FICK IT

So, we have an official 2 word sentence.

"Fix it!' (FICK IT!) William exclaims "FICK IT, FICK IT!" when a show ends and he wants me to get the clicker and start it over. More often than not, it's Yo Gabba Gabba. It is honest to god, the only show my boys will watch and I am ALL OVER that.

This is a momentous day! 26.5 months old, first 2 word combo. We are making progress. A tip of the hat to you, Yo Gabba Gabba.

Fock 'n' Agwahhh

William is starting to try to talk more and more. He's not always intelligable. In fact, most times he is not remotely intelligable, but it's a start.

Today, at Sofia's gymnastics, he was screaming "Fock! Fock! Fock!" over and over and over. I was laughing, but a bit embaressed, not quite sure what he was trying to say but knowing what it sounded like he was saying.

Finallly, I saw it. They have a huge stuffed frog that the kids slide down. He was referring to the frog.

David's new word is "Agggggg-wahhhhh" which sounds exactly like Agua, but I don't think he's been exposed to much spanish, outside of Dora the Explorer. I finally determined that he is trying to say truck as he says it when he sees a truck. He did say "bwooooo" today when he saw a blue truck, so I think he may be able to recognize some letters.

They're still leaps and bounds behind their peers, but they are definitely trying.

Playdate Birfday

Today, I hosted a playdate birthday celebration for the twins. Their birthday is not until Sunday, when we'll have small, family gathering. I tried to keep it simple, but of course, at ten minutes before it started, I was cursing myself for ever trying to do such a thing as I was surrounded by clingy kids and attempting to decorate and frost cupcakes. David was whiny hiney and Steve had to leave to do some last minute stuff with our house (tenants move in Sunday.) All in all, we had about 6 two year olds, plus the boys, plus Sofia was home, so you can imagine the level of chaos. Good chaos, though.



I love this card one of the mom's made. She's so cool, a filmmaker/photog from L.A. who also has written a children's book. I think she captured "the brothers" quite well, dontcha think?

The "Good" News

So, the speech evaluation is complete. Bottom line, the boys have a mild delay and do not qualify for free speech therapy through the state of California. Their delay would need to be moderate for them to qualify. The doctor assessed the boys at an 18 month level for expressive speech and right on track for receptive language.

We were brought into a little room that had a play kitchen, microwave and basketball hoop. The boys proceeded to put items in the microwave and oven, never stopping once in the hour and a half we were there. The doctor was wonderful. She had a very competent but warm demeanor and I liked it her quite a bit. It didn’t hurt that she also has a 4 year old and we sort of bonded on that level.

Green Beret mostly sat quietly, taking notes, but when she did speak, she was as intense as ever. After about an hour of questions and observations, they both left the room and the doctor came in and gave me the “good news.” Honestly, it is good news. There are so many families out there with special needs or autistic children, I am so thankful to hear that my boys are on track. I wasn’t ever seriously concerned about their development in that regard, but with William’s previous neurological injury and issues, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a slight concern there.

That said, I am not sure I agree with the 18-month assessment level. I am obviously not a doctor or speech therapist, but on a purely anecdotal level (based on being around many 2 year olds) I see my boys more at a 15-month level with expressive language. Ironically enough, they would need to be delayed to a 15-month level to qualify for early intervention. A moderate delay would mean they’re using no more than 5-7 words expressively at almost 24 months. They are using 10-12 words expressively. I knew it was going to be a very borderline situation.

So, what's next? They are keeping the case open and we are to check in in a few months to let them know the twins' progression. I could look into private insurance options for speech therapy, but given today's evaluation, I think it's probably best to just hold tight and see what the next three months bring.

Something tells me I haven't seen the last of Green Beret.

Speech eval P. 2...To Be Continued

The twins' speech evaluation was scheduled for this morning. I took half a day off, my husband took half a day off, I made my list of word the boys are using, I was set.

