Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sickies

Having twins it seems like whenever one is sick it is impossible to keep the other one away from getting whatever it is. For example, Ben caught the stomach bug that was going around a few weeks ago. (TMI alert - I'm sorry) He was vomiting a lot and then we couldn't keep a clean diaper on him since he had such terrible diarrhea. It was awful! About 3 days in, Daniel started with the diarrhea. He must not be a puker because I remember it being much less violent with the vomiting from Daniel - despite the one day where I had them both puking on me one after the other and almost at the same time.
We finally saw the end of it, after Zofran and pedialyte and a few thousand diapers...and now we are battling a new set of illnesses.

After this long President's Day weekend where we spent it mostly outside in the sunshine of a Mardi Gras parade, Daniel came back like myself, pretty well sun burnt on his little cheeks and forehead. Ben had a little redness in his cheeks that went away (kinda like wind burn)

Ben has been coughing pretty bad at night, waking himself and me up. So I give him the cough medicine he has from the trip to the clinic when I was sure he had pneumonia. But then in the morning there is maybe a short coughing spell and then he is on his way, playing, eating what he wants which is not necessarily what I want him to eat, and generally making mischief as he does.. I am so confused, why they don't present with the same symptoms...What is up with that???

Daniel has been waking up with goop in his eyelids (sometimes gluing them shut) and a stuffy nose for a few days now. He is teething - getting in the 4 or more teeth that are left, simultaneously - and he has been biting other kids at school (despite the oragel they have and the teether I just sent in and the cold milk and juice they keep giving him) so I would also expect some of his inflammation to be from that. But the allergens are also very bad and he is not coughing so I give him some allergy meds and send him on his way.

So today I get a text message from school today that BEN has pink eye (at 3 PM) mind you when he is supposed to be coming home soon anyway. I message back that I am calling the dr and that someone is on the way to get him - both of which are true.

But it kills me - did we move them too soon from their previous daycare situation? It seems like on the one hand they have had a lot of illnesses that they didn't have previously and there are also the issues of the biting. But on the other hand. I expected some of this even though Yael is exposed to a lot of the same germs being at the same school

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

And so I dub thee, etc...

Ben the Bold

Daniel the Daring although that doesn't fit his personality as well as Ben the Bold does.

I guess it could be Daniel the Delightful or Ben the Bodacious or Dainty Daniel and Brazen Ben....I could go on and on, but I'll spare you.
Ben in most definitely into everything. He stands up on chairs, shrieks to test out his voice, etc.

I saw someone on-line calling their 5 year twin daughters twincesses. Does that make my boys twinces?
In Hebrew they are teomim or they have an ach teom. Maybe I can come up with a rhyme for that...

In other news, today is White Tiger's birthday. It feels so stupid to refer to him as that although that is what he is, and he seems to like the nickname.
Which means that the oldest child's birthday is less than 2 weeks away and I haven't thought about what to do for him as far as a present or a party with his friends. I keep telling him that he needs to make the list of who he wants to come to his birthday, but I have yet to see it.
I can remember only one of my own childhood birthday parties...We went to putt-putt golf which was in the neighborhood. But then I really only have a smattering of personal childhood memories anyway. A lot of the others may be antecdotal...

For instance, I tell Jonathan about the time he peed on the wall when the mohel came to see him the first time to verify that he was indeed born with a bris. So I think he doesn't remember that actually happening, but it did and I told him about it. Yael was in need of a similar bathroom story so I told her that she wiped poop on the walls out of her diaper, She latched onto the story and it could have happened since I have brown walls in my bathroom.
Another sadly true bathroom story comes from this latest round of Benjamin being sick, He was throwing up and had diarrhea all at the same time. :( Giving Zofran to your kid is not fun. Diaper blowouts, carpeted living spaces, diaper rash...all in all not a pretty picture. Thankfully we are on the other side of all that now.
And twins who share everything really do share everything, including germs and an instinctive knowledge of when their sibling is not feeling well.



Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Daniel's special songs

So I made up a special song for each of my kids using their name.
Jonathan's is set to Battle Hymn of the Republic, and all the others have simple tunes that are interchangeable. I used it to teach them who they are and what their name is when they are small [and sometimes just because,I think I must have read somewhere that it is important that the child be addressed by their full name often - plus why do we give them names and then not use them?]

For Daniel, I just noticed that he knows how to say love...
I often tell the kids "I love, love love, you." and he has started to repeat it back. It sound more like Luh, luh, luh, but it is super cute!

And then there is the Huggy Buggy Bear song. Another nonsense song that I just made up on the spot one day, that has become a daily staple in the hug department. As I sing it, I rhythmically pat their backs as well so it is a combination of song, swaying to the rhythm and hugging - all high marks in the scary world of a toddler. Daniel will sometimes say "luh" at the appropriate time if you pause in the singing

The huggy buggy bear song goes as follows:
Huggy Buggy Bear
My huggy buggy bear,
I ...(pat back twice) Love ...(tap twice) You ... (tap 3 times)

Huggy Buggy Bear
My huggy buggy bear,
I ...(tap twice) Love You Too ooo... (tap 3 times)

Huggy Buggy Bear
My huggy buggy bear,
I ...(pat back twice) Love ...(tap twice) You ... (tap 3 times)

Huggy Buggy Bear
My huggy buggy bear,
I ...(tap twice) Love You Too, doodle doodle doo... (tap 3 times)

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Twinspeak-toddler version, part II

Night-night=obvious, no? And sometimes they will put their head down on the bed  pretending to sleep.
Light - can refer to the light fixture or the light switch that Ben is climbing on the edge of the couch to reach the switch
Go-gur=Yogurt is their favorite snack followed closely by cheese and grapes. All of these are in my refrigerator at all times in order not to incur the wrath of the toddler dictators that run our house.


Hallo=usually on the telephone, pretend or real or when you first see them
Yummy=includes rubbing the tummy and a huge grin on the face

No
Mine



Friday, February 10, 2012

Twinspeak:

Umma = mommy
Abba = Daddy
Agua = water to wash his hands in the faucet from the sink
Boo-boo = embarassingly this is what Ben calls it when he lifts my shirt to nurse. At this point it is more of a comfort / habit than a nutritional benefit for them, but other than times when I am already tired, I can't see this as a bad thing. I am not ready to drastically change my eating habits and therefore whatever calories are being burned to keep me as a milk machine I am not ready to burn off by exercise. Path of least resistance...

Touchdown = they raise their hands over their heads and it is recognizable as the word they are saying whenever sports are on TV. Amazing! This shot is in mid motion but now they both say it


Ben is actually naturally talented at throwing a ball and he even wants to be lifted to dunk the ball in the basketball hoop outside our garage on occasion.
Is it ingrained on the Y chromosome or something???
Here's a shot of Daniel at school.



There are obviously more that I can't think of at the moment but I will add them as I do. Feel free to remind me of more of them in the comments if you wish.

It pains me a bit that the twins don't have a recognizeable name (to me) for their siblings yet. Not Yoni, not Yael, and not their other twin or themself. They are not really communicating solely with each other with a twin languauge as far as I can tell either. There have been a few instances of catching them babbling to each other but it has been inconsistent and not repeatable at recognizable intervals.

Daniel will however, take good care of his younger brother. This pic was taken a day before Ben got really sick with a stomach bug. Daniel woke up a bit early and cuddled with him on his cot at naptime. I'm not sure if Ben would reciprocate if the tables were turned or would be busy with his own agenda.