakota. (We're not actually trying for potty training, but since he seems a little interested we're giving him the chance now and then.) I think he's also saying "middle" (for the middle seat on his rocking gator).

We think Jamesie said "hot" the other day (and signed it at the same time), but of course, he hasn't repeated it. We're doing a lot of, "did he say...??" at this point, which is fine, because I'm guessing that if he says something once he'll eventually say it again. :)

Without a Net

We returned James's feeding pump to the medical supply company yesterday. He still has his g-tube in, but we haven't been doing any overnight feeds since before the holidays, and he's still gaining weight (not quickly, but gaining). He's been eating well recently with both his formula and a variety of regular foods.

And we're caught in one of those absurdities of the modern insurance system. Blue Cross stopped paying for the pump rental because they'd paid as much as it would cost to buy it -- but of course, they hadn't negotiated a "rent to own" option with the supply company, so they hadn't actually bought it, which meant that the supply company started billing us for the monthly rental fees. So we were paying more than a hundred dollars each month for this equipment. Ugh! I probably should have called the insurance company to argue about it (since it's kind of a ridiculous policy to just leave the patient in the lurch), but since the goal was to get him off the pump anyhow, we just decided to return it. Presumably if there's a medical need for it in the future, we'll be able to get it back. But it still makes me a little nervous not to have it in case he gets sick or whatever.

In other medical news, James went for another hearing test today, and it looks like the ear tubes did their job -- his hearing was much better than the previous test, but slightly below his original (11 month) hearing test. He's still mostly in the range of moderate hearing loss (moving toward severe in the highest frequencies). They adjusted his hearing aids to the levels of today's test, which should be helpful since it's more accurate. He's also going to be getting an FM system. This has a microphone that an adult can wear, and an attachment to his hearing aids that makes it sound like we (or a teacher, or whoever is using the microphone part) is talking right next to him, which is very useful in noisy environments. Mike and I have to schedule a time to be trained on how to use it. The audiologist was also very pleased to hear the variety of sounds and intonations that he's making.

And Stanley went to the vet on Monday (he'd scraped one of his claws and it was bleeding, so we wanted to get it checked out).  She said he was doing very well given how serious his injury was when they last saw him, but said he'd probably need another month of restricted activity.  Poor little guy!  He's tolerating being leashed up much better than the crate, though.  

Dangerous Business

It's dangerous business to go to the baby consignment shop -- Grandma found more toys for the little ones! We enjoyed our Carrboro outing, and the boys have been enjoying their new "gumball machine." (No actual gumballs included -- you put balls in the top and press a lever to make them come out the bottom. James just likes pushing the lever over and over until they're all out, and then throwing them!)

Mattie and Jamesie also created their own exercise program for Sue -- they love to run down to the end of the hallway and have someone "get" them (tickle them or pick them up). Sue made the mistake of lifting Mattie up high, and he then wanted to go up to the ceiling again and again. :)

The grandmas are now back safe and sound in Florida -- we look forward to their next visit!

Grandmas to the Rescue

Grandma Linda and Honorary Grandma Sue arrived on Friday night to play with the babies and help out the poor sick parents. :)

It was fortunate timing -- they had driven up to Virginia with Nora and Daniel to take them home, after N & D's flights had been cancelled three times! (Due to the snow in Atlanta.) So, they were fairly close by, and we're somewhat on the way home for them. We have been having a great time with them, and are very glad they're here!

They arrived with a bin full of toys, some from Christmas and some new surprises. And as you can see in the third picture, even the bin itself became a temporary "train" for the boys to ride around in! :) Mattie also now has the dustpan that goes with his broom, although he's been more interested in taking the top on and off the fake bottle of cleaning spray.

One of Mattie's new words is, of course, "Sue." (He's also saying "James" more clearly -- before it was something more like "Nim".) And Jamesie has started running a bit, in part due to the game the boys play where they want Grandma and Sue to chase them down the hallway.

We think we heard Jamesie saying "all done", and I think he may also be saying "broom", but I'm not completely sure about those. Grandma and Sue report that he also said "outside."

