Memorial Day Weekend

Well, the great news about this weekend is that Tycho should have been gone working, but luckily, his brief all weekend has been "show at home." This is mainly because his company is a bit overstaffed right now, which isn't a great thing, but good for our weekend together. :0)

Saturday we filled the "kiddie" pool we bought, added some the balls from the kids' ball pit, along with their slide. Quinn and Leyla had a blast! They eagerly ran to the slide, whoosed down it, and then repeated the process. They also enjoyed throwing the balls out on the grass. Well, actually Leyla threw most of them and Quinn picked them up. ;0) Toward the end of the fun, Quinn threw ball after ball at my folding chair (I wasn't sitting in it as I was filming). His aim was impressive! Who knows, maybe we have a baseball player on our hands. They thoroughly enjoyed their hour of splashing fun before naptime. I'm sure this pool will provide hours of entertainment this summer, especially on the weeks Tycho is not home, as I cannot take them in the big pool myself.

Sunday was another fun-filled day. We decided to venture to Chuck E Cheese before naptime. We were not sure if it would be a success or a flop. Well, it turned out to be a smashing success! They loved it! Luckily, being late Sunday morning, it was fairly empty. They rode several "rides" but had a couple favorites. The swing was definitely Leyla's favorite. I think she rode it at least 10 times. We also had these picture sketches done in a booth.

Upon returning home, they both fell asleep quickly as they were exhausted. :0) After naptime, we rode around Fishhawk (a large community about 5-10 minutes down the road from us) with our friends, Alisa and Harald, to see some houses. They are looking to buy a house in that community. They found an amazing one this time and put an offer in on it, so now we have our fingers crossed they get it! After house hunting, they returned to our house for an evening of fun and games.

Today, Memorial Day, we are actually taking it easy. Relaxing and lots of playing together. A fitting end to a wonderful weekend.

Mother's Day 2009

Today I reflected some on my mother's day 2 years ago. That was such a special day because we brought Quinn and Leyla home from the hospital. We have video of that day. If I remember I will link a little footage to this later this week, so you can see my beaming grin. That whole NICU experience (well, really the whole pregnancy too!) was such an emotionally draining time. It seems so distance now when I think of it; however, I must confess if I see any NICU experiences on TV my eyes still well up with tears. It is awesome though that we have such a special day to mark the end to that NICU chapter--Mother's Day. :0)

Today started with Tycho brining me coffee and a light breakfast to bed, along with my Sunday newspaper. An hour later or so, we left for Venice beach. We decided to try this beach again because we thought it might be closer than the others. It was closer by 10-15 minutes, but it is a little rockier too. The water temp. was perfect though. We spent a good amount of time in the water. Unfortunately, no pics of that, as we both cannot be in the ocean up to our chests, holding kiddos and a camera. Maybe we will buy a cheap underwater disposable next time, so we can try to get the pics because they are quite the little fish. They love the water! However, they did learn through experience that this water does not taste quite the same as the bath or pool water they tried. (And no, we did not put them under or let them slip; they are just obsessed with trying to lick up the water. Crazy, I know!) We only stayed for 2.5-3 hours as it was quite hot. Here are some pics from the beach. Yes, I was there too; however, I was enjoying being photographer today.

After we arrived home, we played while Tycho prepared some chicken, smoked sausage, and asparagus for the grill. A little later, a couple friends over to celebrate the day with us. The afternoon was full of swimming, good food, great conversation, and relaxing.

It was another wonderful Mother's Day! Check back later this week for pics and the video link...

Walking Circle B Conservation

Well, I had what I thought was a great idea last Saturday (the 2nd). Our friends in Lakeland, Alisa and Harald, have shown us a beautiful conservation park that opened there recently. Since the kids enjoy exploring so much, walking everywhere, and having freedom, I thought it would be fun to visit there and let them roam freely (under our supervision of course). Well, it turned out that we had to carry them most of the way. :0( I wish we had brought the stroller, but we didn't, so instead Tycho and I received an unexpected workout. Carrying a 26 lb. weight for over an hour in hot, sticky weather is hard work!

Before things went down hill...

We don't want to walk anymore....

2 year appt

Well, yesterday Leyla and Quinn had their 2 year well-check visit. This is the first well visit they have not needed shots--yeah! They are both such busy bodies. As we were waiting for the doctor and then talking to the doctor, both of them (especially Quinn) though climbed on everything (chairs, stools, the patient table) and pulled out every toy they stored in the room. The doctor, who is very down to earth and kind, said, "I can just imagine what your house looks like after a day of playing!" We laughed and Tycho replied, "Yeah, it looks like a tornado blew through!" So you are not dismayed, we picked up everything there before we left. ;0)

I am a little concerned about their language, as they do not have as many words as 2 years old should, at least according to the books. However, I am also appear that since we are raising them bilingually, this might be why. When I mentioned my concern to our pedi, she acknowledged their language was a little behind, but she thinks it will explode in the next few months, and that speech therapy is really more to work on pronunciation than vocabulary. I have been reading online about all this as well, and that seems accurate.

According to this website, http://www.multilingualchildren.org/index.html

As in all aspects of baby skills, there are great individual differences. Some babies start this vocabulary explosion, so-called 'fast mapping,' at 18 months, while others wait until well after 24 months. This word explosion coincides with increased activity in parts of the brain involved in storing and retrieving vocabulary.

Even if you start learning languages before age 7, the optimal period is between the ages of 0-3. Why? Brain imaging studies show that languages in bilingual infants are stored closer together in the brain than in later bilinguals.

I taught with someone in Vegas who also raised her daughter bilingually, and what this website says held true for her too. She was a little behind in vocabulary/speech from 18 months to 3 years, but then by 3, she was fluent in both languages. So I believe by 3, they will be fairly caught up, and hopefully fluent in both, which is a great desire of ours.

Regarding their measurement stats...
Leyla weighed 26.8 lbs (50%) and measured 35.25" tall (80%)
Quinn weighed 26 lbs (25%) and measured 33.75" (25%)

As I type this, they are playing with one of their new favorite things...puzzles. They seem love to them and are becoming quite the pros (at least the ones we own and they do a million times). ;0)