Then, I got the message from Green Beret this morning that the evaluation had been canceled. I guess the physician who would be evaluating the boys called in sick. Green Beret sounded quite inconvenienced by this change of events ("I think she has young children" she said through what I imagine to be tightly pursed lips. Quite ironic considering she deals with young chidren every day) but I tried to take it as a sign. Maybe the boys' language will explode in another 5 weeks, the soonest they had a 2 hour opening (both boys need a one hour evaluation). They've gone from 1-2 words to almost 10 each in the last 6 weeks or so, so that is encouraging. Granted, most of the words are unintelligible to anyone but myself, but I can tell they are trying.

Part of me is questioning going the state-run, free, early intervention route and not just going through my private insurance, but I'll hang in there. I mean, free is good, so I suppose waiting another month isn't the end of the world.

Speech evaluation, part I.

So, our speech evaluation was this morning. It did not start out on a great note as the Coordinator (not sure if she's a social worker or nurse, but sort of doubt it as "Coordinator" was her business card title) showed up in her white Mercedes exactly one half hour earlier than scheduled. She did call from the car and ask if that was alright, so I obliged, even though the boys were in the middle of breakfast and I was still in my PJ's. Oh well, time for Coordinator J. to get a taste of the boys' "natural" surroundings. She seemed competent enough, but as she checked out my house (freshly cleaned, I might add) I could not help but feel just the teensy-eensiest amount of Judgement. I suppose that goes with the territory for an evaluation in general, judging from the types of questions on the endless intake forms I had to fill out. I can only imagine the level of delay they typically evaluate; children born profoundly premature, drug addicted or suffering from severely debilitating delays.

From the moment she walked in, William was immediately repelled by her. Maybe it was her intimidating horn rimmed glasses, maybe it was her high, sporty leather boots or maybe it was her festive green beret, but William spent most of the morning giving her the *stink eye* and clinging to me, occasionally looking to make sure she wasn't getting close to him. David, on the other hand, was flirting with her and borderline showing off. It was like the two of them reversed personalities, which they have been known to do.

She spent the next hour and a half observing and asking a litany of questions, ranging from clearly relevant (when they hit major milestones, major illnesses, responsiveness, receptive language, birth weights, etc.) to the superfluous (What are David's "strengths" and "favorite things?) It took everything I had inside me to prevent me from responding with a snarky - "Well, David is a sharp little fella who prefers a fresh Lucerne Vitamin D vintage in an Avent or Born Free bottle, a banana that is just about to turn the corner into turning brown, waffles with butter and syrup, his pink Ortho-Pro pacifier - not the blue one or orange one, only the pink one - and anything having to do dinosaurs or birds."

All in all, I think J. got the information she needed. Being the self professed Control Freak that I am, I tried to feel her out as to what her opinion was. She responded with a short, "I don't think this was an unreasonable referral." Okaaaaaay. So, I'm not totally neurotic? She indicated that the boys would probably qualify as having a moderate speech delay, but it will be up to the doctor who evaluates them in a few weeks to make that final decision. And being toddlers on the verge of new words, they may have 5 new words in a few weeks, which would change the ballgame entirely.

We shall see how it all shakes down.

Tonight is Sofia's pre-school Christmas show. The new camera is charged and ready. Between the show and the recent familial visit and cousin birthday party, fluff will be forthcoming.

Speech evaluation

So, the social worker called me to schedule a speech evaluation for the boys. It's now on the calendar for next week...It's not a great week as we are going out of town overnight for niece/nephew birthday party and Sofia's pre-school Christmas show is Friday night, followed by a holiday party of a friend of mine's...

There will also be a 1 hr doctor evaluation for each boy, scheduled for January...

She is sending me a packet of info for me to fill out. I had to laugh - in the meantime, she told me to make a list of their words. I told her that would be a very short list - 2-3 words, if that.

We'll see if they qualify...

Randomness

Just going through my work computer and finding the most random stuff I've saved - i.e. "Who to call when the baby is born" (Sofia's birth and the twins), advice on sleep schedules that I finally saved in a doc as I got tired of typing the same thing over and over, a frittata recipe, an Excel Weight Watchers point counter.

This is a journal post from October 2006. I was about 5 months pregnant with the twins and Sofia was about 18 months old. It certainly didn't make me feel any better about the boys' speech, but at the same time, brought me back. Sofia has been such an extrovert since day one, I swear, she is her father's daughter.

