a reanbean week in review

I’ve been having a tough time with blogging lately. I have plenty to write about, but just can’t find the time in all the busyness of summer. So, here are just a few highlights from this week that I don’t want to forget.

Monday: Our week got off to a great start. Both kids were finally completely free of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, and we headed back to our EI playgroup for the first time in two weeks. The last playgroup we had gone to was the first time both Tiny and Buba were able to handle me being gone for the entire 90 minutes. I was hopeful (but nervous) that they’d allow me to leave again this time. And they did (hooray!). No crying from either of them. I’m so glad that we’re able to keep both kids in, even now that Buba is no longer receiving any EI services. Now I just have to come up with things to do while they’re playing without me. Not a bad position to be in.

Tuesday: We all went to a kiddie craft event hosted by the family group of a neighboring town. (We live right on the boarder of this town, so we belong to this family group as well as our own town’s group.) The event was held in one of the member’s backyard. Both Buba and Tiny had a ton of fun making tissue paper butterflies and even more fun playing on the enormous and elaborate play structure in the yard.

Wednesday: T and I took Tiny and Buba to a free tryout gymnastics class at a gymnastics academy about 20 minutes from our house. Tiny loved, loved, LOVED it, and Buba seemed to enjoy it too. As I was buckling Tiny into her car seat, she said, “Can we go back to gymtastics? I want to do more gymtastics please. I love it! I love it!” (I’m not kidding. That is exactly what she said.) We’ll be joining a nine week class this September. Getting Tiny to understand just how many weeks it is until we go back to “gymtastics” has been difficult.

Thursday: Buba and Tiny went to their first playdate in over two weeks. They were so excited to go to their friend’s house to play. They played inside for a bit, and then we headed outside to play with the sand and water table and splash in the kiddie pool. Tiny got to show off her new swimsuit (a short sleeved one piece suit that Grammy got her- I returned the one I didn’t love), and they all seemed to have fun playing between the rain drops under cloudy skies.

Friday: We all headed back to Grandpa’s pool (his town’s pool and tennis club, where he is a lifetime member) for more swimming with Aunt Dee, who is in town from California for the next week or so. Both Buba and Tiny were much more comfortable in the little pool (which varies from roughly 6 to 24 inches of water), and they even went into the shallow end of the big pool for the first time. They loved climbing the steps in and out (and in and out…) of the water, and Aunt Dee began teaching them how to jump into the pool into her arms and how to float on their backs. They’re not pros yet, but it’s a beginning.

All in all, this week rocked! We’re definitely back into our summer groove.

Snippets

I’m finally feeling back to my old self again. Finally. I’ve taken all the meds (7 days of eye drops, 10 days of antibiotics, and couch medicine and inhaler as needed), and the sore throat and cough are finally gone. Without the cough, I should be sleeping soundly through the night again, but alas, the night wakings continue (more on that later). I haven’t been to the gym in two weeks (since the sickness kicked in), but I’m planning to make my grand re-entrance tonight. I’d been back to going 4-5 nights a week since the end of March, and as of May 21st, I was up to 226.9 miles on my 500 miles in 2010 goal. I suppose I’ll need to ease back into my workouts, but hopefully in a week or so, I’ll be back on track again.

Today was week 5 of drop-off playgroup for Buba and Tiny. We didn’t have playgroup last Monday due to the holiday, but I did leave the kids at childcare when I went to book club on Friday. They both did fine there for almost 90 minutes, so I decided it was time to try leaving for a bit during playgroup today. We arrived about 5 minutes late, and both kids walked right in and started in with activities. I talked briefly with the teachers about my plans to leave and what to do to help soothe Buba should he be upset about my absence. My understanding is that he was fine until he got spooked by some loud noises in the music area, and that’s when Buba lost it. But still, I got to spend almost 30 minutes down in the waiting room by myself before needing to return to take my place at the mommy bench. And that seems like huge progress to me. Plus, Buba was totally fine with going to circle time and snack time this week. Yes, I still had to accompany him, but he didn’t cry as he had during previous weeks.

Buba is still wearing undies during the day. He is now telling me when he has to go, or will just go to the potty in our house and go all by himself. He has very few pee accidents and no poop accidents. However, he still will only poop in a diaper at nap and/or nighttime. I’ve tried enticing him with a reward and putting him on the potty right before nap and nighttime, but still no successes in that department. Maybe by the end of summer, I hope…

Tiny continues to wake at night on a fairly regular basis (maybe 4-5 nights a week). At first I thought is was bad dreams, then I thought it was out of need to use the potty. I am no longer convinced that it is either of these things. T and I have been taking turns going in to soothe them (because inevitably, Buba always wakes up too), and it usually just takes a minute or two, but the fragmented sleep definitely isn’t good for any of us. I’ve begun reading the months 22-36 section in the Weissbluth sleep book, and we may try to implement some of the strategies in there. This week I’ll just be collecting data so I know for sure exactly how often the night wakings are occurring.

