At the library this morning, Ivy was running away and hiding between the shelves. She'd pop back to grin, then disappear again. The third time, Hazel pointed and said "Ivy gone".
I count that as a sentence - it has a subject and a verb, right?
Then I realised that each time she disappeared, Ivy was running over to the entrance and setting off the automatic door. Luckily she just stood there and watched the workmen, instead of racing out into the building site that is the front of the library.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Ivy and Hazel in the chicken pen
Our chickens were completely free-ranging for a few weeks but I got over the shit everywhere, and the flies. so now they are in a pen mostly, and free-ranging in the late afternoon.
However the kids miss them, and go in to play with them when I open the gate.
However the kids miss them, and go in to play with them when I open the gate.
My beautiful daughter Hazel
Loves playing in the dirt. She has toddler knees - dirty and scratched! She loves enumerating her scratches.
Sleep update
It's been a while. I used to complain about sleep stuff on this blog every day, then every week, then less often. Now, I'm here to say happy things about sleep!
The girls are in a great phase. Note that I call it a phase, so that when it all turns to shit I am not too disappointed.
They are having great naps in the day. We have lunch at 11.30, then I try to get them into bed as soon as possible afterwards, which is usually 12:15. They then usually sleep for 2 hours. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but usually 2 hours. Unbelievable really. When we go out in the morning I make sure we are home in time for lunch-and-nap. Lunch at home seems to be part of the wind-down process.
The longer naps started a few weeks ago, and they are very very welcome. They wake up happy, and ready to belt around like the hoons they are for the afternoon.
Soon after I complained to the AMBA forum (other mums of twins & triplets) about how early the girls wake in the morning (usually 5:30 or 6), they started sleeping in until 7! Just like that!
I read all the lovely advice given to me by these marvellous experienced mums, considered it all, agreed with most of it, then did nothing new. Somehow it all resolved and for four glorious mornings the girls woke around 7. Then on Monday morning we had to wake them at 6:30 to get to an appointment, and the two mornings since have been early ones again. I'm back to my old pattern of waking up at 5:50 when Trudi gets up, then lying awake until one of the girls wakes, then sitting on the floor between their cots whispering "Ssssh, it's still sleep time" and "Ssssh, it's not 7 o'clock yet" and "Lie down love, it's still sleep time" and so on and on and on and on. Then we all get up and start our day.
The third lovely sleep improvement is that most nights both girls sleep through without needing any help from me. Ivy had a nightmare a couple of nights ago, but apart from that and a couple of other wake-ups, they've been sleeping through for a month. Even when they do wake and need me, they fall back to sleep a lot more easily than in the past. It's all coming together, and not a moment too soon.
Unfortunately, my own sleep skills are not great right now. These days Trudi and I both usually sleep badly, with shallow sleep and many hours of lying awake each night. Sigh. I am sure that I will improve as the girls need me in the night less often. I think I am on alert all day and night, even though I don't need to be any more. Seventeen months of springing out of bed to calm weeping babies has trained me to sleep lightly, and I really hope that one day I will learn to sleep solidly again.
The girls are in a great phase. Note that I call it a phase, so that when it all turns to shit I am not too disappointed.
They are having great naps in the day. We have lunch at 11.30, then I try to get them into bed as soon as possible afterwards, which is usually 12:15. They then usually sleep for 2 hours. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but usually 2 hours. Unbelievable really. When we go out in the morning I make sure we are home in time for lunch-and-nap. Lunch at home seems to be part of the wind-down process.
The longer naps started a few weeks ago, and they are very very welcome. They wake up happy, and ready to belt around like the hoons they are for the afternoon.
Soon after I complained to the AMBA forum (other mums of twins & triplets) about how early the girls wake in the morning (usually 5:30 or 6), they started sleeping in until 7! Just like that!
I read all the lovely advice given to me by these marvellous experienced mums, considered it all, agreed with most of it, then did nothing new. Somehow it all resolved and for four glorious mornings the girls woke around 7. Then on Monday morning we had to wake them at 6:30 to get to an appointment, and the two mornings since have been early ones again. I'm back to my old pattern of waking up at 5:50 when Trudi gets up, then lying awake until one of the girls wakes, then sitting on the floor between their cots whispering "Ssssh, it's still sleep time" and "Ssssh, it's not 7 o'clock yet" and "Lie down love, it's still sleep time" and so on and on and on and on. Then we all get up and start our day.
The third lovely sleep improvement is that most nights both girls sleep through without needing any help from me. Ivy had a nightmare a couple of nights ago, but apart from that and a couple of other wake-ups, they've been sleeping through for a month. Even when they do wake and need me, they fall back to sleep a lot more easily than in the past. It's all coming together, and not a moment too soon.
