Somebody turned ONE!

On Wednesday, at 12:30am while we were all fast asleep, Matteo officially became a one year old!

Cliched as it may be, this year has flown by!  Life with three (very young!) kids is busy, fun, frustrating, difficult and joyful all at the same time.  And it provides lots of fodder but not enough time for blogging as evidenced by my lack of posts and updates during my littlest one's first year.

As if he knew he would be turning one and wanted to celebrate with a big achievement, he started walking just a few days before his birthday.  He has been taking steps for a while but still favored crawling for the most part.  Not so much anymore.  He is a man on a mission!  Usually that mission involves a ball, the dog's water bowl or Mommy.  Or the stairs.  Yes, he is a pro at climbing (crawl climbing) the stairs and I need to be extra vigilant about keeping the doggie gate up because he will be upstairs faster than Sebastian and Collette can yell "Noooo, Teooooo!!!!!!!!!!!"

And he is talking so much, it amazes me.  He tries to repeat so much of what we say and seems to be adding words to his vocabulary at a pretty good pace.  He definitely says "ball" and I think he has been trying to say Lola, which is a hard one to say.  He signs "all done" and tries to say it but isn't quite there.  He even tries to sing and you'll hear a little tune come out of his mouth that sounds a heck of a lot like the melody to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I know that this coming year will be full of fun now that we have the "baby" phase behind us as a family but I am so grateful for this past year.  Matteo showed me that maybe I am a baby person - I almost didn't mind those midnight feedings, all snuggled up with him watching him drift back into his warm milk drunkenness.  He has brought out the sweet side of his brother and sister (usually) who try to take care of him and cheer him up when he's sad and play with him when he's happy.

Here's to another terrific year with a most terrific boy.  Happy (belated) Birthday, Matteo!

Oh ya, Matteo is 11 months old now.

I think its clear that Matteo is definitely neglected.  At least when it comes to my dedication to chronicling his infancy.  Let's hope he doesn't hold it against me.

I missed his 10 month old post altogether - mostly because I was in Montreal celebrating my 30th birthday but is that really an excuse?  :)  What I would have said in that post is that is got two teeth and has only bitten me a few times.  That he is saying "mama" and "dada/papa" and waving.  But all that's old news now.

His 11th month has been even more fun than his 10th.  He is taking baby steps, literally.  He knows how to "do" the hat song - those of you in EI know what I'm talking about.  I'm pretty sure he is signing "all done."  He has added "hi" and "uh-oh" to his vocab.  "Uh oh" is his favorite because he gets to drop something on the floor and then say "uh oh" over and over and over and over again.  He's learning to climb the stairs which is not so fun because he hasn't mastered the not-falling-down-once-you're-a-few-steps-up part.

He still loves to eat shoes, paper and chalk.  He has taken to attacking Sebastian when Sebastian is getting a diaper change.  Or he tries to grab the dirty diaper.  In other news, I really need to potty train Sebastian.  Let's just say I was right when I said it would be hell on earth training him.

Eating and sleeping are still great.  Of the three, Matteo is my best eater.  I'm enjoying it while it lasts because that toddler-picky phase will be here before I can say "just one bite, for god-frickin'-sake!!"  While two naps a day are going very well, I am planning to switch him one nap by the start of school.  I know that way early but it will make school drop off much easier.  Not to mention I don't want to be stuck at home now that I'll finally have some time to get stuff done without the twins in tow.  We'll see.

One other thing I notice with Matteo is just how much he learns from Sebastian and Collette.  The Hat song is one example.  He also plays with cars (like, actually pushes them along the floor just like Sebastian and Collette do), tries to do puzzles, uses drum sticks on the drum, etc.  It makes me grateful that they get all this time together.  Not to mention the fact that Sebastian and Matteo have become like peas and carrots.  Watching them play together is just too cute.  The stuff us parents live for.

And here my littlest man in his chair.  Filling it up too quickly.

Boy, does he look like his Daddy. :)

Sebby-isms

It would seem that all toddlers have those weird, quirky things they say that make us laugh but also question the lead content of the paint on the walls. Sebastian's latest obsession has him saying something that I find kind of funny and hopefully not indicative of some mental malfunction.

