Pox and other "trouble"

Just when we thought we were free and clear, Abi developed the chicken pox. Everywhere.
She's a trooper though, with minimal complaints.

 Snuggled up to watch a movie with her new Owl named Pink and her fav blankie.

Working on a (very long) scarf for the snow man she knit.

Those are the internet-safe pictures. Of course I had to document the full coverage.  Pox sure break out quickly.  Saturday looked fine as we prepared for a funeral.

For this picture, I was trying on a new "bling" turtle necklace from my aunt and making sure we had a photo of Lucy in the handknit tunic/dress from my friend Gina.

To add to the fun this week, last night Lucy figured out the forward crawl.  Proof in the (low quality; Robin didn't know the zoom would not refocus as it should) video

Thankfully Claire still prefers to sit and play.

For Mrs. Hooper

We have yet to capture Lucy's usual antics on video - because once the camera comes out she is instantly distracted.
Lucy is so very close to crawling. Forward. She's got the rolling-across-the-room down and the rocking-as-if-I-will-forward-on-my-knees mastered. Alas, however, her attempts to crawl forward leave her frustrated as she moves further away (backwards) from her goal.  So close, so very close.
Crap.

Claire, on the other hand, is content to sit on the floor (Lucy prefers to topple sideways and roll away) and play or bounce in the exersaucer.

I'm terribly overdue to share photos, and I don't think any recent ones are terribly good, but I'll post these two anyhow and continue to try my darndest to get a good video to share soon.
Hey, at least we have a new camera that takes great HD videos.  We're still working on some computer issues as we'd like to reinstall the OS, if computer will let us.

Lucy

Claire

Xmas come and gone

As with so many months this year, December flew by.  The holidays tend to do that. It probably doesn't help that folks are more likely to be sick. For example, I think everyone's had a cold around here and then Lucy had to pick up chicken pox on top of it all.  Claire has developed her first couple of spots now - in time for New Year's Eve.

December has mostly been fun - how could it not be with 3 kids and Christmas?

Happy New Year

now, what happened to 2012? it was a wee bit busy/crazy.

Wish Lists

December already? So much knitting to finish, so little time!
And the babies are not helping with the time issue.
Given that the frenzy of gifts is almost upon us, I thought I'd answer that frequent/common question again. What do "we" want?
Robin and I don't really "need" anything. We each maintain a list on Amazon for ideas. I think I have one at amazon.ca and another at amazon.com - but they may be melded. I can't recall if Robin's at .com or .ca
Abi has a list there too for books and music.

Okay, gift ides for Abi:
She enjoys books and is starting to read on her own.  To be exact, she's reading letters and sounding out some words and writing words and learning to write new words. Early reader books would be good.

Abi does a lot of crafts. Thus we can never have too much paper (she's not usually interested in construction paper and it doesn't hold up well with paint or markers). Sparkle glue (not loose sparkles), small plastic gemstones to glue on, sequins, pompoms, etc would all be loved. And more washable paints. But no more markers or crayons, please. I think there's a good 5 dozen crayola markers in every size shape and colour and boxes of crayons.

Abi has more than enough Calico Critters for the time being (as I'm also taking into account ones I know she's already getting this Yule).
Likewise, she has more Littlest Pet Shop animals than I had - and that's saying a lot; I'm not counting my collection that she inherited.  The same applies to Ponies.

She enjoys playing with her little Polly Pocket dolls and their clothes. Same with her LPS Blythe doll. They're not my favourite choice, but more clothes would be fun and they do have the benefit of fitting into all her existing doll house accessories and playing with the Calico Critters and the pet shop animals.

She has asked for more wooden train set pieces.  I believe most wooden sets state that they are compatible with other wooden sets.  Ours do at least.  A train 'station' type of thing would be good. Our tracks are in storage, but there is a whole other set of wooden tracks here at Nana's that she could use with new trains and larger structures for now.  We do have quite a lot of track.

She'd like a new stuffed toy, but I will say that she can be very picky about stuffed animals so it would be ideal to let her choose her own.

