Inspiration

Today is my husband's birthday and to celebrate we took the kids to the new California Academy of Sciences Museum in San Francisco. It was great, though it was also a complete madhouse. Anyway, as we wound our way around the aquarium, we passed a woman helping her young daughter navigate through the crowds in her reverse walker. I couldn't help myself, I stared.

I have never seen a kid in a walker out in public. Never. I don't know why. I just haven't. And since having Drake, I've thought about it a lot. Why haven't I seen a parent with a child in a walker at the grocery store? At the park? Walking around the neighborhood? I've really started to question it. Because I know when Drake gets his walker, he is going to be taking it to the park, the grocery store, and on walks down our street. Because that is where I am going to be and where Lucy will be, too.

I have read posts from other parents who talk about the hard work of getting a kid in and out of a walker, of carrying the walker AND the kid, of the emotional drain of other people's stares and questions. I wonder if these things have made the parents of children with special needs in my neighborhood stay home.

But today, seeing that mother carve a path through the crowds so her child could walk up to see the fish made my day. And she didn't even seem too worse for wear for it either!

Lucy walks!

Making great strides

We had a great appointment with Drake's developmental pediatrician today. She saw him for his 15-month (adjusted) check-up. Most kids go every 6 months, but at his 12-month appointment, she asked to see him again in 3 months. He has progressed a lot in the past 3 months as I have mentioned before. It seems to me that at about 12-months, something clicked and he started to do a lot more. The doctor noticed this, too, and was so pleased with all the things he is doing.

First off, she said his tone was great, so relaxed in the legs, hips, and ankles. She didn't see any reason why he would need AFOs at this point since he has such good range of motion in the ankles and she is confident he will quad crawl in the next 6 months or so (!) and doesn't want his feet to be braced when he crawls. My heart squeezed hearing this. He is making attempts to crawl now (when he is on his stomach he kicks his legs like he is crawling, but without them being under him), but it's hard to imagine him actually crawling.

She loved his sitting and that he can transition from sitting to quad to rolling. He did great on all the cognitive games, too, looking for the duck under a blanket, playing peek a boo, pulling the string to get the ring, clapping on command, and mimicking me when I said "Uh oh" (his favorite thing to mimic). She is going to put in a request for speech therapy now, even though our state's program usually makes you wait until 18 months, because he is doing so well verbally.

AND she doesn't want to see us again for 10 months! YAY! I am so proud of Drake and my family for all the hard work.

Tired

Whew! It's Friday again and I am completely gassed! It's only been two weeks of being back to work and I feel like it's been two decades! I am giving huge props to all the mothers out there who also work full-time. I feel so blessed to have a nanny that comes to our house at 8 am each day. I hand off the twins to shower and get ready for work while she feeds them breakfast and gets them dressed. I can't even imagine trying to get everyone dressed, fed, and out the door by 8 to get to daycare.

I think I am especially tired since night-time sleep has been a challenge recently. I have always bragged (maybe too much, as payback is a bitch) about how sleep is the twins' superpower. They both started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks old. And by sleeping through the night, I mean 12 hours -- 6:30 to 6:30. It's been fabulous. However, the past month or so, someone has been waking up crying at various times during the night. The crying is usually brief, but it wakes me up and then I can't go back to sleep. I have been letting them cry, even when it goes on for 15 minutes or more, because what am I going to do? I am certainly not going to get them up to play. I check to make sure they are not sick, wet, or stuck, and if all 3 check out, I go back to bed and put a pillow over my head.

They are getting their 1-year molars. Lucy has all 4 in and Drake is cutting his last one on the bottom. I think that may be why they are waking up. They also seem like they are ready to go from 2 naps to 1. They aren't really napping during their morning nap anymore. So I think they may be over-tired, too. We have just started moving the morning nap 15 minutes later each day, trying to get them to ease into a single early afternoon nap. We'll see how that goes.

But, otherwise, the kids seem to be adjusting to me being gone all day just fine. I don't know whether to feel happy or sad about that! My sister brought them downtown today to meet me for lunch. That was fun and a treat to see them in the middle of the day. We are going to try to do that once a week.

TGIF

Not really sure what to post about, but lots on my mind. I started my new job on Monday. I am completely wiped out from my first week of full-time work. I have been shaking the dust bunnies out of my brain. But, it's been good. I enjoy the people, the work, and the challenge.

The twins have been home with Auntie Hil all week. She has been taking to take Drake to CCS and his other PT/OT appointments. They will be with her 5 days a week for the next 2 weeks, then Hil's classes start and she drops back down to 3 days a week. We just hired a new nanny for the 2 days that Hil has classes. I think we got lucky. I went to Craigslist, found someone who seemed good, interviewed her, and subsequently hired her. She is a young, hippie-type woman, who brings love and organic cooking. Of course, organic cooking isn't a requirement of mine, but why not?! She is also a certified pre-school teacher, has training in massage, and is interested in alternative wellness and therapies. She is very keen on working with Drake and I think she will do even more with him than we do, as she is fresh blood!

Drake just found his mode of mobility last month; rolling! He rolls like crazy now, all over the house. It feels like we worked on rolling for an eternity. First to get him to roll front to back, then back to front, then to link rolls like he does now. He uses his legs to initiate his rolls, which his PT likes. He pulls them up, then moves them to the side. He doesn't use extension to roll, which I have been told can sometimes pose later problems.

At the same time, Drake seems to have plateaued in some areas after a huge progress spurt. He doesn't want to sit anymore, all he wants to do is stretch forward out of sitting and roll! His PT thinks he is just so excited to have found a way to get around, that sitting isn't his priority right now. That makes sense to me, but we are still trying to get him to stay in sitting to strengthen his back, etc. It's hard to do that right now!

Lucy is soooo close to walking! She will let go of furniture for a couple seconds and stand there. Then she realizes she is standing and freaks out and falls. She will take one or two steps unassisted if you hold your arms out to her. I can't believe my little peanut girl is about to walk! I sense a whole new set of challenges coming my way!

Socks suck!

Things have been crazy over here in Oakland. I got offered a full-time job right before the holidays and am starting it tomorrow! I have been searching for the word to explain how I feel. I don't think there is just one. I am excited. I am conflicted. I am heart-broken. I am worried.

I have been home with the twins full-time since July. I will miss them terribly. I was looking at a calendar and counting the days per month I will be with them. 8! Maybe 10 if there are 4 weekends in a month. That is like a third of a year! I am consoled by the fact that they will be with their amazing Auntie Hil 3 days a week. I am in the process of interviewing for another nanny 2 days a week. And I have put them on a wait-list for daycare (a fabulous daycare that takes special needs and typically developing children) because I am thinking of starting them in daycare in June. There are crazy changes ahead, people!

Speaking of crazy changes, Drake has been progressing so well the past 2 months. Tomorrow he is 14 months corrected age. It seems like right around his 1 year birthday, things really started to click for him. First off, he is so much more verbal. He is very involved in oral play, making sounds and blowing raspberries, playing with inflection, etc. There are times I can't tell which twin is "talking" anymore, they are so similar in their range and frequency of babbling.

He has also finally found his feet! I have been using a game I have coined "Socks Suck!" (though I don't call it that to him) to get him to lift his legs to grab his feet and take off his socks. He loves it and is so pleased when he gets a sock off. He claps for himself, as evidenced in this video.

This video was taken a couple weeks ago. Now he barely keeps his socks on, grabs his bare feet and tries to nibble his toes.