Although two-year-olds can be quite frustrating as they are establishing their independence and they are often resistant to doing things that we want them to do, they are also a lot of fun since they can actually play outside and express enjoyment in activities. This summer we have spent a lot of time playing in water, either at our house, at a pool, at a splash park, or just in puddles that the kids find when we are out and about, we have gone to numerous parks, and we have made several trips to the botanic garden in ABQ. I think all of these activities will be even easier next summer when the kids are three-years-old as this summer there was a steep learning curve when it came to teaching the kids safety (like that they can't run through a parking lot, walk off the ledge of a play structure at a park, or jump into a swimming pool without floaties on). But the steep learning curve was worth it as the kids absolutely love getting out and doing things, and getting out of the house is pretty much the only way I can guarantee that all three will take an afternoon nap.
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| Happy Jack in the backyard |
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| Faith and Lexi on the slide |
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| Faith on our counter top. This is not allowed at our house but I had to take a quick pic before putting her in time out as she was so smug. |
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| Pretty much anything that involves water makes our kids happy. |
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| The girls LOVE their stuffed animals that they sleep with every night and every nap. Lexi currently has four and Faith has three. Jack sleeps with two things but he doesn't have to carry them around the house like the girls do. |
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| Unfortunately the blood draws have continued for Jack and he's been getting them every 10-14 days. So far he hasn't needed any additional treatment, but he has been close as his platelets have been as low as 76 (normal is 150-400) and the doctor said if they went lower before our trip to MI he would need to be treated. We are praying that his numbers go up and that he gets over this ITP quickly as it has put a little damper on our summer and it's no fun taking him to get his blood drawn so often. He doesn't seem to mind that much, though, as he gets to watch "Cars" every time we go to the hospital. |
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| Jack did really well on the slack line in our backyard, so we'll have to put it up more often. |
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| Some days it feels like there is nonstop crying all day... (Lexi) |
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| More crying...(Faith) |
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| Our kids love to do things by themselves! |
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| Faith got a nasty bite mark on her cheek from Alexis. One minute the kids are playing well and having fun, and the next minute they are literally attacking each other so we can't walk away or take our eyes off of them for very long. |
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| They love to do the same activity, which is part of the reason we have to break up so many fights. I wish there was a way for us to separate them so that they couldn't bother each other, but then again they have so much fun playing together. |
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| We haven't given the kids much practice with spoons since it is so messy, but as they get older it is harder and harder for us to control these situations since they want to be independent. Jack realized his yogurt got a little out of control one morning. |
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| Our kids LOVE to run, which makes going to a park alone with them a little scary for me, but luckily I can run too! |
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| Faith sees Daddy eating cereal many mornings and therefore she loves to eat it herself. She also finishes off the milk like Daddy. |
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| Jack and Alexis love to swing on the bar before going down the big twisty slide at our park. It terrifies me a little, but Micah assures me that they know what they are doing! |
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| Jack literally said, "Bye Mommy" and waved before he headed down the slide |
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| Lexi swinging on the bar |
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| Lexi headed down the twisty slide at our neighborhood park |
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| We visited this spray park a couple of times this summer and I'm sure we'll be there a lot more next summer |
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| Lexi being cute. Some days the cute moments outweigh the frustrations :) |
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| Now that the gate is blocking most of the stairs (instead of blocking off the living room and the entire staircase), the kids can often be found laying on the stairs...and then rolling onto each other and getting frustrated |
Besides progressing in their gross motor skills from playing at parks and running around outside, the kids have also done the following this summer:
- They walked into places such as Target and the YMCA using their hold-on handles. We also let the kids walk freely around the grocery store and Costco when Micah and I were both there. For the most part I don't trust them not to run away in a parking lot so I put them in the wagon or a cart, but I'm hopeful that in the future they will understand that they need to stay close to me so we can just hold hands or use the handles more.
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| Alexis and Faith practicing holding hands at home |
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| Walking through Costco, although this only last 30 seconds and then both girls refused to hold anyone's hand. Luckily it wasn't that busy in the store. |
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| This last about 5 seconds, but at least we had three adults to keep the kids safe on the way to the park. |
- The kids are getting pretty good with their Puddle Jumpers in the pool. A couple of times I took them to the pool individually and left the others with a babysitter or Child Watch at the Y so that I could focus on one child at a time. I hope to do more one-on-one activities this fall as it was a lot of fun for me to get to know each of them a little better without their siblings around.
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| Swimming at the Y with Grammy |
- Jack loves to hand out everyone's shoes when we say that we are going somewhere. Although he can open doors, for the most part he really doesn't do it unless a door needs to be opened, such as the mudroom door when we are leaving the house or his bedroom door at night. The girls rely on Jack to open doors as they haven't figured it out for themselves yet, which is funny as they are a few inches taller than him so the handles would be easier to reach.
- The girls no longer use Sleep Sacks as they were taking them off every time we laid them down for a nap or at night. They now each sleep with a blanket and we just go in their rooms to put the blankets on them again before we go to sleep.
- The girls are often resistant to diaper changes so I have to give them options such as whether they want their diaper changed on the couch or in the circus tent. This makes them feel like they have control over the situation and it usually works!
- Alexis has been resistant when it comes to getting dressed or getting in her car seat, and there have been several times that I have said, "Okay, I guess we'll leave the house without you." Once I shut the door and leave her in the house alone she is usually pretty quick to decide she wants to cooperate and join us. I can't believe I've had to use this tactic at such a young age, but she is a very strong-willed child.
- The kids had their annual evaluation from the Early Intervention therapists, since we get services through the state of NM because they were premature, and the only area there was a slight delay between the three of them was the way Alexis holds a crayon. Other than that they came in at or above their age range of 24-30 months. In Social and Cognitive they were evaluated as having skills of a 30-36 month olds. This is unbelievable as a year ago they were slightly delayed in a couple of areas and very delayed in speech for their adjusted age (this year they did not adjust their age). It is such a relief that they have caught up to their peers developmentally. I felt like they grew up so much in the past year, but the evaluation was concrete proof that my observation was true! Some things they are working on now are:
- Counting: They can all count to 10 most of the time, although they often skip 5. I've heard Alexis count to 20 a couple of times.
- Singing: This melts my heart. They love to sing the ABC's, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, Row Row Row Your Boat, and they'll try to sing to many more. Jack especially takes on the "fake it till you make it attitude" as he'll attempt to sing to almost any kid song that we play while riding in the car or while watching a sing along show, which is absolutely adorable!
- Steps: They are all fairly proficient at steps, especially when there are only a few to walk up and down. We need to work on our staircase at home with them more, mostly so we feel confident they can do it without toppling down the stairs, but they are all really close.
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| If there are steps, they will climb them. |
- Talking: They will all pretty much repeat any word we ask them to say. Faith seems to add syllables to words which is really cute for now so we haven't spent time correcting her, and I'm sure she'll grow out of it (like: mo-cy-cycle (motorcycle),TATE-a-mato (tomato)). They are also working on phrases such as:
- The girls say, "Thank you" and "You're welcome," although they often say both things at once as they don't understand that the other person should say "You're welcome"
- Faith loves to say, "No, I don't want to," and the second part comes out as one word
- Alexis will randomly say, "Hi (name), how are you?"
- Alexis often says "excuse me" if someone or something is in her way
- Jack loves to repeat words we say when we are having a conversation with someone, as if he just wants to practice a variety of words
- They also say other phrases such as, "Swim in the pool," "Where'd it go?," "I'm bouncing," and many others that I can't remember because their language seems to be exploding!
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