All the girls have plenty of clothes, but for reference I'll say Abi's moving into a 5T (definitely not 5X). Claire at 6m is already wearing 12m sizes (18lbs+) while Lucy is still in 6m sizing (14lbs+)

The babies have quite a few toys.  They enjoy the small O-Ball that they share, so a second larger one might be good. Yes, I've become less rigid about plastic toys, but only because now many are BPA-free.  They already have plenty of rattles and chew toys.  They would enjoy some more interactive toys that are age appropriate.  Yes, I'm also more willing to endure the noisy, light-up toys - as long as they don't talk or sing and they're easy to shut up. Toys with buttons to press, 'walls' that stand up to play with, that sort of thing.  Clearly I'm not good at describing them.
It's interesting for me to watch the babies play because they're interests are so much different than Abi's were. Plus, I'm more desperate for toys that will distract them...

Frozen Bananas

You can never have too many recipe ideas for frozen bananas. Because, inevitably, you find yourself with very ripe bananas that are tossed into the freezer for "later" use.
The easiest (and arguably the tastiest) use for these bananas is as an ice cream substitute. Just mash 'em up. Sugar-free (besides naturally occurring fruit sugars), dairy-free, gluten-free and delicious.  That was Abi's first "ice creams". 
Frozen chunks are also good for teething babies starting around nine months. Especially if you have one of those new mesh bag feeders.
The next easiest use for frozen bananas, IMHO, is fruit smoothies.  Toss in whatever else you like - milk, yogurt, orange juice, berries...

Then there's the classic Banana Bread. Everyone has their go-to banana bread recipe. (Right?)

Yesterday I needed to bake for two potlucks (alas, I didn't make it out to the first due to icy roads). I knew we had bananas to use up. I planned to bake a couple banana breads.  Sadly, I faced two obstacles: 1) one of the containers with frozen bananas turned out to contain very freezer-burnt 'naners. I have no idea how long my mom's had them in there.  I was thus two bananas short. 2) I couldn't find the recipe box with our recipe nor could I find it in the recipe book it came from here at my parents'.
I did, however, find another recipe that - once upon a time - I had left a note beside: "Excellent!"  Clearly I had made it before and thought it was darn tasty.
I made a double batch and damn, I was right! It's tasty.  So here it is from a Kinette Cook Book of some early year.
(Cover has been burnt off by my dad. Several pages are also scorched. Why yes, my dad does leave things/put things down on hot burners on the stove.)
I'm slightly revising this a la Mandy

Banana Coffee Cake 

Preheat oven to 350

Beat together in a large bowl
1/2 c. soft butter / margarine
1 c (or a little less as I prefer) sugar
3 eggs

Sift together
2 c. sifted AP flour (or unsifted if you're lazy like me)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

 Mash
1 c. bananas (about 2 bananas)
Alternate blending the dry and banana into the mixture. 

Spoon batter into a 13x9", greased pan.

Combine a topping of (I didn't have any butter left to use and didn't want to worry about coconut allergies, so I simply sprinkled on brown sugar)
3/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp flour

Cut in
2 tbsp butter.
Mix in
1 c. flaked coconut
Sprinkle mixture over cake.

 Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy.

Claire and George

Claire and George are BFFs.
Which often makes me wonder what happened to the George we had in KW who would not have tolerated a baby and who was known to scratch Abi for walking too close - even though she'll still swear he is HER favourite cat. (Does this mean she'll be attracted to "bad boys"?)

semi-solids

Lucy and Claire have started their foray into (semi) solid foods.  They started with sweet potato puree a couple of weeks ago and have moved on to squash.  Both are enjoying it, although most days Lucy is more inclined to simply "taste" the food while Claire has progressed to scarfing down a cube (from the ice tray) or more.

Aside - you can see that Claire had her first bangs trimming. Lucy just had her bangs trimmed 15 minutes ago.

Eating solids, rolling around... 6 months is fun.  I am not encouraging crawling! But I will be happy when they can sit without assistance (for longer than a minute).

Elimination Communication

I have been searching my blog this morning for an old post on ECing, but apparently I never wrote one.  I could have sworn I did. In fact, there's even another old post saying as much and thinking I'd posted a pic of Abi on the potty or toilet.  Clearly I was/am mistaken.

