Remembering Things

Remembering things is important....like remembering the password to this blog (or not remembering it and calling my husband after a month of being locked out of the account, as the case may be.... MAYBE).

So, as you can imagine, a lot has happened since I was last on here.

1) First, Jim and I went on staycation. I  have since decided that those are not that great. Yes, Jim was home helping me, but I was still home. I was still doing chores and still trying to get Harry to eat solid food. I was still getting up in the night with what I thought were teethers. (We found out yesterday they kept waking cause of ear infections) and still waking up early on a toddler schedule. I realize I was not leaving my children, but less chores on your "vacation" would be nice. That is definitely going to have to be the rule for future summer vacations.

There were some funny moments, though. Jim planned a date for us and it was an AMAZING idea. He surprised me with a new dress, sweater, and shoes to wear for it. They were too big, but the thought was nice. Therefore, I ended up wearing my jeans which, as you continue to read, you will understand to be a good choice. Sarah came to watch the kids and we went to rent a canoe on Lake Washington. What a wonderful surprise after having received new clothes! But it STILL got even better when I found out we were going to canoe to the Arboretum and have a champagne picnic. The dragon flies and I were all smiles (for different reasons, of course). For them, it was mating season, we noticed. For us, it was a gorgeous late August day with such a high level of relaxation that I will dare to compare it to being single again.

Then we fell into the lake. It was after the picnic, so that was good. But still, I was hungry. I would have rather not fallen in and had to spend the rest of our time buying new phones instead of a going out to a nice dinner....The End.

2) Next - Matt and Alicia had their baby. Nolan Matthew Bourne was born early at 36 weeks on Sept. 8th (I think). He's a preemie like Harry and Gwenny so I feel I understand a bit of what they are going through. I also have not met him yet, but Jim has and I think he has a lot of hair (not Jim, the baby).

3) MY BABIES -- or toddlers now (apparently at 1-year-old they are considered toddlers). But really, forever my babies. They Do act like toddlers. They are so busy. and definitely cannot be rocked to sleep like my mom insists can happen. They also absorb information faster than I have ever seen them do before.

They point to things cause they want to know what the name of it is. So, we tell them and explain what we are doing at any given moment. That way they can hear the words, intonation, everything. They say twins are a little delayed in learning to speak. Many factors contribute to this. First of all, because there are 2 kids, adults don't usually look one baby or another in the eye when speaking. This makes it harder for them to learn the words for objects. Secondly, They have their own "twin language". They understand each other with their own sounds and minimal words so they have less need to try to expand their language ability. There are some other reasons that I have read about, but I forget what they are......another reason that this blog entry is titled "remembering things".

Now, I understand the above reasons, but whomever did the studies to confirm these theories had not met my daughter. She WANTS language. So does Harry, but he is more interested in "language as tool". Here is the difference between the two of them. Harry know words, but does not let on that he knows them....unless he wants to. This could be considered sneaky or laid back. He uses language either way depending on his mood. Only when he is being sneaky is language a tool. As in a this-is-something-I-care-to-take-a-stand-about-and-therefore-need-language-as-strategy kind of way. It is brilliant....kudos Harrison!

Now to Gwenny, I mentioned her first because she is more obvious and in her use of language. She has no agenda, she just wants to learn. Genius. Shouldn't we all be that open?? She is funny because sometimes she forgets the vowel sounds between "ball" and "book" then you remind her and she corrects herself. Ball sounds like "bahw" and book is "bugh". Sometime she says "tha bugh". Yes really...tha....a 14-month-old can use articles. I can't write the TH phonetics correctly, but it is a more subtle sound than a Theta symbol would be. More like the TH is the word 'This'.... a soft TH.

Of course, both kids can now say hi and ocationally say bye. They love to play peek-a-boo, give high-five, and clap, as well. Soooooooo cute!!

They will be 15 months on Oct.1 so we will see what that brings....More dancing in the living room with Mama perhaps?