More Communications

Two days ago, I saw Ella give me a new sign. When she wants us to give her something, she points to her hand. So she holds one hand open, palm up, then takes her other index finger and taps her palm. She did it to me when she wanted my Nintendo DS and then later when she wanted our water markers.

Also, Emily started shaking her head when she means No. Previously, she only turned her head to the side. Now she does a combination of the two.

We're still progressing with getting them to sleep in their own beds. The night before last, they went down about 9:30 pm and Emily woke up at 4:00 am. Ella didn't wake up until after 6:00. They both went back to sleep, at least until about 6:45 am. Then last night, they went to sleep around 8:30 pm. Again, Emily woke up first, but not until 6:15 am and Ella didn't wake up until about 6:35 am. It's been working out very well!

More Planting and Other Updates

We planted all weekend, Sarah, Sherri, the twins, and I. Even though it is hard work, this is definitely the most excited I've ever been about plants. The girls had the most fun today, I think. They got to swing around in mama's and grandma's arms, played in the dirt, and got soaked by the hose.



Also, both girls have some molars popping through. And we're transitioning them from using signs into talking more. They vocalize a LOT, but they don't say a lot of words. So, starting yesterday, we're officially phasing out the signs and encouraging them to speak. They seem to have a good grasp of dog, Dada, Papa, Mama, and other sounds that could be words soon.

Some More Firsts

I think I'm ready to say that work should officially be a bit less hectic for me next week and my goal is three new posts a week.

This week, we had a couple more firsts. Ella has been using the sign for fish. We don't know how she learned it. I mean, we assume someone taught her as opposed to her just picking it up from seeing how fish swim. In any case, when she sees a fish in a book, she makes the sign. FYI, for anyone interested, this is the website Sarah and I visit when we want to learn a sign. http://commtechlab.msu.edu/SITES/ASLWEB/browser.htm

The other first was today - I swear Emily is saying "daddy" and "hi daddy." They sign so much now, which is AWESOME, so it's been a while since I've really heard a true new word sound from them. I'm going to try and list all the signs they know (go to the above website if you want to see some of them):
Mother
Father
Water
Milk
Eat
Apple
Banana
More
Please
Thank you
You're welcome
Hat
Change
Cat
Dog
Fish
Shh (as in be quiet)
Bed (we use this for going to sleep)

They know a ton of words, because they can understand when we say, "Take your sock to papa" or "Get a book, we'll read" or "Put the toy in the box." It's sooo cool.

Alright, that's it for tonight. Take care everyone.

Quick Update

Yesterday we went to the Sacramento Zoo. I will upload some pictures later.

Emily and Ella know so many signs, it's just amazing. It blows my mind seeing them learn and grow. This weekend I did something, I think I used my foot to press something down. One of the twins copied me. It happened so fast, it actually startled me, like "Oh man, if they copied me doing that, I am going to have to watch what I do more carefully from now on." :)

Some updates and lots of pictures

Work's been busy, which is why the posts aren't very frequent.

This is totally off topic, but it is related to kids. A friend of mine is adopting two sisters in the Ukraine. Their names are Tanya and Alonya. You can checkout their blog at http://jobthedog.blogspot.com/. Right now is a good time to read it because they are in the Ukraine now. They started this more than two years ago and are literally days away from finishing.

So the last several days we've been having success setting the girls in their cribs and, as long as one of us stays in the room, they usually fall asleep in 15 minutes. I find that I like this method, as long as I have my laptop or DS to entertain me while I sit in the glider. About 10-14 days ago, I saw Ella and Emily "twirling" while they dance. I think Sarah said she taught them. It was neat to see.

Today, I think Emily might have said "dog", but not really sure. We're teaching them a lot of new signs, and they are so quick to learn. We taught them "bird" recently, and "you're welcome." They know tons of signs, and use most of them correctly. Milk, water, eat, more, please, thank you, hat, bird, dog, cat, etc.

Now for some pictures.
Ella

Emily with her new hat


Emily is a ham, alright.


Time to put the girls in their boxes for a nap. :)




Ella on the piano


They love those purple plastic boxes



Not quite settled down enough to go to sleep. Something is funny.