Unfortunately, my own sleep skills are not great right now. These days Trudi and I both usually sleep badly, with shallow sleep and many hours of lying awake each night. Sigh. I am sure that I will improve as the girls need me in the night less often. I think I am on alert all day and night, even though I don't need to be any more. Seventeen months of springing out of bed to calm weeping babies has trained me to sleep lightly, and I really hope that one day I will learn to sleep solidly again.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Music and playgroup
I went to a new playgroup today. In that sentence, "I" means me, my two girls, and my mum. Mum is around a lot these days because she is in the hiatus between surgery for breast cancer and radiotherapy. She gets measured up tomorrow, then the radio starts soon after. the surgery was successful and she has no need for chemo, and things are looking good. She's not working this semester, so she's spending a lot of time with her granddaughters. Depending on how taxing the radiotherapy is for her, she might be able to keep seeing them most days during her treatment. I hope so!
So anyway, anyway.
I've been on the lookout for a new playgroup, cos right now we can't get to our rainbow group due to nap times. If I get around to shifting the girls' nap earlier we will make it, but somehow it never happens. Soon. Anyway, anyway.
I found a thing called a Natural Parenting Playgroup. Another term that freaks me out. If I don't do Natural Parenting, am I being unnatural? Anyway, that's my problem and no-one else's :-)
We went to the Brunswick NP playgroup, in a park, where we met a bunch of mums and one dad, plus lots of little kids. Most were about the same age as my girls, or younger. I'd been dreading it a bit, but it was lovely. Funny that I dreaded something that I also wanted to do. I was really hoping that it wasn't going to be one of those competitive events where everyone subtly mentioned how cool they are because they do co-sleeping or are still breast-feeding or whatever. Not that I mind people doing those things, or talking about them, but the competitive thing gets me down. So I was dreading this imaginary competition, which never eventuated.
Instead, I had some nice chats with other mums (didn't get around to the dad), and my mum nattered too. The girls ate everyone else's nicely cut-up fruit in boxes, and the other mums assured me that this was fine. Hazel went on the slide, and the whirly thing on a stick. Ivy insisted on the swing.
The only bad thing was the distance. It's about half an hour away, which is a long way when little girls are tired and want to go to sleep in the car on the way home. Mum sat in the back between them and frantically read story after story. She fits back there because we are driving my mother-in-law's capacious new Volvo. not sure how we will go with future visits. It's a very pleasant group, but the car trip is a drag. We will see.
In contrast, tomorrow we are not going to the music class. We did three weeks of Suzuki music classes for the girls. These are the classes for tinies (up to 3 years old). Lots of nursery rhymes, bashing on plastic drums, skipping in time to the beat, and all the rest of it.
It was not much fun at all. Suzuki is supposed to be all about the love, but this was not. It was more about social control. If you aren't sitting down or walking around in the right direction, you are disruptive. This attitude is communicated by indirect means - saccharine praise to the kids doing the right thing, and increasingly tense instructions to toddlers to sit down, or stand up, or wait their turn. The actual music stuff was great, but not worth all that control. They are too young. Maybe in a year they will enjoy it - or maybe not!
I feel relieved to not be going any more. Now we can go to the market on Wednesday mornings instead.
So anyway, anyway.
I've been on the lookout for a new playgroup, cos right now we can't get to our rainbow group due to nap times. If I get around to shifting the girls' nap earlier we will make it, but somehow it never happens. Soon. Anyway, anyway.
I found a thing called a Natural Parenting Playgroup. Another term that freaks me out. If I don't do Natural Parenting, am I being unnatural? Anyway, that's my problem and no-one else's :-)
We went to the Brunswick NP playgroup, in a park, where we met a bunch of mums and one dad, plus lots of little kids. Most were about the same age as my girls, or younger. I'd been dreading it a bit, but it was lovely. Funny that I dreaded something that I also wanted to do. I was really hoping that it wasn't going to be one of those competitive events where everyone subtly mentioned how cool they are because they do co-sleeping or are still breast-feeding or whatever. Not that I mind people doing those things, or talking about them, but the competitive thing gets me down. So I was dreading this imaginary competition, which never eventuated.
Instead, I had some nice chats with other mums (didn't get around to the dad), and my mum nattered too. The girls ate everyone else's nicely cut-up fruit in boxes, and the other mums assured me that this was fine. Hazel went on the slide, and the whirly thing on a stick. Ivy insisted on the swing.
The only bad thing was the distance. It's about half an hour away, which is a long way when little girls are tired and want to go to sleep in the car on the way home. Mum sat in the back between them and frantically read story after story. She fits back there because we are driving my mother-in-law's capacious new Volvo. not sure how we will go with future visits. It's a very pleasant group, but the car trip is a drag. We will see.
In contrast, tomorrow we are not going to the music class. We did three weeks of Suzuki music classes for the girls. These are the classes for tinies (up to 3 years old). Lots of nursery rhymes, bashing on plastic drums, skipping in time to the beat, and all the rest of it.
