After a relatively light schedule over the summer, we’re back full-swing into our routine of many doctor visits. Thankfully the number is tapering, and we’re approaching what would be “normal” for any family with three kids … but they always seem to fall in clusters, no matter how hard I try to be careful in my scheduling.
This week, Colin was back at the pulmonologist on Monday, and on Tuesday the twins had their first official dentist appointment. (Colin had been to the dentist once before to make sure he didn’t have “preemie teeth,” a condition that is fairly common in micro preemies like him where the teeth don’t have enough enamel and are more brittle than they should be.)
Poor John ended up taking all three kids to see Dr. Lestrud (Colin’s pulmonologist), thanks to the teacher’s strike and my work schedule. It made for a very full, and I would imagine a rather raucous, exam room. Overall, Dr. Lestrud is happy with Colin’s progress. His growth is good (for Colin — he’s on the growth chart, unadjusted, at roughly 4% for weight and 7% for height), he’s generally healthy, his lungs sound clear … but he still has a little rattle in his lungs when he exhales.
So we’re back on the inhaler for the fall/winter/spring season. Fortunately, they seem to be going a little easier this year … at least so far.
The dentist appointment also involved the entire family (myself included this time) bringing chaos to the office. Veronica was very nervous about going to the dentist; Colin not so much. As we were walking from the van to the dentist office, Veronica looked up and me and asked, “Roni cry at dentist office?”
“No sweetie, you won’t need to cry. Irma is just going to look at your teeth.” So we practiced saying “Ahhhhh” and “Eeeeee” for the rest of the walk.
Once we were inside, Veronica was very serious and told me, “Colin go first.” She is very good at volunteering Colin to go first for anything new.
Colin, of course, was his usual “in the moment” self. I don’t know if it’s just his personality or an area where Veronica is ahead of him developmentally, but he doesn’t seem to think about/grasp the significance of things. If we tell him we’re going to the doctor, he marches off to the doctor. If we tell Veronica we’re going to the doctor, she starts imagining the visit to the doctor, starting with the toys in the waiting room and running through the possibility of shots.
Both kids did very well. Colin sat in the chair by himself, but John had to hold his hands. He (Colin) was afraid of “Mr. Thirsty” — the tool that sucks the extra saliva out of your mouth — so he just used his water bottle to rinse after his cleaning. Veronica sat on my lap, but was fascinated by Mr. Thirsty and had fun putting it in her mouth and taking it back out.
Colin still has one molar left to come in, so he has 19 teeth. Veronica is still at 16, but two of her molars are poking through. (Hurry it up already, teeth, we’re tired of this teething process.) Colin’s teeth are showing signs of grinding; Veronica’s look good. Overall, though, they got two thumbs up from the dentist and the hygienist, and we’ll be back in six months.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tomorrow. Afternoon.
Veronica decided at the end of last week to get back on the potty training bandwagon. Colin has been doing great, and even can go for a big stretch keeping his diaper dry. Unfortunately (from a potty-training perspective), we went camping again last weekend. Not the easiest circumstances for potty training.
It poured rain pretty much the entire way to Wisconsin (not the best start to a camping weekend), and we weren't sure we were going to be able to get the tent set up (it has a mesh top). Fortunately it stopped raining before we got to the campground, and the ground wasn’t too wet. So Colin and Veronica amused themselves by jumping in a mud puddle while we set up camp.
They were having a blast, getting all muddy and running around, until Veronica hit the edge of the mud puddle on a downhill run and landed smack in the middle of it, on her back. I wasn’t sure where the bathrooms were, so I was glad she allowed herself to be talked down from that crisis. We basically got camp set up just in time for the twins to go to bed, so we didn’t get to do any exploring that night (although Ethan did).
The next morning, Veronica told me she needed to go potty. By now, we had located the flushies (I wasn’t going to even attempt to bring Veronica into the pit toilets — they were pretty ripe here at the end of the season), so Veronica and I set out for her first bathroom break of the trip.
