Communication

We have been teaching the twins a few signs, and it's starting to pay off as they begin to understand what the signs mean. "All done" when they're finished eating was the first one they caught on to, and I knew Katie understood it when she made the "all done" sign as I was wiping her nose (which she hates). Jimmy picked up "more" pretty quickly, and he used it the other day at lunch. Not really sign language, but Katie also waves and says "Bye!" when she sees us pick up our car keys and sunglasses.

Sarah is beginning to communicate more too. She is rolling over from her back to her belly all the time and lets us know right away when she wants to be flipped back over. She is quite vocal when she's playing, and "talks" to her toys quite a bit. It's easy to tell when she's hungry or tired, and her smiles have turned into all-out giggles when she's having fun:

Wheeeeeee!

After being sick all weekend (the twins, Sarah, and I... Russ somehow escaped), we were ready to get out of the house and have some fun this morning, though we're not quite fully recovered (especially me). I took some pictures at Rolly Pollies today, and a quick video of Jimmy riding the "roller coaster":

Quick update

Not much new, but I did add a few more pictures to the September 2008 page. Jimmy has a cold and had a little bit of a fever last night. He seems better this morning, though he still has a cough and a runny nose. Katie is starting to sniffle a bit this morning too.

Sarah is as happy as ever. She goes almost everywhere with me, and is amazingly content and quiet most of the time. She loves to be carried in the sling, facing out so she can watch the world go by. She has discovered her toes, which have become her favorite toy. She has been rolling over from her back to her side and sometimes onto her belly pretty easily, and last night she got from her tummy to her back -- I think it surprised her!

Party Time

Mommy and the twins went to a fun party on Saturday while Sarah stayed home with Daddy. A friend was hosting a "House Party" showcasing new Fisher Price toys. Jimmy and Katie had a great time playing with the toys and the other kids. I posted some pictures on their own album page in the September batch.

On Monday we had another new adventure, Rolly Pollies! RP is an indoor gym with (loosely structured) classes for little kids. We had been there once before for an open playdate with the twins club, and they had a good time, so we signed up for a 10-week class session. Sarah is still too young for the program, so she and Kristina watched from the sidelines. Sarah did seem to enjoy the fun music they played, and she smiled a lot as she watched all the activity!

Most of these programs require one parent/adult per child, but RP offers a "siblings" class which lets one parent bring two or three kids. Since the class is open to toddlers through 6 year olds, J & K were the youngest in the class, but the staff there was great, giving them a hand when I couldn't be in two places at once. Katie's favorite was a big circular gym mat that was rounded on the bottom. After I sat her on it once, she figured out how to climb on and off it herself and squealed when it wobbled around underneath her. Jimmy loved bouncing on the big exercise ball, and was fascinated by the rock climbing wall. He hasn't yet figured out how to actually climb it, but I'm sure that will come soon enough. This was their first experience with "circle time" and singing songs in a group, which was... interesting. Near the end of the class, we got brave and tried out "Mr. Moon Bounce" -- with slide -- and they loved it! Can't wait to go back next week, and this time I will try to get some pictures.

Monday evening was their swimming lesson (Mondays are busy!), which continues to go well. They love being in the water and even getting a mouthful now and then doesn't bother them much. They're getting better and better at going underwater, Jimmy even managed to blow some bubbles as he went after a toy on the pool steps. I'm hoping for some better weather (fortunately no direct hits from the hurricanes so far, but lots of windy, rainy weather) so that we can do some more swimming between lessons & get out on the boat again.

New clothing line, Playground

I am going to design a new clothing line for mothers. It will come in several colors: Goldfish-Cracker Orange, Poop Brown, Breastmilk Ivory, Spaghetti-Sauce Red, and Pureed-Vegetable Green. Each item will come with a crystal ball to tell you which color you'll need today.

So here we are in September already, and you know what that means... a new photo album page! It also means that the weather here in Florida is finally starting to cool off just a little bit, mostly noticeable in the mornings and evenings. We had some time this morning before it got unbearably hot outside and the twins were climbing all over everything in the house (we've rearranged the living room / playroom AGAIN because Katie found a way over the end of the couch into the double-out-of-bounds area by the electrical outlet), so we packed everyone up and headed to a park with a nice toddler area at their playground. Jimmy & Katie had a ball climbing up the steps and sliding down the little slides. The metal ramps took a little practice to walk on, even Katie dropped down and crawled her first time up one. They each got some time on the swings before we headed home.