His obsession is with my Auntie Kim's car. Now, he has always been into cars - it was his first real word, after all. But his love of my sister's VW is really something else. It's a white Jetta (I think it's a Jetta...) - cute but nothing special, save for the fact that it brings Auntie Kim over to visit. A month or so ago, Sebastian would spot another white sedan and proclaim "Auntie Pim's Car!!" (Note that he cannot say Kim and instead says Pim. We're working on it.) In the past few weeks, he has stepped things up. Now, anything he sees that is white, even the tooth of the whale in a picture in a book is "Auntie Pim's Car." Milk coming up the straw of his sippy cup is "Auntie Pim's Car." Socks. White blocks. The mane on the unicorn rocking horse in their room. All "Auntie Pim's Car."

But that's not even where the obsession ends. Now, he can recognize the VW emblem. So whenever he spots a VW - no matter the color or model - it's also "Auntie Pim's Car." This part of the obsession has translated into finding Infinities ("Leah's Car") and Toyotas ("Auntie Stacey's Car"). The funny thing about the Toyota is that we have a Toyota. I guess he never notices our car's make.

So, what silly things are your kids saying? I know I'm not alone here! :)

Makes My Monday: Busy Matteo

Last week, Matteo had some very big breakthroughs. He is officially crawling forward, and with purpose. He mostly crawls around to put things in his mouth that he shouldn't, like pieces of paper, shoes and chalk. Clearly, I need to do a better job of tidying up.

He has been babbling for awhile now but it wasn't until last week that he started saying "mama." I have no illusions that of what his meaning is - I know its just babble. But still. Pretty awesome :)

And just over the weekend, he learned to clap! I started playing Pat-a-Cake with him and he loved it, started clapping after I showed him and that was that. He's a clever one!!

And for your viewing pleasure, a crawling video taken on my sh*tty phone.

7 Months

My little Tater Tot is 7 months old today. This has been a very enjoyable age, especially since he is now 100% sleeping through the night and on a very predictable nap schedule. He's now dropped that third nap and takes his second nap right after the twins go down. His first nap is on the early side, between 8 and 8:30, so that he can wake up early enough for us to get out and about.

While he perfected sitting up last month, this past month has been all about moving. He isn't crawling yet but damn, does he want to! This boy never loved being on his belly but now I find him that way all the time, trying to get up on those knees. I wonder how long it will take him to figure it out.

The only "issue" we're having is with eating. he still doesn't like to be spoon fed but also won't eat soft pieces of food. Mommy Esq. gave us some of her old mesh feeders and those have worked but he still eats very little this way. On the bright side, he is at least feeding himself.

Overall, Matteo is just a happy baby. Everyone comments on how he is always smiling and laughing. He is terribly ticklish. He loves his brother and sister and watching them play or makes faces at him. And he loves to talk! Mostly just "dadadadada" for now.

Happy 7 months, my baby Matteo!!

A sentence and other news

Back to talking about my big boy, except this time, it's good news. Today, after getting up from a nap that should have been much longer, Sebastian was looking out the window at the cars in the parking lot behind our house. (This is a favorite post-nap activity of his as he has perfectly stereotypical car obsession.) I was in the middle of changing Collette's diaper when I heard him say, clear as a bell, "I see a car!" I can't wait for our speech therapist to come tomorrow so I can tell her!

This language spurt is coming on the heels of same major fussiness, as you may recall from my previous posts. Hopefully, this explains some of it. We are also having Sebastian checked out by an ENT specialist, after our speech therapist suggested it because she has concerns about his mouth breathing and excessive drooling, which is even worse now because of the constant runny nose he gets during the cooler months. She suspects that all these things may indicate enlarged adenoids or some other issue in his sinuses. Our appointment is on October 28th so we will see what they say. My hope is that they find something we can fix and make him more comfortable. If our speech therapist is right and Sebastian has trouble breathing through his nose, I can only imagine how uncomfortable the past 23 months have been for him.

And in case you want to know how bad his drooling can get in the winter, here is a prime example:

Not Yet

I realize I have not posted in a while and thought that might give the impression that I was too busy having a baby to blog. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Still very much pregnant through yet another heat wave. F*** you, summer!