Well, the new meds have brought my BP down to around 117/64, so obviously working. I asked the nurse if that was too low and she said that was perfect. One s/e of the meds is headaches though, which sucks. The nurse called me today to ask if I had done the GTT yet and I told her I would tomorrow (peri is having me do it early as well as at 24 wks b/c she feels I'm "at risk"). They sure are on top of things, that's for sure. It's quite refreshing. We have Sofia's 18 mo apt so will be at the hospital anyway. I think she gets some shots, but she's usually pretty good about them.

I'm loving all the pumpkin pics! We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday as well, I have pics of course. It was quite challenging to get a good one as Miss Sofia doesn't sit still and didn't want to pose, just wanted to throw the pumpkins (poppkees) on the ground. Will post when I get my computer up and running again (actually the computer is fine $400 later - don't get me started -- our internet is down, long story) Sofia kept calling the goats and ponies at the patch "cow..." Pretty funny.

Sofia's new thing is saying "Hi" to everyone. And I do mean everyone. At the playground, walks up to strangers and says "HI!" (and she says it in this Kathleen Turner voice that is hilarious) We go out to lunch, she turns around in the booth and says "Hi" to the people next to us. At the grocery store, says hi to all passersby. That girl is certainly not shy.

A list of her words at 18 mo

Doggie
Baby
Hat
Girl (guhl)
Bike (biyeeh)
Bee
Bear (Beeeah)
Kitty (Kiki)
Cat
Bye Bye
Hi
Mommy
Daddy
Shoe (stchshoo)
Foot (fuh)
Toe
Camera (cahhh)
Baba
Cookie
Cracker (cackah)
Clicker (cickah)
Comb (cohhh)
Back (bahhh)
Go
Cow
Clay (Key)
Key
Balloon (Bah)
Car (Cah)
Bella (Buh)
Eat
Sassy (thsassthsy)
Please (pee)
Pants (pee)
No (nyah)
Pen (puh)
Cup (cuh)
Ball
Book (booh)
Guitar (tar)
Kick
Pumpkin (popkee)
Pasta (pah)
Bless You (Bah)

Say it Isn't So

He's almost there...and I'm sooooo not ready. Sofia was in her crib until close to her 3rd birthday, so this is a whole new world for me.

This may explain the possible speech delay.

Clearly, William has been working on his gross motor skills. I suspect a crib tent is in our near future.

Miscellaneous 11/7/08

So I changed my profile pic. As I haven't been blonde in about a year, I thought it was about time.

I got the ball rolling with a speech evaluation. I can tell my pediatrician would prefer a "wait and see" approach (he's old school and pretty laid back about most things), but he's trusting my instincts, which I appreciate.

I figure why not get the ball rolling, it will probably take a month-6 weeks to get an appointment and if they start exploding with words in the meantime, I can always cancel.

Not much else going on. It's a gorgeous, fall day here. The air and light is like liquid gold, warm and soothing. The ocean and sky are borderline aquamarine. The air is clear and nippy. In other words, perfect.

I think I have a sinus infection, but am feeling better now that I took a 12 hour Sudafed and 3 Advil.

This weekend will be spent preparing our old house for painting next week.

I emailed the woman who lives up the street from me who has a 5 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a 6 month old, hoping we can get together. Can you imagine? 7 kids under the age of 5. Good times.

Speaking of good times, some fluffage of the boys. David's new thing is smiling REALLY big. I love it because from the looks of it, he's going to have a great smile. (No thanks to my genes)

Epiphany

Back to the business of parenting.

Ok, I had an epiphany yesterday regarding the speech thing. David has consistently copied everything William does. If William turns his dish upside down, David turns it upside down. If William runs up and touches the dishwasher and I tell him "No!" David immediately runs up and touches the dishwasher. When William started to walk, David started to walk the same day.

I'm now thinking that William may possibly have a speech delay and David is just following his lead. The neurologist who treated William last year with his head injury did say to come back when W. got closer to 2 if there were any speech issues & we would start speech therapy if necessary. I think I am going to talk to the pediatrician about this and make an appt with the neurologist.

Cliff notes version of William situation, for anyone who doesn't know.

