Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Going Dark

I'm going off-line. I just deactivated my Facebook account and I won't be blogging for at least six weeks, maybe more. I'd tell you why, but it would defeat the purpose of what I'm doing here. Bye for now! :)

Friday, April 20, 2012

The Twins Update - Eight Months Old

Now that Zoe and Leo are starting to get well after having been sick for so long, they are going through an enormous leap in their development. We have two sitter-uppers!



 

Zoe is catching up to Leo quite a bit, both in size and developmentally. He is just a tad bigger than she is, but most people think she is bigger because she is more chubby. Leo has completely stopped working on crawling. I'm not sure if that is due to the illness or because he's just been so happy to sit, but it means that they are both doing most of the same things. They love to sit up, they love to stand with a bit of support, and they are crazy for their exersaucer and their hanging bouncer.

Zoe's latest cuteness is that she loves banging things to make loud noises. Give her a hard surface and a hard object and she goes crazy.

Leo's latest cuteness is his way of asking to be picked up. He opens and closes his hands and kind of twists his wrists at the same time.

Zoe virtually stopped eating solids for the past month because of the sickness. It's been very stressful, because she started out so well. But just in the past few days, she is regaining an appetite. She likes chicken and ham. Leo has been eating through it all, and he is starting to look as chubby as Zoe. He likes beef and ham and, well, almost everything.

Spoon-feeding these two is proving to be very difficult. Until recently, they didn't sit well enough to use any kind of chairs but the Bumbos, and I'd find myself using one hand to alternate spoonfuls of food between them, while using the other to kind of hold them in the seats, wipe up spills, and keep them from grabbing all the objects on the table. If Sam is home while I'm trying to do this alone, it's insane: they want to look at her, so unless she stands right in front of them, they will twist around in their seats dangerously. Now they are finally able to sit in the high chair and it is so much easier, but I only have one. I hate to have two huge high chairs in our tiny house, but I don't see any other way. They're just not strong enough for the booster seats you strap on to chairs and I don't want to continue with the Bumbo insanity. I'm heading to Amazon.com as soon as I'm finished with this post.

To my dismay, they are nowhere near ready for finger foods. I want to be done with the spoon feeding as soon as possible, but they are not interested in pieces of food on a tray. They won't even look at it, let alone try to pick it up.

I've been using the jarred baby food almost exclusively because I've been too overwhelmed to cook at all, let alone make my own baby food. But I'll probably get back into that over the next month. It will be good to give them some chunkier foods again, like I did right at the start.

We also tried sippy cups for the first time a few days ago. They each took one sip of formula successfully and then both told me the same thing: "Mommy, I CAN do it, but I definitely don't WANT to. Now give me my damn bottle!" But I know that once they realize that they can hold the cup and feed themselves, they'll change their minds.

And finally, finally, they are moving off of the 3-hour cycle. I can't believe they've been on it for so long. I don't remember it being this way with Sam for more than a few months. Some weeks ago, they gave up the nap after the penultimate feeding at 6pm, staying awake until bedtime around 8:30pm. And now they seem to be moving towards two long naps a day. What a relief! Now I can take them out so much more easily. Yesterday, they came with me to drop Sammy off at school, then we went to the grocery store, and in the afternoon they came with me to pick Sammy up and then for a quick trip to the playground. Poor Sammy has been stuck in the house with us all winter, except for when I've had help. I've had to say "no" to her so much that it hurts, especially when the sun is shining and we can see all the other kids playing outside. But the only way for a single person to transport two babies at the same time is to put them in a stroller, which is an arduous, ten-minute process on the front end and the back end. And when you can only stay somewhere for 20 minutes before you have to get home for a nap, it's hard to get motivated. Longer, less frequent naps also means that my time is less fragmented. Maybe that will help my mind to become less fragmented as well.

I've still not been taking as many photos as I'd like, but the few that I have from this past month are great ones. Two completely different, but equally adorable babies:



 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Looking Up

I can't be certain, but I think I might be coming out of the Black Hole of Spring. There was the Black Hole of Winter that lasted about 2 weeks in December, but this one had a much greater mass and kept me miserable for 2.5 months. Leo and Zoe still aren't well - they both have ear infections now - but they are more active and happy again. After my last post we all got Pukinson's Disease with residual congestion, and the three elder Mossoffs were fine for our Hawaii trip, but as soon as we got back it was all doctor's appointments and sleep deprivation for a few days. Last night I slept, which gives me hope.

I'll write about Hawaii later. For now, just a couple of sweet stories.

Sam hasn't been taking good care of her body lately, and I was trying to convince her to perform some health-related task - drinking water, wiping back-to-front, I don't remember - and I used one of my usual tactics: "I'm not trying to boss you around, but this is my job. Do you remember what my job is?"
"No."

"It's my job to keep you safe and healthy."

"No, it's NOT your job to keep me safe and healthy!"

"Oh. What do you think my job is?"

"Just to love me."

Melt.

Zoe and Leo are at one of my favorite stages: they are beginning to play the "hand it back and forth" game. I'll hand one of them a toy, they'll hand it back to me, and so on, for as long as I'm willing to play. Well, they don't really do it yet, but they are starting to, and I'm encouraging it big time. And just now, I can't be totally certain, but I think Zoe just handed Leo a toy. She looked right at him, held it out to him, he grabbed it, and she let go and looked away. I've been enjoying them "fighting" over toys for a while now, but this was new. Adorable!