May '09 - It's August! - Page 3

[kriket]

Originally Posted by Novus

I've been wondering lately how much of our speech he understands. Of course, he understands things like "Do you want to eat?" or "Are you ready to go night-night?" but lately, he's been responding to things that I figured were way outside of his comprehension. A lot of times, when DH and I are talking to each other, Luke will say or do something that just makes me wonder whether he actually understood what we were saying. (I wish I could think of a concrete example right now!)

I swear they do! I was reading a magazine to Sirius the other day. He just wanted to sit on my lap, so I figured I could read out loud. There was some mention of a porta-potty and when I read over it he started signing "potty" and "shhhh"-ing I thought it was to cute!

He doesn't say much, just a few words that all kind of sound the same. I can't wait until he starts talking

[Kelly1101]

Originally Posted by Novus

I've been wondering lately how much of our speech he understands. Of course, he understands things like "Do you want to eat?" or "Are you ready to go night-night?" but lately, he's been responding to things that I figured were way outside of his comprehension. A lot of times, when DH and I are talking to each other, Luke will say or do something that just makes me wonder whether he actually understood what we were saying. (I wish I could think of a concrete example right now!)

I definitely have this feeling all the time. Sometimes I'll try her out on stuff to see how she responds. It's even weirder I think because she doesn't talk, but at this point she'll indicate or respond to things that I haven't actually taught her, that I guess she picks up on her own.

[Comtessa]

Originally Posted by Kelly1101

...she doesn't talk, but at this point she'll indicate or respond to things that I haven't actually taught her, that I guess she picks up on her own.

Olive does this too! Lately she's taken to hauling cloth napkins around the house. When I ask her, "what do you do with that napkin?" she'll wipe her mouth and hands with it. I'm sure I never taught her that; she just watches us use them at every meal! She'll head for her chair when I ask "Are you hungry?" Or if I even mention food. And if I say "potty" she'll pull at her diaper and head for the bathroom. We've had to start spelling the words "cookie," "ice cream," "playground," "walk," "stroller," "outside," and "bicycle," because if we SAY them and don't DO them she will pitch an astonishing temper tantrum. She understands a LOT! It's spooky!

She's also become obsessed with what we're wearing. The shoe thing I already talked about (I'm glad we're not the only ones!), but now it's other stuff, too. Socks, for one thing. And she points at our eyes when we aren't wearing our glasses and goes looking for them. And this morning, when I was getting dressed, she went and found my bra and handed it to me to put on. My little fashionista!

She's only saying a few words, but yesterday she added a new one. A motorcycle went by the house and she looked up, pointed out the window, and said, "Voom voom!" She was terrifically proud of herself. I suppose that isn't technically a new word, but I'll take it.

As for the middle-of-the-night toddler parties, I hadn't thought about using gripe water, but that might have helped last night. She was arching her back and flopping around and whining in discomfort for a couple of hours - but earlier, like 12 - 2 am. I finally got up and checked her diaper -- sure enough, she was struggling to poop that whole time (and then probably whining 'cause her diaper was dirty). Once I changed her and brought her back to bed, she slept the rest of the night (bliss!). I don't know how much gripe water can help, though. What does it do? Anything? I've considered using Tylenol for what appears to be teething pain, but again, I don't really want to give her medicine if I don't know what's wrong.

We're trying to figure out how to get her sleeping in her own bed at night, and sleeping through the night. I think it's possible, by now, but I'm not sure how to go about encouraging it. I'm comfortable night-weaning her now, but I'm not looking forward to it. DH wants to get her into her own bed first, then night-wean, but I think that we're not going to get her into her own bed until we night-wean, because if she's in her own bed first, she'll still be getting up in the middle of the night wanting to nurse, and then I'll get less sleep because I'm then going to be up for an hour nursing her, then convincing her to go back to sleep in her own bed. I explained this to DH and he didn't seem to see why that was a problem. (Probably because if I'm doing all this in her room, it means he gets more sleep.) I don't know what to do! But he is really getting tired of toddler-in-the-bed, and he's getting cranky about it. We have to do something.

[Kelly1101]

Comtessa-- yep, that's the kind of stuff Em does. And I'm ROTFL at your mention of the napkins, because Em has this weird thing with her cloth diapers-- she'll go to the clean stack of prefolds on the changing table shelf, and take them-- one at a time-- into the kitchen, then lay them out on the floor. If they are at all folded over, she'll pick them up and do it again to make sure they are flat. Then she'll go get another. I have no idea what is up with that, but it's kind of hilarious how focused she is in completely covering the kitchen floor with prefolds. Very ritualized.