I did find this in a post from Sept 2007 (preggo with Abi).  I think it's pretty funny now.  And the KW Knit Mob who frequently teased me about my quick growth when I was first preggo this time around (and denying it could be twins) should find it funny too - oh, my denial.

And here is my big fear... twins. I can't wait for my ultrasound in 6 or 7 weeks to tell me I don't have twins! And that it's a girl :P (Robin says boy, but I write the blogs!) Twins run in my maternal line and skipped the birth of my generation. I used to think twins would be great. Then I had a reality check!

  (Also note that when I wrote that I was not aware that my cousin had a womb-twin who did not survive.)

Anyhow, the topic for today is Elimination Communication or Diaper Free or "Nappy" Free babies.  Now that the babies are older (almost 6m!) and more stable sitting up, we practice this more often.  We started when they were newborns, but it is rather more awkward to hold a floppy baby on a potty (even a specially designed little potty) - especially when there's another floppy baby nearby in need.

There are plenty of web discussion (suppoort) groups and basic FAQ/myths/how-to web pages on the topic.  Just google "elimination communication" or "diaper free".  I don't recall what resources I used when we started with Abi - web ones for sure as I have never read any of the books on the topic. (They exist too.)  We also did not encounter any difficulties with the practice, so I never needed to follow up further beyond the basics, although I am aware that there are good discussion/resources concerning kids who revert (usually due to other things in their lives), transitioning to full toilet use (when it's no longer about cues but about 'holding it' as we expect of bigger kids), etc.  Consequently I cannot recommend any particular sites or resources. To be honest, once I learned about the basics (from another mom I encountered) it was all pretty intuitive.

For me, it all began before Abi was born when I met Kim at a festival. She was practicing EC with her youngest and I overheard her describing it to another mom with a baby.  Kim and I have since become friends (sadly for me, she lives far from me - thank goodness for the Internet).  From there I did a little research on the Net and by the time Abi was born, EC was part of my child-rearing plans (alongside cloth diapering).

Technically speaking, we practiced "part-time" EC because we also used (cloth) diapers.  Some folks go entirely diaper free.  I didn't feel confident enough to recognize every "cue" (sign from baby's behaviour that she's going to have a bowel movement) to practice full time. I also enjoyed being out of the house a lot with Abi (oh happy days when I had only one smiley baby to wear around) and did not want to have to worry about practicing EC in public or at a friend's.  (Needless to say, we are practicing part-time with the twins too - not exclusively diaper-free.)

Abi - July 2008

Abi would have been 4 months or so old in the picture above - sitting on her little baby bjorn potty.  Before I bought that I used an old plastic bowl. Any basin will do (including a sink). Preferably one you know will not tip over easily.  You simply (at least, it's fairly simple with girls) hold the baby over the basin and wait a half minute - it doesn't take long.  I would rest her back against my belly/chest and hold her by the knees so that her bum was lower than her knees.  This is a handy skill also as the girls get older and need to pee in the bush without peeing all over their pants.  When baby is over the basin or on the potty (a basin one can sit on), the parent typically makes a cue sound of their own such as "pssssss".  We make the same sound when we catch them peeing on the change pad so that the associate the sound with the sensation of peeing.

That's the basic physical aspect of the practice.  As for 'when', we provide them with opportunities to use a potty (or basin)

• when we are changing a diaper
• when we pick up on a 'cue' such as a really wiggly baby
• when baby wakes (and we are about to change a diaper anyhow)

Often, if you offer an opportunity to a baby as soon as she wakes, she will still have a dry diaper and will happily use the potty.  Et voila, you've saved yourself from another dirty diaper.

I have discovered lately that Claire is especially eager to use the potty and much more likely to give me signs (not actual ASL signs or anything) to indicate this.  I'm slowly catching on.

Update:
I neglected to speak of the "where" of ECing.  The shortest response is "everywhere".  The practical realities of it for us were that I would keep a potty nearby.  That little red potty above (we have a second green one now for the twins) was always close at hand with Abi.  She and I typically would hang out in the living room, have diaper-free time rolling around on a large change pad (same as the type used in hospitals, only with a cuter pattern - available from Dri-Line).  Abi was rolling, not me. (We were, technically, both diaper-free.)  As she grew older she wasn't simply rolling around on a soaker pad.  By then I think I'd added a wooden potty chair to the living room furniture.  The red potty was typically found in other rooms where we were.  Even when she had technically outgrown the red potty, she could still squat on it and it made a very handy portable potty for camping and so forth.  By the time she'd outgrown the red, she was big enough to sit on the fold up, portable toilet seat with support and then by herself.  Sometimes (before the seat or if it wasn't nearby) I'd sit on the toilet behind her and let her sit between my legs. And as I said before, if you're in the bushes (or at a park in TO...) there's the option of holding baby with knees up.