I’m way, way behind on my blog reading again (especially on those with daily or multiple posts each week), but I hope to catch up soon. Many thanks to Mandy from My Life as Described by Twin Trials and Triumphs for passing on the Trendy Blog Award. We’ve recently bonded through our only-child-all-grown-up-and-now-raising-twins connection and have enjoyed swapping book and CD titles. If you haven’t already checked out her site, you definitely should!

Drop-off Playgroup, Weeks 3 and 4

Week three at playgroup (a week ago from yesterday) was pretty similar to week two except that Buba started crying the moment we walked into the room, so I never even got a chance to see how he would handle me leaving again. One of the teachers decided (and I agreed) that he’s just not ready for the separation piece yet. I stayed in the room the whole time and joined him at the activities to keep him from being glued to my side at the mommy bench.

Yesterday, at the week four session, I began to see a glimmer of hope that I might someday be able to drop-off my kids at this drop-off playgroup. For starters, I told Buba and Tiny that I would be staying in the room while they played. (This was something the lead teacher and I had agreed on at the end of week 3.) I also decided that we would purposely arrive 5 minutes late when all the other kids would be settled into activities and the other moms would already be gone. These two things seemed to help. Buba walked right into the playroom and began playing with a teacher who was using dot paint to make drawings on a table covered with white butcher paper. (Note to self, never ever send the kids to playgroup in any clothing I would be sad if they ruined while playing.) Tiny headed straight to the water play area.

So, I sat myself down on the mommy bench only to realize that I hadn’t brought one single thing to amuse myself with, thinking I’d be out at the activities with Buba. Luckily, there were some magazines beside the bench, and I quickly began leafing through them. Throughout the free-play hour, Buba came to check in with me several times (more frequently as we got closer to the hour mark), but was always able to go back to an activity with me having to go with him. The only time he cried was when I went to use the bathroom. Otherwise, he transitioned to circle time and snack time without any tears (these were two big firsts for him!).

At this point, the plan is that I will continue to remain in the room, on the mommy bench, until Buba gets used to playing without needing so many check-ins with me. It could be just one more week or perhaps a few more weeks. Whatever it takes, I’m happy to do what I can to help him take the big leap into attending playgroup without me being there.

Drop-off Playgroup, Week 2

Given how well our first week of playgroup went, I wasn’t really expecting any trouble in week two. But I guess I should have known better. I assumed that because Buba and Tiny have always been okay in the childcare room when I go to my monthly book club meeting, that they would be fine playing with all the kids, toys, and teachers at the playgroup without me being in the room. But, I’m pretty sure I only spent about five minutes in the parent waiting room before being called back to the playroom.

The plan was that I would spend five to ten minutes in in the playroom at the beginning of playgroup and then leave once Buba and Tiny appeared to be comfortably settled in. At the time of my departure, Tiny was busy playing with baby dolls, and Buba was playing with other boys in the airplane/truck area. I gave them both kisses and told them I’d be back when playtime was over. They both seemed fine with me leaving.

I went down the hall to the waiting room, and had just enough time to login to my email account on the computer they have in there, when I heard Buba’s cry loud and clear. I waited to see if it would die down, and when it didn’t, I wasn’t surprised to see the EI teacher standing in the doorway telling me that my presence would be required for another session.

So what happened? Apparently Buba had gone to the craft table where children were gluing small, foam shapes onto green construction paper with orange glue/paint. There was a pie tin full of the foam shapes in the middle of the table, and Buba picked it up and walked off with it. When the teacher went after Buba and asked him to take the pie tin back to the table, Buba lost it and could not be consoled. My guess is that he thought he was in trouble and felt scared without me there.

Unfortunately, me coming back into the room didn’t help much. I was sent over to the mommy bench, where moms who need to be in the room are supposed to just sit and observe. But Buba was shaken up to the point that he didn’t want to play with anyone or anything unless I was there with him. It didn’t seem right for him to be stuck to my side on the mommy bench, so I left my post and tried to get him involved in some of the play stations/activities. However, each time he seemed fully engaged and I would try to head back to the mommy bench, he’d drop whatever he was doing to come back with me. This went on during the entire free play portion of the playgroup.