Em is also way into clothes-- if you say an item like "pants" she'll go to every person in the room and touch their pants leg, then point to her own pants, etc. If I have a basket of clean laundry sitting on the floor, she'll find one of her shirts and bring it over to me wanting me to change her shirt and put the new one on. I have to hide her shoes or she wants me to take them off and put them on over and over and over again. And WHAT is up with bracelets? I am not a jewelry person, the only jewelry I wear EVER is my wedding rings. But my mom and my sister both wear some rings and some bracelets. I guess she got it from them, but ANYTHING she can put on her wrist is a bracelet and she is obsessed. Like those little link-able rings? She's all about putting those on her arms. She found some old shower-curtain rings that I had laying out while I was changing the bathroom around, and totally confiscated those to be bracelets. If she sees someone wearing a bracelet she just attacks and tries to take it from them and put it on. It's so weird.

Em is night-weaned and sleeping through the night well, 7 pm - 6 am, but not in her own bed yet-- which is making me panic because she is too light a sleeper to have her in the bed when the new baby comes. We'd been trying to get her in her bed, with no luck, when it dawned on me that it is too hot in there. We only have two A/C units, one in the living room and one in the bed room, and even with a fan blowing in the kids room it is noticably warmer. So I don't know what to do, maybe just wait a few weeks for summer to be over.


Looking forward to a new arrival pretty soon... hanging out right now at 2 cm, very effaced, at only 35+5 (but baby still kind of high, not engaged)... but since Em was a 36-weeker I didn't really expect to go overdue with this one either... supposedly I could go into labor at any time now, but it would be nice to have another 2-3 weeks to finish my to-do list.

[Novus]

Kelly--Wow, I can't believe how close you are! I hope he stays in there for a couple more weeks for you though so you can do what you need to!

The clothes thing must be a phase right now because Luke is obsessed with what he wears. DH is usually the one who dresses him in the morning and every day, he asks Luke what he wants to wear & Luke will tell him what he wants on his shirt. Usually, he says "Croca" for crocodile, but sometimes, it's dog or fish. Luckily, he has lots of outfits with crocodiles, dogs, and fish on them, but the other day, he was absolutely certain he wanted a shirt with a flower That took some searching!

[lil_miss_understood]

Was just looking for you all. haven't read only skimmed
M has cut a molar and is working on his second.
Kelly hold on a couple weeks baby!!
We put ds2 in a toddler bed (converted crib tbh) when M came. I spent the first month or 2 on the couch, with ds3 sleeping on me and ds2 slept in the bed with dh then he got transitioned to his bed.. he still crawls into our bed in the morning and wakes ds3

eta: they totally understand more than they're given credit for
ds3 is climbing now- knows how to follow simple commands (get the ball, bring the ball to me, get down! ) but chooses to pretend he doesn't sometimes

[~Katie~]

Super excited for you, Kelly!

I have two sick little ones today. DH brought home something from work on Friday. They started sounding stuffy last night and both were running a fever overnight, I gave them Motrin and Laine proceeded to sweat all over me until her fever broke and she finally fell asleep around 3. She's currently snoozing in my arms in the recliner and Liam is laying on the couch. I feel a little stuffy and drained so I don't think it's hitting me as hard, DH started feeling better yesterday.

Today is our wedding anniversary. I don't think we're going to do much, maybe order pick-up from Olive Garden. We have another military ball on Friday to go to, my MIL is flying down to watch the kids so I guess that will be our anniversary "date".

[j_p_i]

Katie - happy anniversary! Sorry you are all sick, what a bummer. Hopefully it'll pass quickly!

Kelly - how exciting, can't wait to hear your news!

Olivia understands A LOT as well. It's actually pretty amazing. She knows simple commands but the most recent (and cutest one!) has been when I say "I love you, Olivia" she gives me a kiss back!

We're still struggling a little in the sleep department. It's a bit better the past couple days, but her schedule is all over the place. I'm just trying to roll with it, hoping those teeth will come in soon. I'm beginning to feel teeth poked through in all four spots, but they seem a little forward for molars? Could it be eye-teeth before molars? If so... we probably have a while to go

[cheryllynn]

Hi All -

Comtessa - Gripe water is for colic, teething and restless babies. This link is what I buy and has a great description: http://www.walgreens.com/store/catal...sku=sku3908202

And homeopathics for teething:
http://www.hylands.com/products/teething.php

I would stay away from any tylenol as it is hard on the liver.

I do believe that our babies understand a LOT more. My favorite still is when we suspect Olivia has something in her mouth all we have to do is put our hand by her chin and say Spit It Out, and if she has something it gets spit into our hand.

Her interpretation of 'Olivia come here' means turn around and run away from mommy as fast as she can.

Although when she was by the BBQ last night, both dh and I said in very stern voices Come Here and she did turn away from the grill and pranced back to the deck. Prance is a good term. She is so light on her feet she seems to skip across the ground like a stone across water.