The reality is, Elimination Communication is adult training - we need to be trained to recognize the cues, to pay attention, and offer an alternative to dirtying a diaper.
Simultaneously the child learns to associate the sensation of having to pee/poop with actually doing it and they teach themselves to wiggle etc to get your attention so that you can help them.  As they get older they can travel to the potty by themselves when they feel that sensation.
Additionally, they learn about not being in a dirty diaper and not relying on a diaper.  And thus, it is so much easier to transition them to full-time potty use (if you're still part-time diapering as we do) when they are ready.  I never had to "potty train" Abi.  Once she could walk, she'd just walk herself over to the potty.  When she was bigger we had a portable (folding) toilet seat that prevented her from falling into the toilet (much easier than expecting kids to hold themselves up).  For her, this was normal behaviour (that she'd had the opportunities to do since she was a wee babe), not something we had to teach her.
And once the kid has physically developed enough to "hold it", they're ready to be completely diaper free (if you are part time ECing).  Abi still needed a nap and bedtime diaper after she was completely diaper free in the waking day because she was not yet ready to wake up and take herself to the toilet in the middle of sleep.  But one day she did it all on her own and we knew by the pee in the potty in her room that was not there when she went to sleep.  After that she'd regularly pee after a sleep.  (Keeping in mind this girl slept for over 14 hours at night - she'd wake around 11am - and we were not about to force her to get up to use the potty. No thank you - I'd much rather she sleep and sleep and sleep...)

That's why we practice EC with the twins.  Fewer diapers is excellent.  Earlier start to full-time potty use - priceless.  Some folks will talk about other benefits such as bonding (tied to paying attention and learning baby's cues), but for me it's all about the diapers and the lack of potty-training!

Shits and Giggles

The not so exciting back story starts with Claire waking up and getting her diaper changed. Lucy was not happy lying down waiting, so I fetched the Bumbo. (Yes, I know, Bumbo is not on the floor... it is in middle of supervised bed.) Handed Lucy her Taggies blanket and laughed as Claire was trying to "share" it, resulting in her taking it away from Lucy. Grabbed the camera, but playing was over. Next was Lucy's turn for a fresh diaper (it's a continuous process, along with nursing), so Claire was popped into Bumbo.  Then I heard the DREADED sound... a Bumbo poop.  Quickly got Claire out before disaster could strike. (Bumbos force the poop up the back or out the leg. Always messy.)  Fewf, I was safe.  Lucy went back in the Bumbo (fingers crossed).  Since Claire was unlikely to be finished her poop (I was on the ball!) out came the little potty.  And then the giggles started. And other sounds. Out came the camera...

And there you have it, fun times. Clearly the girls thought it was hilarious and I love how they're playing off each other.
(Meanwhile, Robin was out running errands, which included picking me up a pumpkin spice latte. Good man that Robin.)

Coming soon - Halloween. Preview picture:

From GE on Thursday. We went to Boo at the Zoo that evening. Claire was in the back of the stroller. Yes, the leopard was chasing the Zebra and we didn't plan it that way.

5 months - photos

Just a quick note to say that the babes are 5 months old today.
At last weigh in (Thursday last) they were 15lbs 15oz and 12lbs 11oz (you can guess who weighed what).
Not much to report that I can think of. They do much the same as always - eat, sleep and dirty diapers. They also laugh and chatter often, stick their tongue out at Nana, love to sit up with help, love to stand with support (uh oh), try to roll around (largely hindered by bulky cloth diapers - woohoo), chew on stuff...  Oh yeah, have I mentioned the teething?

They look like this today (as seen by Abi with Lucy sitting on her belly):

If you're not a FB subscriber, you missed these recent photos.

Lucy

Claire