It was a bit of a hike, but we hustled along because I wasn’t sure how long she would be able to hold it. When we got to the bathroom, I took her into one of the stalls so she could go potty. She took one look at the toilet, turned to me and said, “No go potty. Go tomorrow. Afternoon.”
And sure enough, Sunday afternoon when we got home, she went straight into the bathroom and went potty on the toilet like a big girl.
(Colin said pretty much the same thing when I took him to the bathroom. Apparently they’re willing to potty train at home, but not so much with “foreign” toilets yet.)
They were having a blast, getting all muddy and running around, until Veronica hit the edge of the mud puddle on a downhill run and landed smack in the middle of it, on her back. I wasn’t sure where the bathrooms were, so I was glad she allowed herself to be talked down from that crisis. We basically got camp set up just in time for the twins to go to bed, so we didn’t get to do any exploring that night (although Ethan did).
The next morning, Veronica told me she needed to go potty. By now, we had located the flushies (I wasn’t going to even attempt to bring Veronica into the pit toilets — they were pretty ripe here at the end of the season), so Veronica and I set out for her first bathroom break of the trip.
It was a bit of a hike, but we hustled along because I wasn’t sure how long she would be able to hold it. When we got to the bathroom, I took her into one of the stalls so she could go potty. She took one look at the toilet, turned to me and said, “No go potty. Go tomorrow. Afternoon.”
And sure enough, Sunday afternoon when we got home, she went straight into the bathroom and went potty on the toilet like a big girl.
(Colin said pretty much the same thing when I took him to the bathroom. Apparently they’re willing to potty train at home, but not so much with “foreign” toilets yet.)
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Elmo fever
My kids love Elmo. They’ve never really seen Sesame Street. They don’t have any Elmo toys (okay, they didn’t have any Elmo toys until this weekend), but they’re both crazy about Elmo. And I don’t know why.
They know Elmo because he is on their overnight diapers. (We do cloth during the day, but use the extra absorbent overnight disposables at night.) But he isn’t on every diaper; some diapers have Cookie Monster, or Ernie, or Grover or, once in a great while, Big Bird.
I think it may have started one night when Veronica was particularly overtired, and everything was making her cry, and kick. Putting a diaper on a kicking two-year-old is painful, so I’ll try anything to get her to stop kicking. On this night, she had Cookie Monster on her diaper, so I started singing “C is for Cookie” in my best Cookie Monster voice. The next night she had Elmo on her diaper, so I sang one of Elmo’s songs from our Sesame Street CD. And now it has become a tradition that I sing a song for whichever character appears on each twin’s diaper at bedtime.
But Elmo is most definitely the favorite. So when we saw a stuffed Elmo at the thrift store my sister-in-law works at yesterday, we had to buy it for the twins — even though we knew they would end up fighting over it. I left it sitting out last night, and when Veronica came down with me in the morning for breakfast, I heard a joyful squeal and then “Elmo!”
After an extended love-fest between Veronica and Elmo, I convinced her to let Elmo eat sitting next to Baby Gabby (who takes all her meals with us, and has her own special bowl that Veronica must give her before every meal). So Ethan helped her find a second special bowl for Elmo, and we were just getting ready to sit down for breakfast when Colin came down.
“Elmo!” And Colin scooped Elmo up (from his breakfast) to have his own love fest, which of course, really upset Veronica. And as predicted, the fights over Elmo began. At 7:15 in the morning.
We ended up setting a timer after breakfast so that each kiddo got Elmo for three minutes … until Colin lost interest and went to play with something else. Veronica was generous enough to let Colin take Elmo in his stroller for their morning walk, and since then they’ve actually done pretty well with sharing. But we’ll be in trouble the next time they both are upset: Elmo has become the new go-to baby for comfort.
I have a feeling we may end up becoming a two-Elmo household. Sigh.
They know Elmo because he is on their overnight diapers. (We do cloth during the day, but use the extra absorbent overnight disposables at night.) But he isn’t on every diaper; some diapers have Cookie Monster, or Ernie, or Grover or, once in a great while, Big Bird.