They also report that James was trying to grab Mattie's toys this afternoon -- I guess the tables are turning, after months of the reverse! But I think the boys might sometimes be starting to get the beginnings of the ideas of sharing or taking turns. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part; we'll see! They do like imitating each other and playing some games with each other (like chasing around) -- it's fun to see them interact more and more.

And I'm feeling better than I was -- the cold is mostly just annoying congestion now, rather than the initial horribleness. Mike has a bit of sniffles, too, but hopefully he won't get any worse.

Strike Broken

The good news is that Mattie has broken his hunger strike; he didn't have a huge dinner tonight, but I'm pretty sure he ate more at that meal than he has in the entire the previous five days combined. He also seemed much more himself this evening (talking and playing), which is quite a relief, as we were starting to worry about whether there was going to be an E.R. visit in our future.

Mike took him back to the doctor yesterday (Wednesday), and the doc (a different one in the practice than our usual ped) said that she had no evidence that there was a bacterial infection, but she prescribed antibiotics just in case. She also prescribed a steroid because his lungs may have had some inflammation related to his cough. So, either those medicines worked or he just started getting over it on his own, but either way it's good to see that he seems to be a bit more himself. Hopefully he'll keep going in the right direction!

The bad news is that five nights of minimal sleep plus taking the *!&@ dog out in the cold repeatedly the other night has caught up with me, and I've come down with apparently the same thing. And let me tell you it is truly nasty -- horrible headache, major sore throat, and stuffy nose. I totally understand why Mattie just laid around and whimpered for days.

James was at the doc on Wednesday, too, for his belated 18 month check-up, and all was well.

Long Week

"It's been a long week," Mike said tonight -- and it's only Tuesday!

But Mattie has been really sick since Saturday morning, with lots of congestion, cough, and a fever. He has pretty much just wanted to be held non-stop, poor baby. We took him in to the urgent care hours at the pediatrician on Sunday, and our regular doctor was on duty. She tested him for flu and strep and they both came back negative, but she was a little concerned because the time course of the symptoms wasn't typical for a cold, and he was clearly not at all himself -- he was just glassy-eyed and didn't move from my shoulder. They tried to give him both Tylenol and Motrin in the office because she wanted to make sure his fever would go down, but despite his illness, he completely fought that (literally, it was a wrestling match to hold him down and pry his mouth open) and once they did get most of it down, he threw it back up again a few minutes later. So they just sent us home, but have us on a fairly aggressive regimen of alternating Tylenol and Motrin to keep the fever under control. Of course, he's drinking barely anything (just enough to stay hydrated), so he hasn't ended up getting the medicine as frequently as he should. (And he hasn't been eating solid food over the last few days, either, except for a couple of Cheerios and puffs.)

Mike thinks Mattie was doing a little better today; at least, he had a few hours in the afternoon when he was willing to play a little and sit in his high chair.

So the cough has been waking him up about every 45 minutes during the night, so we haven't had a regular night's sleep for the last few nights, either -- and although James so far seems to only have some sniffles and a much milder cough, he's woken up between 3 and 5 AM the last two nights as well. (He's been very cute and cheerful when he's woken up, but then he stays up for an hour!) Ugh!!

And on top of all that, 1) it's the first week of the semester, 2) I had a project deadline on Monday that I was racing to meet, 3) I have not one but two dinner commitments this week for work, 4) we're having winter weather with icy roads making travel a hassle last night and this morning, and 5) Mike found out on fairly short notice that he has to travel for work tomorrow and Thursday as well. (He almost never has to travel -- maybe once a year or so. What are the odds it would be when everything else is going on, too?) So thank goodness the boys' former babysitter N was willing to come over and help us out with bedtime tomorrow, when Mike will be gone and I'll be at work late. She's saving our bacon! :)

In more cheerful news, James's new word is "mop." Taking after his brother! :)

Cousinly Love

Daniel was sitting with Grandma next to Matthew and me on the couch. Grandma said, "Who's that?" and pointed to Matthew. Daniel replied, "Snake!"

The next morning, Daniel was playing nearby when I picked up James and said that he smelled like cheese puffs (which Grandma had been feeding him). Daniel added, "And poo!" (For the record, James did not smell like poo at that particular time.)