We're heading to the state fair tomorrow and looking forward to seeing how she does there.

Kelly - Good luck ! Looking forward to hearing about the new baby.

Time is going by fast. In just a few days our group will start saying 16 months old.

[Peppermint Poppies]

Goodness, I only just found this thread and it's the last day of August! Darcy has been keeping me busy for the last 3 months with a super fussy, super clingy phase that she *touch wood* just about seems to be coming out of. I'm seeing signs of my happy little soul coming back.

BREAKING NEWS: Darcy started walking a few days ago!!!!! Better late than never
She's not talking yet at all, except for Dada, but hopefully that will come soon also. Her big brother is a non-stop talker, so she doesn't get much of a chance to squeeze a word in while he's around.

She is also obsessed with shoes! Putting shoes on is the very first thing that has to happen after she wakes up in the morning, followed very closely by her morning nursing session (at least 2 times each side, sometimes 3). If she's in the middle of a tantrum and I say "Where's your shoes" she'll immediately stop tantrumming and start giggling and looking around for them. Socks are pretty funny too

[major_mama11]

Hi everyone! I haven't gone looking for this thread in months; the summer has flown by for us.

I had to laugh at some of your descriptions of what your babes are up to, because they sound so much like the things Jake is doing. Like the ritualized laying out of the diapers; DS does a similar thing, only he is obsessed with STACKING everything.

DS is still not very verbal at all. He says mama, dada, da (that), nana (nurse) bababa (dog) meowmeow (cat), voom voom voom (car). Waves bye bye. That's about it really. He occasionally repeats words, but not often. DD was very verbal and was speaking in short phrases by this age, so it throws me for a loop sometimes. But his actions make it clear that he understands and is listening to everything we say. Like if we're visiting someone, and in passing I say to the person, "Well, I think we're going to hit the road soon," he will RUN to the door and grab his shoes. Cracks me up! I think part of it is picking up on my tone of voice to know that we're about to leave.

Mostly he is into pointing to communicate- points to the fridge and then to exactly what he wants, hands me his cup when he needs a refill, brings me a book to read, etc.

DS has actually slept through the night several times lately- yay! Last month sleep was horrible, as he was getting 4 canine teeth at the same time.

ETA: Mostly it's climbing and tantrums around here- those are the two big issues lately! Can't leave him alone for half a minute!

Good luck Kelly, with your very soon new little one!

[Comtessa]

Originally Posted by major_mama11

DS is still not very verbal at all. He says mama, dada, da (that), nana (nurse) bababa (dog) meowmeow (cat), voom voom voom (car). Waves bye bye. That's about it really. He occasionally repeats words, but not often. ...Mostly he is into pointing to communicate- points to the fridge and then to exactly what he wants, hands me his cup when he needs a refill, brings me a book to read, etc.

Olive is doing the same thing! She has very few words, too, but I know she understands everything, so I don't worry too much about her. Mom says she'll break into sentences without any warning some day soon.

We have big news in our world this week too: Here we go again...!!! (Not quite so soon as Kelly, but a bit sooner than we were expecting!!)

[~Katie~]

Kelly is a Mama X 2!!!!!

[Novus]

Congrats to Kelly!!!

And congrats to Comtessa, too!!! We've got a lot of good news on this thread today

And Peppermint, Yay for Darcy walking!

I can't believe it's the last day of August already. It was two years ago on this day that I got my BFP with Luke...how could it already be that long ago?!

I've spent the past 2 days tallying his words because I was curious and could never get an accurate count because I kept forgetting some of them. I wrote them all down so that I could put them in his baby book, too and it turns out he has 97. Yikes! We're at the point now, though, that I don't always understand him right away because so many of his words are mispronounced or shortened and I have to go through the whole mental list to figure out what he's trying to say. I'm starting to just enthusiastically say "Uh-huh!" when he points something out if I don't understand what he's saying.

Unfortunately, he's been having some tummy trouble for the past week-and-a-half and we can't figure out what it is. I'm inclined to think it's a food intolerance of some kind, but the only thing he's ever reacted to this way was cow's milk and he hasn't had any of that recently. We haven't introduced anything new to his diet, either, so I'm not sure what it could be.

We're going camping this weekend with DH's family--it'll be the first time for me and for Luke! I'm a bit nervous about it, but excited too.

[Peppermint Poppies]

Congratulations Kelly!!!!! Awesome news. Enjoy those lovely new baby snuggles and long nursing sessions.

Comtessa - congratulations to you too!! Olive will be pleased to have a little sister or brother to play with in 9 months time

Novus - have fun camping. We love camping too, but haven't tried since DS was born (he's nearly 3 and a half now). I'd love to hear how it goes for you. Where is Luke sleeping while you're camping? I hope his tummy clears up before your trip.

[~Katie~]

New thread!!!