Quick updates, as it's late and I'm sleepy:

Next OB appointment is Wednesday where I will get another internal exam and hopefully get some reconfirmation that Matteo is head down. Also, I spoke with my OB about different scenarios and it seems that there is certainly wiggle room on when I can go into labor - she will let me go up to about a week late, depending on other factors. She also said if need be, we could try inducing with Pitocin but nothing stronger than that. So, good news for a VBAC.

Also, I feel gross writing this but I want to be an honest pregnant woman and tell it like it is. Sometimes, it feels like the baby is pushing down so much he might fall out. The closest comparison I can make is when you put a tampon in but can still feel it, like you did it wrong and didn't get it in the right way. Like I said, gross but honest. It's a very odd feeling and one I'm hoping means that he is almost ready to make his debut.

In toddler news, Sebastian and Collette have both "learned" a number. That number is 2. They skipped right over 1 which I suppose is appropriate, with them being twins and all. I guess that means they should hurry up and learn 3. Sebastian also knows the letter C. Not sure if Collette knows that one as she is not as eager to label things - she is way too cool for that. They are adding vocabulary more quickly, in general, but still not putting two words together so still much progress to make on the speech front. Quite frankly, I'm not that worried about it anymore. They understand so much of what I say and what Billy says to them in Spanish that I think the rest is just a matter of time. We'll continue speech therapy as long as they qualify through EI because I like the services and the feedback but I won't be stressing about it. I have enough to worry about with a baby on the way! :)

Last thing - we are almost done Matteo's room so I will post pictures soon. It's livable but we still have some decorative things to put up.

Stay cool! I'm off to Lala-land...

Lost in Translation

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Sebastian and Collette have been making good progress on the communication front. Things are still going well, both with words and signs, and I think Sebastian may soon eclipse Collette in the spoken word category - go figure!

One of their newest signs is "thank you" which is a good thing but also a tricky thing, for a few reasons. First off, it looks a lot like blowing a kiss so I'm not sure they know the difference. They also don't really understand the concept of thank you, as in only the receiver needs to say it, not the giver as well. I suppose I should teach them "you're welcome" but all that seems pretty high brow for 18 month olds. Then again, what do I know. The other issue is with what deserves a "thank you" - both Sebastian and Collette seem to be under the impression that whenever you get something, even if it's by force, you say thank you. Kind of like a bank robber thanking the teller very much for all that cash. We're working on no toy stealing but at least when they do it, they're polite about it...?

***

I got yelled at by one of my sisters for not posting enough pictures of the twins. My reasons are two-fold: I'm lazy/unmotivated to take pictures and they are horrible subjects. Video would be much more appropriate but you have to be sneaky which I am not. I do have some photos from the past few weeks and, although they are completely unrelated to this post, I will share a couple with you anyway. You're welcome.

First dip of the season

Totally cheating at Cornhole

PS - Matteo has decided that my bladder makes an awesome toy. I almost peed in my pants today, literally. Not sure I can make it 6 more weeks with no accidents. *sigh*

Finally, Some Words

In the past few weeks, Sebastian and Collette have made some big strides in the language department. Of course, this happens right before Sebastian starts speech therapy (in partnership with his EI therapy) but no matter. I'm just happy that they both have found ways to express themselves.

Both Sebastian and Collette have added a few spoken words to their vocabulary, as well as some signs. Here is where they both are to date.

Sebastian's spoken words:

• Car
  
• Ball
  
• Dada
  
• Mama
• Doggie
  

Sebastian's signs:

• Help
• Please
• More
• All Done
• Eat
  

Collette's spoken words:

• No
• Nose
• More
• Up
• Dada
• Mama
• Doggie

Collette's signs:

• Help
• Please
• More
• All Done
• Eat
• Blankie
• Yes (nodding)

The signs for "help" and "please" have been especially useful - I think Sebastian has been less fussy since discovering a way to ask for things. His frustration level comes down the instant I ask him if he needs help (and then he signs it if he does) - you can see the look on his face change when he realizes that I finally understand him. Collette uses the sign for "blankie" when she gets upset or frustrated as that is her comfort object. For instance, we were playing with some stacking cups during EI today and she got mad about something and immediately signed blanket (and then found it) and all was right in her world again.