I think it may have started one night when Veronica was particularly overtired, and everything was making her cry, and kick. Putting a diaper on a kicking two-year-old is painful, so I’ll try anything to get her to stop kicking. On this night, she had Cookie Monster on her diaper, so I started singing “C is for Cookie” in my best Cookie Monster voice. The next night she had Elmo on her diaper, so I sang one of Elmo’s songs from our Sesame Street CD. And now it has become a tradition that I sing a song for whichever character appears on each twin’s diaper at bedtime.
But Elmo is most definitely the favorite. So when we saw a stuffed Elmo at the thrift store my sister-in-law works at yesterday, we had to buy it for the twins — even though we knew they would end up fighting over it. I left it sitting out last night, and when Veronica came down with me in the morning for breakfast, I heard a joyful squeal and then “Elmo!”
After an extended love-fest between Veronica and Elmo, I convinced her to let Elmo eat sitting next to Baby Gabby (who takes all her meals with us, and has her own special bowl that Veronica must give her before every meal). So Ethan helped her find a second special bowl for Elmo, and we were just getting ready to sit down for breakfast when Colin came down.
“Elmo!” And Colin scooped Elmo up (from his breakfast) to have his own love fest, which of course, really upset Veronica. And as predicted, the fights over Elmo began. At 7:15 in the morning.
We ended up setting a timer after breakfast so that each kiddo got Elmo for three minutes … until Colin lost interest and went to play with something else. Veronica was generous enough to let Colin take Elmo in his stroller for their morning walk, and since then they’ve actually done pretty well with sharing. But we’ll be in trouble the next time they both are upset: Elmo has become the new go-to baby for comfort.
I have a feeling we may end up becoming a two-Elmo household. Sigh.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Big brother is back!!
Ethan got home yesterday afternoon from a week-and-a-day visit with Grandma and Grandpa. When he first left, the twins would ask about him multiple times a day. They would hear a door close: “Ethan?” “No, Ethan is at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.” We would talk about going to the park. “With Ethan?” “No, Ethan is at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.”
But by the end of the week, they were only asking about him a couple of times a day. (Veronica wanted to know at breakfast each morning whether Ethan had his shoes on yet.) So I was wondering how they would react when he got back. I know they had been enjoying the more “undivided” attention, but they also generally enjoy having their b-bro around.
Unfortunately, I was at work when the homecoming happened, but I tried calling around the time I thought Ethan would be getting back to see how the trip (and re-entry) had gone. No one answered when I called, so I just left a message.
John called me back an hour or two later, and said that he hadn’t even heard the phone ring over the noise of the reunion. Apparently when Veronica and Colin saw Ethan, they both dropped what they were doing, started squealing with happiness, and the three kids dissolved into a pile of full-body, squirming, squealing hugs on the floor.
Even thinking about it makes my heart warm. I’m so glad they all love each other so much.
But by the end of the week, they were only asking about him a couple of times a day. (Veronica wanted to know at breakfast each morning whether Ethan had his shoes on yet.) So I was wondering how they would react when he got back. I know they had been enjoying the more “undivided” attention, but they also generally enjoy having their b-bro around.
Unfortunately, I was at work when the homecoming happened, but I tried calling around the time I thought Ethan would be getting back to see how the trip (and re-entry) had gone. No one answered when I called, so I just left a message.
John called me back an hour or two later, and said that he hadn’t even heard the phone ring over the noise of the reunion. Apparently when Veronica and Colin saw Ethan, they both dropped what they were doing, started squealing with happiness, and the three kids dissolved into a pile of full-body, squirming, squealing hugs on the floor.
Even thinking about it makes my heart warm. I’m so glad they all love each other so much.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Sensitive girl
Veronica is a very sensitive girl — not so much in the emotional sense, although she can be sensitive that way. What I’m talking about is more of a physical sensitivity. She is very aware of textures, and averse to being wet — at all. Even one drop of water on her clothes makes her unhappy and wanting to change. She will tell you immediately if her clothes aren’t adjusted just right (“Too tight. Too tight!!!!”), and absolutely insists on changing her shorts or pants if her diaper has leaked in the slightest.