Then, just before clean-up, I was informed that Tiny had had a potty accident (sadly, she wet her pants for the second time that morning*), and I had to abandon Buba for a bit to get her into new clothes. Fortunately, he was fine at that point. I don’t believe he helped with the clean-up, but at least he didn’t cry.

As the kids all headed over to the carpeted bench for circle time, Tiny went fearlessly and sat right down between a little boy and one of the teachers. Buba, however, cried again as I lead him over to the circle, but calmed down quickly and was able to sit on the bench instead of in my lap as he had the previous week. The good news was that both he and Tiny participated fully in circle time this week. Last week, they refused to take their turns bouncing on the big yoga ball as the others sang a welcoming song to them (as is done for each child), but this week they went right up when their names were called. They also participated as best they could when it was time to sing songs and play a cooperative game.

After circle time (again, only about ten minutes long), the kids headed over to the sink to wash hands before snack. Tiny remembered how wonderful this experience had been, and eagerly walked over holding another boy’s hand. Buba had to be carried over, crying the whole way. I took him right up to the sink so he could watch everyone else wash their hands, and then I helped him wash his own. He was still crying when I took him to the table for snack, but the words, “Would you like cake?” got him smiling again.

Although it would be great if next week we could truly have a drop-off experience, I think it’s safe to say that it’s going to be a while until we get to that point. This is the first time my kids have been in a more structured play setting, and they’ll need some time (Buba especially) to become familiar and comfortable with all the rules and transitions. The lead EI teacher assured me that both Buba and Tiny are having typical experiences for first-timers, and that this will all be old hat in a few more weeks.

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*Tiny has done exceptionally well at staying dry and clean since we did her potty training back in January. For whatever reason, she was just off that morning. And fortunately, she’s been dry and clean ever since.

Drop-off Playgroup

At our one-year well visit, our pediatrician recommended that we have Buba screened by Early Intervention (EI). He made this recommendation because Buba was not yet speaking individual words, and he used mama and dada indiscriminately. So, I called and set up evaluations for both kids (might as well). Interestingly, Tiny qualified for nutrition support due to her slow weight gain, and Buba qualified for nothing. It was noted that he had some delays, but none were great enough for him to qualify for services.

Three months later, we had Buba retested, and at this point, he qualified for home visits with an educator (to provide speech and language support) and an occupational therapist. He has been receiving EI services since last July, and we have seen tremendous growth from him.

A few months back, it was recommended that we consider putting the kids into an EI playgroup. Tiny is no longer receiving EI services, but she could participate as a community kid. Given that his EI educator (who they both adore) was about to go on maternity leave, I chose to sign them up for a playgroup rather than transition him to another educator. Buba tends to hang back in play situations with other kids, so it seemed like this might be a good way to help him learn how to participate in play with other kids.

It took several months to get everything set up, but we finally went to our first day of playgroup this morning. (Thanks to all the comments left at HDYDI, we were even on time.) I was really nervous about how it would go. It’s intended to be a drop-off playgroup. And while I love the idea of having an hour and a half to myself, I was quite concerned as to how the kids would respond.

Fortunately, the EI staff eases everyone into the drop-off part. Today, I stayed in the room the entire time. They have a “mommy seat” off in the corner, and there I sat filling out paperwork while the kids played. Buba went right for the table with airplanes and trucks, and Tiny headed over to the water play area where she got to wash baby dolls in soapy sudsy water. Tiny never once came over to check in with me, but Buba came frequently. Often he just sat down with me for a few minutes before heading off to something else, but a couple of times he was looking for some cuddles. The EI staff was great about talking with him and luring him back into play.

The hard part came when it was time to clean up the toys and head over to a meeting space for circle time. Buba did not want to go, and cried a bit even when I went with him. Luckily that part was only about ten minutes. Then each kid went to the sink to wash hands before snack. Tiny loved that part, but Buba cried through that part too. He also cried as I took him to sit at the little table and chairs for snack, but calmed down pretty quickly once the snack arrived (Cheerios and raisins).

All in all, it went pretty well. One of the lead teachers said that both kids had done well considering it was their first time. Next week, I’ll drop them off and head to a waiting room in the building. Should there be a problem, someone will come and get me to join them at the playgroup again. But hopefully, over the next few weeks, Tiny and Buba will become comfortable enough that my presence will no longer be necessary. At that point, I could actually leave the building should I desire to do so.

Both kids agreed that they had a fun time playing with new friends. I asked each one what they liked best about playgroup and wasn’t too surprised by their answers. Tiny said, “I wash hands in the water.” And Buba said, “Snack.”

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Don’t forget- tomorrow is the last day to enter my Humpty Who giveaway.