The Mind at Work

Quick update. This morning, Ella and I were in the front room (Emily was still asleep). Ella wanted to play with my slipper, so I took it off my right foot. She eventually slid it over to the front entryway. After a while, she came back and was looking at my bare foot. I started motioning to my bare foot, then to my left foot, which still had the slipper on it. I said, "slipper." After repeating that a few times, I pointed to the other slipper across the room and said, "Where's my slipper?" Finally, I asked her to get my slipper. I think I only had to say it once, maybe twice. She turned around, crawled directly to the slipper, and brought it right back to me and then handed it to me. Oh, man, that was so cool! I'm sure they've been able to put meaning to words for a long time, in fact I know it because of the sign language. But this is the first time that I've seen either of them pick up on something so quickly and act on a command. It's like I was watching her mind working. Love it!!

Now here's a random picture of the twins:

Ella fell asleep in her highchair after having dinner on on June 4th.

Another FIRST Today

We had another first this morning. Sarah was in the nursery with the girls and Ella grabbed a diaper, crawled over to Sarah, and made the sign for "change." And what is most amazing about that is she actually did have a dirty diaper. In the past, both girls have made the sign for change, but this is the first clear instance where we could tell Ella knew what it meant. And the fact that she grabbed a diaper first, and brought it to Sarah is just wonderful! Very exciting.

On another note, last night we went to Auburn Family Night Out in downtown/old town. We had a lot of fun and I'll write more later. Sarah's grocery shopping and I'm watching the twins.

FIRST WALK!!

Well, we have another major milestone. Ella took a first one or two steps on her own last night, and Emily did it today. Now, when I say "on her own," I mean that Sarah and I were basically surrounding them with our arms, encouraging them, etc. We held their hands to start them walking, and then as we got near the couch or the chair, or the other parent, we'd let go. Most of the time, they either stopped moving their feet and leaned forward, or they just sat right down, but at least once they both took steps on their own!

Also today, almost as exciting, Sarah and I were watching "Walk the Line" - the Johnny Cash bio pic - and we danced with both girls to some of the music. And then at one point, I started snapping to the music, and Ella imitated the motion that my arm made every time I snapped. It was fantastic. First time I've snapped around her, and she displayed it back right away! I'm loving this whole fatherhood thing. What a good weekend!

Swim Lessons, Week 2

The girls finished their second week, and are doing GREAT! The instructor has commented multiple times how great the girls are doing. She said their attitudes are great - they rarely complain. They are great about going full underwater, too. She said they are really advanced for their age.

In fact, this week the instructor had us let go of our babies underwater as we pushed them towards her. So she would stand a few feet away from the parents and we'd give the babies the signal to go underwater (for me, I say, "Okay Ella, ready? Blow!" or sometimes, "1... 2... 3...") and then we push the baby towards the instructor and let go with about a foot of space left for the baby to travel. It was pretty nerve-wracking for Sarah the first time, but both girls were wonderful!

Now at bath time (we bathe them in our full-size bath), we practice things like running water over their heads so they get used to holding their breath. One of the funniest things happened just a couple days ago. We were bathing them when all of the sudden, Emily stuck her face in the water. Sarah and I both looked at each other, pretty stunned, and then looked at Emily (who was looking at us for approval) and we clapped and told her what a good girl she was. Well, that started a frenzy of "dunking." Emily did it again, and again, then Ella joined in. Then Ella started drinking the bath water (we're discouraging that), and now each day since the girls like to dunk their faces in the water. They will just be sitting in the water, and then lean forward until their whole face is under, and usually stop right before their ears touch. Usually, they pop right back up within a second or less. But last night, Emily did it for more than a second on a couple occasions. Now I know a second doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're the parent and you're used to seeing your baby pop right up, you notice a one second difference. It was a bit disconcerting when she didn't pop back up, but when she did, we clapped and smiled. I think Emily did the longer dunk once or twice more, and Ella did it I think once.

It is so fascinating watching them learn and do things. Just a day or two ago, I showed one of them, I think Emily, a new sign that I'd never showed her before (I don't remember it now), and she did it back to me immediately. That is when I realized two things:
1) I can actually see their mind working, and it's a wonderful thing.
2) I better enjoy this while I can 'cause pretty soon, I'll have two mirrors walking around, imitating what I do and what I say. Yikes!!