(When William was 3 months old, he was accidentally dropped by Steve - it was awful - he had a skull fracture. 3 months later, we discovered fluid in his brain and a CT scan and MRI later, discovered an old subdural hematoma. Long story short, we spent 5 days in the hospital, had about 8 pediatric neurosurgeons & neurologists examine him and none could agree on what had happened but all agreed that he was fine, no intervention was necessary and that the hematoma would resolve on its own. It was probably the darkest few weeks of my life, it was rough.

A follow up MRI last last year revealed that the hematoma had resolved and we were given the all clear. We do have to visit a neurologist once a year to make sure he is developmentally on track, but thus far, he has been.)

Secrets

I did something kind of major today, something I've been wanting to do for some time.

I emailed my cousin and asked if she would give me her mother's email (my aunt, my mother's sister). I've been thinking of my mother a lot lately, as I examine the mother/daughter relationship between Sofia and I. It dawned on me that this woman is the only connection I have to my mom at this point. I'm hoping she can tell me more about my mother's childhood, memories, etc.

Backstory...

My mom came from a prominent Bay Area family...she was schizophrenic and a drug addict (to self medicate, no doubt) and my parents divorced when I was 3 months old. She abused both my brother and I and we were taken away from her on my 3rd birthday. We were wards of the court until I was about 11 (with my grandmother having physical custody) and then my dad received custody, but we stilled live with grandma (sometimes dad moved in for a bit).

I hadn't seen my mother since I was 6 when she moved to Hawaii. She mothered 3 other children who were also taken away from her. They are out there somewhere. She died a few years ago, homeless in a bus station in Hawaii...

Heavy, I know.

I know it sounds harsh, but she was like nothing to me, like a biological mother of an adoptee. I know nothing about her, other than letters (both that she sent to my brother and I as kids and letters we found to my dad after he died) and that she liked to write and was artistic. Her family was pretty f'ed up and basically embaressed by her illness, so that is why they shipped her off to Hawaii. They supported her financially but wanted her far, far away.

My aunt and I have never been close, but I did see her a few years ago and I think this is a positive thing.

Sofia Writes Her Name...Sort of

Must show off Sofia's *mad* writing skills She can now sort of write her name. Typically, she just writes the letter wherever it fits on the page, but this time I encouraged her to write the letters left to right. And uh yeah, that's hers on the bottom, mine on the top.

My little Neandertals

The boys had their 18 mo well visit today. David is a whopping - drumroll, please!...Twenty pounds, twelve ounces. I call this the peanut percentile, made all the more ironic because of his peanut allergy!!

The doctor didn't seem concerned with David being in the peanut percentile, assured me he's following a curve, this doesn't mean he'll always be small, yada yada. Pretty much what I expected. We will continue to offer him healthy options for food, at least 10 times before giving up on any one food. I am ok with that, but something tells me that David will reject broccoli forever, no matter how much butter and cheese I pile on it. Time will tell.

William is about twenty four pounds, so still not a big boy, but closer to average than his bro. It's so funny because he does look like a tank, with his square build, stocky, muscular little legs and of course, the huge *noggin* (which he has fortunately grown in to). Doctor Brock (as Sofia affectionately refers to him) was reassured that the boys are starting to use *some* words as they should have 10-20 at 18 months. The plan is to wait 3 months and see if their speech continues to blossom, explode, etc. If it does, great. If not, then we'll have them evaluated. I'm pretty optimistic about it as after one week, they seem to be learning and expressing more words every day. Most of the words are still right out of the Paleolithic era, but we're making progress.

Just this morning, William said "N-uhhhh Mahhhh" (No, MA!) and as we were walking to the doc office (I was carrying D and was several feet behind Steve carrying William), David pointed to W and said "buuhhdthuh" (brother! - My heart went gooey and oozed all over the sidewalk right there in the middle of a busy San Francisco street) As we left Doctor Brock's office, David waved and also said "buh buh" (bye bye). I beamed.