Sometimes I worry that she goes beyond normal in these sensitivities; other times I think it’s probably just a control thing. (Veronica does like her control.)
Two weeks ago, the old clay pipes that drained the water from our kitchen sink, dishwasher, laundry tub and basement drain lost their 114 year fight with the tree roots and disintegrated. (Okay, they may have disintegrated months ago, we just realized it two weeks ago.) Being without laundry with a family of five that includes two cloth-diapered toddlers was not fun. Especially when the time to diagnose and repair the problem stretched out to more than a week. (Thank goodness for our wonderful neighbors, who let us use their laundry several times.)
Because of the lack of washing machine (or, more precisely, the lack of dirty water drainage), we switched to disposable diapers until the problem could be fixed. For the first day, Veronica was fine with the change. It was like an adventure: disposable diapers all day long, not just at night. But by the end of the second day, she was done with the disposables. She wanted her pretty cloth diapers back.
“No. Other diaper. Blue diaper,” she told me as I tried to put a clean disposable on her.
“But Roni, we can’t use the disposables because the pipes are broken. Remember?”
“No. Cloth better. Cloth better!” My little environmentalist. (As if that had anything to do with her desire for cloth diapers — it’s all about the colors.)
Today, because we’re starting to get serious about the potty training, I thought I would try out the pull-ups on Veronica. I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I think we’re ready for the cloth training pants (although I’m close), so I bought a package of the disposable pullups, because it’s much easier to pull a diaper up and down when the kiddos want to go potty than to keep taking their diapers off.
I got the pullup halfway up Veronica’s one leg when she started to freak out. “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!!!” So I took it off and tried again, only to get an even stronger reaction.
I gave up and put the diaper back on — and I may be going out to buy the cloth training pants sooner than I thought. Or maybe it was just because she’s tired and feeling a little off. Who knows?
(Colin is doing really well on the potty training, and sometimes will even ask to go before he gets his diaper wet. I think if we were to decide to actually make an effort to push the training, he would get it very quickly. We’re just not ready to make that effort yet.)
I am hoping that this super-sensitive phase is just that — a phase that will pass (quickly with luck). And in the mean time, well I guess we’ll just continue to deal with her little quirks.
Sometimes I worry that she goes beyond normal in these sensitivities; other times I think it’s probably just a control thing. (Veronica does like her control.)
Two weeks ago, the old clay pipes that drained the water from our kitchen sink, dishwasher, laundry tub and basement drain lost their 114 year fight with the tree roots and disintegrated. (Okay, they may have disintegrated months ago, we just realized it two weeks ago.) Being without laundry with a family of five that includes two cloth-diapered toddlers was not fun. Especially when the time to diagnose and repair the problem stretched out to more than a week. (Thank goodness for our wonderful neighbors, who let us use their laundry several times.)
Because of the lack of washing machine (or, more precisely, the lack of dirty water drainage), we switched to disposable diapers until the problem could be fixed. For the first day, Veronica was fine with the change. It was like an adventure: disposable diapers all day long, not just at night. But by the end of the second day, she was done with the disposables. She wanted her pretty cloth diapers back.
“No. Other diaper. Blue diaper,” she told me as I tried to put a clean disposable on her.
“But Roni, we can’t use the disposables because the pipes are broken. Remember?”
“No. Cloth better. Cloth better!” My little environmentalist. (As if that had anything to do with her desire for cloth diapers — it’s all about the colors.)
Today, because we’re starting to get serious about the potty training, I thought I would try out the pull-ups on Veronica. I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I think we’re ready for the cloth training pants (although I’m close), so I bought a package of the disposable pullups, because it’s much easier to pull a diaper up and down when the kiddos want to go potty than to keep taking their diapers off.