So, there may be some room for improvement in the cousinly relations. :)

(One) Seven Eleven

We're back home now, safe and mostly sound. (I'm slightly traumatized by the sheer length of my to-do list, and this afternoon James has developed a runny nose, and Mattie has a nasty cough that sounds suspiciously like the one Cousin Daniel had when he arrived in Florida, and possibly a fever as well.)

The drive up (ten hours) was okay. We stopped at Sonny's in Georgia, and it was the most difficult restaurant experience we've had with the boys so far -- we haven't taken them out too many times, but when we have, they've generally been happy enough to entertain themselves in the high chairs. But not this time! Mattie didn't want to go in the high chair at all, and Jamesie sat down in his, but then proceeded to wiggle out of the straps and turn the opposite way, which was not too big a deal, but then he wanted to stand up in the seat, or climb across to the other seat. He wasn't too interested in sitting in my lap, either, and was only briefly entertained by deconstructing the little wooden stand holding the advertisement for the specials. So, they were in reasonably good spirits, but it was a bit hard to get a bite of food in between toddler wrangling! Fortunately, we were later than the usual lunch hour, so the place was fairly empty, and the other family seated near us had twin boys of their own (not with them). Their twins are three, and they said, "It gets better -- it gets worse first, and then it gets better." :)

Our dinner plan for McDonald's playland was thwarted by the fact that it had recently rained in South Carolina, so not only was it cold out, but the play equipment was still wet. Oh well!

We had a great time visiting everyone, but it's also nice to be back in our own space again.

Stanley has not gotten any happier with having to be on "crate rest.'' The problem now that we're home is that we have a lot of wood and linoleum floors, which are still hard for him to walk on, and I discovered last night that he's also tempted to jump up on the furniture, which is definitely not allowed during his recovery. So our current solution is that we put down a rug in the kitchen and we have him on a short leash tied to one of the table legs. Since Mike spends a lot of time working at his computer on this table, this seems to be working fairly well so far -- it is definitely an improvement over the barking and whining when he's crated. He is clearly not fully back to normal, but he can get around reasonably well on carpet or outdoors.

Santa's Little Helper

Okay, so it was actually New Year's Eve rather than Christmas, but doesn't Mattie look cute in his little red and white outfit?

Belated Christmas

We opened a round of Christmas presents last night, since Uncle Adrian had to leave this morning. Cousin Daniel got a cool train set, and the boys got a garage with ramps that's almost as tall as James. They all had fun playing with the new toys, although poor Daniel was a bit frustrated that Mattie and James's idea of playing with the train set was to pick up pieces of the track and chew on them. (This morning, Daniel instructed James that the track was "not for eating!")

We also had a wonderful dinner with family friends (but substituting eggplant parmagiana for our usual Christmas turkey).

Back from Across the Pond

Auntie Nora, Uncle Adrian, and Cousin Daniel arrived last night. All of the boys had a great time on the playground today!

Jamesie seemed to have turned the corner with walking -- he's now walking more than he crawls. I saw him pick up a toy from the ground when he was standing up, too. Go, James! He's saying "light" now, and Grandma heard him say both "touchdown" and "football" at different times. (Can you tell it's bowl game season?)

Jamesie has also figured out how to open Stanley's crate, and how to get out the dog door (which is bad because he is also fascinated with the swimming pool, but of course does not know how to swim or how to get out of the pool if he were to fall in).

Mattie's recent words include "dog door", "signing time", "mop", "wheel", and "treat" (for dog treat). He also apparently said "arrow" when Daniel was watching his Dora video today and an arrow came on the screen, but I don't know where he would have learned that one!

Sons at Sonny's

[Well, the top and bottom pictures are at home, where they are enjoying beefaroni and the remote control, respectively.]

The boys made their annual pilgrimage to Sonny's with us this evening, and this time, they actually got to taste some of the food! They enjoyed their mac and cheese, although their plates and some portion of their dinner ended up on the floor. (Our waitress was very nice about it.)

1/1/11

The first day of the new year is a gorgeous one down here in Florida!

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful 2011!