Muhhh-Buhhhh

So, it's official, we have *some* words. David is saying "Buhhhh" for birds and "Muhhh" for more. It has taken the neighborhood birds, apparently, to bring David to speak. He pitters into the living room, climbs up on the couch and lays his head down on the overstuffed pillows, watching the blackbirds who sit atop the electrical wires. He then points excitedly at the birds, waiting for the next door neighbor to offer them sustenance in the form of dried bread and popcorn all over our adjoining lawns. When they decide to fly down for their free breakfast, he excitedly chants "Muh Buhhhhhh!!!" in his nasally, toddler voice. I have to admit, it's pretty.darned.cute.

*******

I'm still adjusting to having a commute and was finding it challenging having less time at home alone to get things done. Previously, I lived a few blocks from my office. I would shoot home at lunch, throw in laundry, make beds, prepare food, eat lunch at home, you get the picture. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. I have been getting home at sometimes close to 6 p.m. with 3 cranky children waiting anxiously for me, ravenous and nap deprived, always a disastrous combination. By the time I got some macaroni and cheese/chicken nuggets/pasta pickups/pasta with butter/prepared food fill-in-the-blank in their highchair trays, then cleaned up the aftermath, bathed them and got them to bed, it was closing in on 8 p.m. I always need at least a few (3 is ideal) hours to myself in the evening and this was cutting in on that, big time. Me no likey.

I decided to leave 15 minutes earlier in the morning so I can leave at 5 p.m. and be home by 5:30. All I need is 20 minutes to throw on my jammies, get something made for the kids, straighten up, etc. before the onslaught.

So far, so good. It's a work in progress.

The boys have their 18 month well check appointment tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see what their weight are.

Boyz to Men

So with the milestone of 18 months, I decided it was time for the boys' first haircut. I had really grown to love William's curls, but David's hair was looking a bit unkempt.

They did great, all things considered. William required goldfish and a toy to distract him, but still had a constant look of "What the?" for the duration. Overall, David was having no part of it, fussed from beginning to end. I'm not sure if this played a part in the stylist cutting much less off David than William, but I wasn't super happy with the bowl cut she ended up giving him. His hair looks like a cross between the Beatles and James Spader a la Pretty in Pink.

One thing's for sure, they are looking like little men now and I'm none too happy!!

David, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...




I don't like this!!!!!!!!!!!




I'm not sure I like this...


A lock of hair


William looking pensive












He is not impressed



At home with their new 'dos

The 18 Month Old Blues

So, as of Monday, the boys are officially 18 months old. No more babies. *sniff sniff* I realize I have an embaressment of riches in the baby department, but I couldn't help but get a little wistful going in to Babies R' Us this afternoon. As I searched through the Halloween costumes, I realized that pretty soon, I won't have any reason to shop there!! Well, other than the occasional baby shower, I suppose. Woe is me.

As the boys pass out of babyhood and into toddlerhood, life has been getting increasingly more difficult. It's certainly not as dark & insanity inducing as the first few months of the twins' life, but juggling a 3-year old and two 18-month olds is painfully challenging in its own, unique way. Honestly, it's starting to wear on me. I find myself tired, overwhelmed and irritated most of the time and never able to really enjoy any of them. I know this is a phase, but it makes me sad. It's times like these I wish I was staying at home, but I know that things would be just as hard even if I was.

Most of the time, I have dirty dishes, toys strewn about, piles of laundry, a serious ant issue and babies clinging to my leg or dropping to the ground in fits of hysteria from lack of sleep at daycare. This morning was particularly unpleasant with all awaking at 6:30 a.m. wanting me and only me. I am used to having at least an hour to get ready, empty the dishwasher, sweep the kitchen, maybe fold some laundry, prepare breakfast, etc. before they awake. Not this morning!

Ok, [/whining]

On a positive note, the boys are nodding and shaking their head no. They still are pretty lacking in the articulating words department, but they do use expressive language to get their point across. Technically, they do have one word each. For William, it's "bah" for ball and David says "Buh Buh" for bye-bye. They like the B's, these boys, they do.

For all they lack in the speech department, they make up in the climbing / mischeviousness department. Every time I turn my head, they are on top of the kitchen table or the couch or getting into my shoes (William has a fondness for my shoes - something I fully plan on embaressing him with when he's a teenager).

Never a dull moment.

We Have Walkers!