Of course I want to focus on their spoken vocabulary but they seem to learn what they want. I tried to teach Sebastian to say "up" for weeks, to no avail. And now, with no pressure from me, he is saying "car." I'm sure I taught him this word - we see enough cars in a day - but I wasn't making a special effort. Yet, that's one of his 5 words. I'll keep trying, because it's my job, but I get the feeling that he will progress as his own pace and say the words he is interested in saying. Which is what all those wise, wise people have told me from the get go. Ah well. Lesson learned :)

Early Intervention, Round 2

Last week, Sebastian and Collette had their reevaluation to see if they would continue to qualify for Early Intervention services. I had already talked about it with B (our social worker, the one who does our weekly visits) and she let me know that she was pretty sure they would qualify. I wasn't surprised by that either - they aren't saying any words yet and Sebastian doesn't babble nearly as much as he should be. Recently, Collette did start saying "up" and they both say "deedee" for dog but that's it.

The evaluation involved four people: B, two other EI specialists and a grad student. The scores each of them got didn't come as a complete shock but they were still unnerving. To be fair, they did great in most areas, sometimes even above age. Apparently, I have very social little buggers. It was the language component that bothered me. For expressive language, they both scored at 8 Months! I knew they were behind but not by that much. What was even more surprising is how they measure this. They kept telling me that the kids aren't imitating me enough. And I guess they aren't but that's what they said 6 months ago, at the first evaluation. So, shouldn't they have improved? They scored 5 months old then. By my math, that means they only "aged" 3 months in this department. And that was with services!

Part of me thinks I should can the whole thing since it didn't really help them catch up with their language delay. But a much bigger part of me thinks that if we stay the course, we will start to see results. I think that we need to focus more on the language development; it's very easy for me to get sidetracked by other issues that are a big deal for me (like feeding issues, transitions, etc.) so I often use a lot of our time talking about things unrelated to Sebastian and Collette's language. Not to say we ignore it but I'm sure we could focus on it much more than we do now. To that end, I will request that we have a speech therapist/speech language pathologist be part of our "team" and our weekly visits - our IFSP is Wednesday. Not only will it be beneficial for us to have an expert in the field with us each week, it will also help me keep my focus where it should be.

***

On a related note, I just finished reading the book NutureShock, recommended by LauraC. Very good read and I also say, if you have some time, read it. Quite the eye-opener. Anyway, there is chapter dealing with how infants acquire language. I read it before I read any of the other chapters hoping I could find the piece that I have been missing. Basically, the research says that the best way to get kids talking is to not talk so much. Of course, we want our kids to grow up in a language-rich environment (whatever the F that means) so us moms tend to narrate everything we do. And everything our kids do. But the studies they bring up in the book show that kids whose parents simply let them babble and then just responded to their babble (even with just a touch or a kiss; not necessarily talking back to them) talked earlier than those whose parents did not respond to them as quickly and as often. The trick is, your kid has to start the talking, not the other way around. I have been trying this lately and I can't say if it's the technique or just coincidence but Sebastian has been babbling WAY more. As much as Collette, sometimes more. Very promising, either way.

I'm sure that in a year, I will be writing about how they won't stop talking. Sigh. :)

Early Intervention Evaluation

It seems that while I was all worried about crawling and rolling over, I should have been worried about language development.

We had an EI evaluation on Thursday and both Collette and Sebastian qualified for services based on their inability to imitate. Whoops! I was a little sad at first, like I had failed them in some way, but then I realized that only good things can come from this. We get an expert in development to see ours kids every week. So, whenever Billy or I have a question or concern, we have someone to ask! Also, our kids will get to partake in their play groups, so that will be another activity for us to do during the week, with a specialist and chances to meet other moms and their babies.

My only reservation is that this might lead us on a slippery slope of intervening whenever something is not up to par. Not everyone can be at or above average at everything, all the time and I don't want us to expect that of our children. I do not get the feeling that EI operates that way but, as parents, it's easy to let your thinking go down that road.

So, fellow moms: Anything I should know about EI? What to expect at our meetings and play groups?