Buy One Get Two Free!: January 2015

We've now got a runner and 2 almost walkers. Danny has gone from drunken sailor to Usain Bolt. He has no fear and is perfecting his walking skills by the minute. Sammy is now free standing all the time and cautiously taking steps between items. He is great to watch because he carefully evaluates the distance between the two items and then gets to the farthest point while holding on to the first one, let's go, takes a few seconds to make sure he is balanced, then one step, then balance, then the next step, until he gets close to the destination, reaches and extends his arm to its maximum potential and lunges toward it. It's clearly a well planned endeavor every time. Elsie loves to practice walking, and her favorite game is walking to you, then turn around and walk back. Then laugh and giggle about it.

Elsie also loves a new game, peek-a-boo. She has liked this game for a while, but has finally started to participate. So now I play peek-a-boo, and she puts her hands on her head and pulls them away quickly with a surprise look. This is also followed up with laughs and giggles. We are working on the hands on the eyes, but hey it's all good. She is definitely starting to copy behaviors.

Sammy is completely in love with Jeopardy. We watch it everyday, and he is fascinated by the music and laughs and dances when it comes on. He even gets super excited when Alex announces the final jeopardy category because he knows the music is next to come.

Danny is all about walking and exploring all the new things he can reach now that he is walking. He is even starting to climb, he got up on the coffee table, and is regularly climbing toys to enhance his height. He has good coordination and is always looking for trouble. It's a great combination.

We are getting ready for a trip to St. Maarten, In all my prepping I wasn't great about taking enough pics this week, but these will hold over until our vacation pics are posted. See you in 2 weeks!

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? is our new favorite song around here. It came about watching Danny stumble around like a pirate that's had too much rum. Now I sing it and the babies clap along and dance. It is great watching him perfect his new skill, and he is getting so much better everyday. So much in fact, that I reminded myself yesterday that a blog post was necessary or the videos of him stumbling will be irrelevant. He is so good after just 2 weeks, that I let him walk from the elevator to the doctor's office all by himself. It was a good 100 feet. It took us several minutes, but he never fell!

We had 2 'scheduled' appointments this week, which is why the delay in the post, I wanted to have the info to update. The kids had their hearing exams on Thursday. This is their 3rd hearing exam, and they will continue to have one every 6 months until age 3. Preemies are at a much higher risk of developing hearing loss. Thankfully, the kids continue to have good ear health, no infections, and they seem to be progressing normally. Danny did not pass this time, but the Audiologist isn't too worried because he seemed to be more interested in playing with the toys than listening for the tones. He did hear all the tones last time, and I don't see any irregularities in his hearing at home, so we will bring him back for an extra visit in 3 months to double check. Elsie and Sammy did fine.

We also had a pediatrician visit on Friday. Danny is still the big boy weighing in at 20 lbs 8 oz and just under 30 inches. Sammy is weighing in at 19 lbs 7 oz and just over 30 inches. And Elsie Mae is weighing in at 16 lbs 15 oz and 28 inches. She didn't even gain 1 full pound since our October visit. Probably from chasing around those boys everyday. The good news is their growth charts are looking great. Danny is in the 50th percentile for head circumference, and 15th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Sammy is 30th percentile for head, 7th percentile for weight, and 30th for height. Elsie is also 50th percentile for head, but only 1st percentile for weight, and 10th for height. Dr. Bliss said she is pleased with their development so far. She gave us the OK to start whole milk, so I am excited to use up our last container of formula! Also excited that milk is way less money considering we have been spending over $500 a month in formula since the summer. I can't imagine the cost if I didn't breastfeed. Yikes. The kids also got 2 shots a piece, so they have been a little feverish and cranky all day today. But all in all another successful check up.

Our unscheduled visits came last week. On Monday, Elsie slipped and cracked her front tooth on the bouncy. The dentist told us to bring her in to the office in the morning. So the next morning I'm changing her to go when Danny trips and cuts his forehead open on a toy. So Miguel went to the ER with Danny while I went to the dentist with Elsie. The troubles of having 3 learning to walk at the same time.

Back to the fun...all the kids are really into dancing. Any music comes on and they start bopping, wiggling, bouncing, and shaking to the beat. Their favorite song to dance to is the Jeopardy theme song. I tell ya, I can't make this shit up. They love it. Mesmerized by the Jeopardy music. I DVR Jeopardy now to have it on hand in case of meltdowns. True story. I got some good videos of them jamming out.

Sammy is going to be my next walker. He is close, I think the only thing that is holding him back is he is super cautious (unlike his siblings). He is getting more confident though, I have seen him several times this week take 1 or 2 steps from one object to another without me prompting. And he loves the push walker. He is a madman. Zooms around with that thing all the time. He just does laps over and over. And what is great about Sammy is he has figured out how to back up and turn when he runs into things. He has even figured out the best path from one corner of the dining room through the living room and to the foyer. He turns around toys and furniture so he can keep moving. Strangely enough he does not turn around for Danny or Elsie but rather chooses to plow through them, knocking them over and running over fingers and toes. I think he's been waiting a long time to return some Karma to those two. He has finally found his voice and has started standing up for himself.

Elsie is content with crawling. She free stands on her own, and will take a step from an object over to me if prompted, but she realizes she can crawl faster than they can walk, and it really is all about winning. She is definitely the bully of the bunch. I thought it was going to be Danny but oh no, she does not back down. She actually growls this deep, screaming growl at them when they touch her, or touch her toy, or if they do anything else she disapproves of. She straight arms them and pulls their hair. So for a while if she pulled their hair, I would tug on hers. But then I found her pulling her own hair. I seriously think she is desensitizing herself to hair pulling. Ay yi yi that one is going to give me a run for my money.

We went this week and got some shoes now that everyone is on their feet. They are getting used to them. Sometimes they don't mind wearing them, other times there are socks and shoes scattered everywhere.

Ok here are some pictures and videos. I definitely feel pictures are harder to come by now that they are so active. So there are quite a few videos. Enjoy!