It was not much fun at all. Suzuki is supposed to be all about the love, but this was not. It was more about social control. If you aren't sitting down or walking around in the right direction, you are disruptive. This attitude is communicated by indirect means - saccharine praise to the kids doing the right thing, and increasingly tense instructions to toddlers to sit down, or stand up, or wait their turn. The actual music stuff was great, but not worth all that control. They are too young. Maybe in a year they will enjoy it - or maybe not!
I feel relieved to not be going any more. Now we can go to the market on Wednesday mornings instead.
Friday, March 12, 2010
The word list is getting ridiculous
So we have these twin daughters... did you know that? Stop me if I'm repeating myself. I do that a lot, especially when I'm leaving a message on an answering machine. If you have ever received one of my messages, I apologise, and if you haven't, you might, so I apologise in advance.
Where was I? Repeating myself, I think. So, my daughters are clever little packages. Ivy and Hazel have about the same level of receptive language. They both understand requests like "Can you please put the cup back in the drawer, then close the drawer". They both can point out butterflies, ducks, clocks, cars, Nanna and Pa, Minke the cat, and anything else they've seen named more than once.
When it comes to saying words, Hazel is a junkie. She gets her fix from learning new words. No sentences yet, but a lot lot lot of nouns. Ivy can say words too, but she's happy to let word-learning opportunities come when they want to. Hazel marches around the house scaring word-learning opportunities out of their hiding places and holding them up to the light.
This week's list of new words includes:
Gate
Tassel
Wetsuit
Elbow
Old favourites include:
Handle
Fork
Tine (the pointy bits on a fork)
Flower
Shower
Foot
I am going to bed now.
Where was I? Repeating myself, I think. So, my daughters are clever little packages. Ivy and Hazel have about the same level of receptive language. They both understand requests like "Can you please put the cup back in the drawer, then close the drawer". They both can point out butterflies, ducks, clocks, cars, Nanna and Pa, Minke the cat, and anything else they've seen named more than once.
When it comes to saying words, Hazel is a junkie. She gets her fix from learning new words. No sentences yet, but a lot lot lot of nouns. Ivy can say words too, but she's happy to let word-learning opportunities come when they want to. Hazel marches around the house scaring word-learning opportunities out of their hiding places and holding them up to the light.
This week's list of new words includes:
Gate
Tassel
Wetsuit
Elbow
Old favourites include:
Handle
Fork
Tine (the pointy bits on a fork)
Flower
Shower
Foot
I am going to bed now.
Monday, March 8, 2010
I left the house at night
I went out for the night, with some lovely twinny friends,. We all have twins around the same age (except for Megan whose girls are a few months younger). We were trying to have a farewell dinner for Chrissy, who leaves for the UK soon, but she was too busy with family to come. So we had a kind of wake for her, in which we went out and had a good time and mentioned her with fondness.
This is the second time I have been out without Trudi or the girls since they were born. It went just fine! I was home and asleep by midnight, and Ivy woke to start her day at 5-ish, so it was a short night. This was not too bad though, because the girls have been sleeping through the night this week. Five nights in a row with no night wakings!
Tomorrow our new rainwater tank will be delivered. This is one of those blog posts full of tedious trivia. I am going to bed now, to eat chocolate eggs and read. Then I will go to sleep.
Goodnight.
This is the second time I have been out without Trudi or the girls since they were born. It went just fine! I was home and asleep by midnight, and Ivy woke to start her day at 5-ish, so it was a short night. This was not too bad though, because the girls have been sleeping through the night this week. Five nights in a row with no night wakings!
Tomorrow our new rainwater tank will be delivered. This is one of those blog posts full of tedious trivia. I am going to bed now, to eat chocolate eggs and read. Then I will go to sleep.
Goodnight.
Friday, March 5, 2010
New roof soon
Our roof is a bit broken. The concrete tiles are old, and they break easily. Whenever someone goes on teh roof, they break tiles, then the rain comes in.
We are getting it replaced with a new clean shiny steel roof, plus we are getting a 10000l rainwater tank at the same time.
Because they will be loudly banging around on the roof all day, I will decamp with the girls to my mum & dad's place, so they girls can have their midday nap.
The roof people are very weather-dependant. They have delivered the materials but did not work today due to the possibility of storms. Sigh. So we will probably be at Heathmont most of next week, unless there is some weather.
We are getting it replaced with a new clean shiny steel roof, plus we are getting a 10000l rainwater tank at the same time.
Because they will be loudly banging around on the roof all day, I will decamp with the girls to my mum & dad's place, so they girls can have their midday nap.
The roof people are very weather-dependant. They have delivered the materials but did not work today due to the possibility of storms. Sigh. So we will probably be at Heathmont most of next week, unless there is some weather.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
In praise of not praising too much
I think I praise my daughters too much. Well done, you put the wee in the potty, that's great, you closed the drawer.
This article is my touchstone for change:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm
Wish me luck...
This article is my touchstone for change:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm
Wish me luck...
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