I got the pullup halfway up Veronica’s one leg when she started to freak out. “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!!!” So I took it off and tried again, only to get an even stronger reaction.
I gave up and put the diaper back on — and I may be going out to buy the cloth training pants sooner than I thought. Or maybe it was just because she’s tired and feeling a little off. Who knows?
(Colin is doing really well on the potty training, and sometimes will even ask to go before he gets his diaper wet. I think if we were to decide to actually make an effort to push the training, he would get it very quickly. We’re just not ready to make that effort yet.)
I am hoping that this super-sensitive phase is just that — a phase that will pass (quickly with luck). And in the mean time, well I guess we’ll just continue to deal with her little quirks.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Smackdown
Colin and Veronica have very different personalities. You might even call them polar opposites at times. But they have two big things in common: They’re two and they lack impulse control. And right now, that means our house more resembles a boxing ring or wresting match than anything.
Veronica’s preferred response to anything is to start swinging. Colin still has a more varied repertoire, although I’m grateful that the biting has more or less stopped since the day he bit John. (Veronica was so excited to tell me when I got home that Colin was in time out because he bit Daddy.) We’ve been working hard to eliminate the head butting (it really hurts), and the wrestling Veronica to the ground is slowly giving way to just hitting back, but he is a bit more varied in his venting.
I’ve also started working on the concept of “sorry,” and have been making the twins apologize to each other if they do something they know they shouldn’t — like stealing a book out of the other’s hands or hitting.
Colin very clearly understands “sorry” already: A couple of days ago, he smashed into Veronica while she was reading and knocked the book out of her hands. He immediately said sorry and leaned in to kiss her, whereupon she hauled off and smacked him. After braving the flailing arms to separate them (Veronica continuing to hit Colin, who at this point has fallen into her lap from the onslaught; Colin trying to defend himself and get a few jabs in of his own) I had to explain to Veronica that Colin was trying to apologize and hitting him for saying he was sorry was really not the right response.
Poor Colin, I’m not sure I’ve seen him issue an unprompted apology since then. And really, I can hardly blame him after the response that met his last attempt.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
It's potty time!
We appear to be in the early stages of potty training, led not by us, but by … Colin. Yes, Colin. This started earlier in the week, when he was running around the house with his diaper off. (Colin LOVES to run around with his diaper off. Veronica, not such a fan.) Apparently, Colin came up to Ethan and said, “Potty. Potty.” So Ethan told John that he thought Colin wanted to use the potty.
John was skeptical (they just turned two less than a month ago, and while the medical world may stop adjusting preemies’ ages at two, in reality they shouldn’t have turned two until the end of September). But he dutifully put Colin on the toilet to see what would happen. And Colin peed.
They called me at work to let me know the exciting news, and I figured it was just a fluke.
That night as I was getting the twins into their pjs, just for fun, I asked them if they wanted to try going potty on the toilet before they went to bed. Colin immediately started saying, “Potty, potty” again, and Veronica was saying “yes” as well.
And again, Colin went on the toilet. Veronica, who showed a very early interest in going on the toilet last year, and who generally can’t stand being wet, didn’t have the patience to sit long enough to have success. However, they both went on the potty the next day at bed time.
Colin went on the potty three times yesterday and two times the day before, so this seems to be a fairly consistent interest — as long as his diaper is not on. He has not yet asked us to go when he’s wearing a diaper, although he clearly can tell when he needs to go without it. Because he’s really going, not just squeezing out a couple of drops.
John told Veronica we would buy her purple underwear when she’s ready to go on the potty all the time; Colin wants blue. And last night an over-tired Veronica was most upset that we were putting her in a diaper rather than her purple undies. So I had to explain the whole idea of being potty trained to her again.
I honestly don’t think they’re quite ready to go on their own yet. But I’m not going to stop them from trying if they think so. I would be oh so very happy if they followed in their big brother’s footsteps and got out of diapers early. Because the two things I'm ready to be done with are diapers (big surprise, right?) and cribs.
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