October Milestones

In the month of October, Gabriel & Ariana turned 32 months, and Isabella turned 13 months. October has been good to me. A couple weeks ago, we got a new respite provider (nanny, mother's helper, babysitter, whatever you want to call it), and we're keepin' it all in the family... no not our family, haha. That's a good one. Brooke's family! Brooke was our previous nanny, and we grew to love her so much. Since pregnancy has not been easy on the poor girl (morning sickness, back pain, & everything else), her sister, Devyn has come to fill in for her. And let me tell you, it has been quite a relief. For the first time in months, I'm acutally getting to run errands, go to the gym (I've gone 3 times so far!), and cook dinner in relative peace! I'm one happy Mama! My kids love her too. The other day, as she was leaving, Gabe just ran up to her, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and exclaimed "I love you so much!" It was really cute. :)

Yeah, I'm not much for crafts, myself.

As for milestones, Isabella has been cruising right along. Since last month, Isabella has started standing unsupported, then walking while having her hand held, then finally taking her first steps on October 26th, just a day before she turned 13 months. It also happened to be her my mom's birthday, so that was a extra special for Nana. Isabella has also started dancing while standing upright; complete with head bopping, booty shaking, arm flailing, and foot stepping. She's been walking just about everywhere around the house, sometimes even toting several items along with her (in her right hand, under her left arm, and in her mouth at the same time). When she's in a huge hurry, she'll still tummy crawl, but those times are getting fewer and farther between. Which means that her clothes are staying cleaner for longer periods of time between changing! Yay, no more swiffer mop designer duds! I can start to put her in light colors again! It's a good thing.
Isabella's gross motor acheivements has been getting her into some trouble, as should be expected. She traverses the stairs as she pleases, since I no longer need to shut the gate because she's such a pro and going up and down safely. And just like that, she's out of my sight and... flushing, yes FLUSHING all of her bath toys down the potty. Jake had to take the toilet off just to clear the pipe. A grand total of seven tub toys lodged in there.

IsabeIla has, for some time now, loved bestowing kisses upon request. But lately, she has been showing affection to inanimate objects that she personifies, such as her multitudes of stuffed animals. She hasn't committed exclusivity to one or two lovies yet, but I think she's getting pretty serious about a little white bear with wings and her hot pink doggie, who we call "Candy". She totes them around with her as she's toddling around, occasionally bringing them up to her lips for a kiss. It's very sweet.

Bella has also cut another bottom tooth this month, making a total of seven teeth so far. She has also gone down to one nap, most days, which is so nice for our famiy schedule. Bear in mind that Bella would take two naps a day if I gave her the opportunity, but she has been a really, really good sport about waiting until 1 or 1:30 PM for her first (and only) nap of the day. If I think it's going to be a long day or a day when we'll be out and about, I'll either put her down for a short nap early (then wake her after about 45 minutes) or I'll let her doze in the car (which amounts to a cat nap too).
This month, Ariana has been using her aug. com. device ("talker") a lot more. I got a couple hours of training on it, so I'm able to finally do some *basic* programming to customize it to her. She LOVES it, and is constantly begging to use it. We use it mostly at mealtimes and right before we begin any activity. She is getting good at it, and I have to say that I'm surprised at how fast she's picking it up. Although she is still in the exploring stages, so she plays around with it a lot more than she uses it for formal communication. More on this in a later post.

Ariana's verbal communication, on the other hand, has been ebbing and flowing this month. Rollercoaster. Big tease. I'm frustrated, can you tell? For instance, one night I was having Ari point to and identify the members of our family. This is par for the course for her, so I decided to step it up a notch. When she pointed to Gabe, I asked her to say "Gabe". After a couple tries, she did it. She said "Gabe" over and over that night, probably twenty times altogether. We were so happy for her. The next morning, it was gone, almost as if she had never said it at all. While that only lasted one night (not really long enough for us to get attached to the notion), words have disappeared after longer periods of use. For the first half of last month, Ari had been saying "pees" for please spontaneously, whenever she wanted anything. She would also say it upon our request. We were all overjoyed! It was so consistent, and so intentional! Two weeks later, it was gone. Now, when we ask her to say please, she gives us her default reply, which is "aba". I asked Ari's therapists about this, and they all told me that this was pretty common for a child who has motor planning difficulties as Ari does. Ari has the word in her brain, and her mouth is physically capable of making the appropriate movements and sounds, but when she tries to make a bridge between her brain and her mouth, the communication shuts down. No bridge. The therapists told me that we'll likely hear her say words when she's excited or not trying to say the word; not thinking about it. Just the other day, Ari was playing with a cat puzzle piece with her OT. Her OT said, "it's a kitty, Ari!" to which Ari echoed, "KITTY!", just like that, clear as a bell. I have never heard her make those sounds before, but the word has been there all along (which I knew), and it just slipped past her brain controls that time and right off her tongue. The only new word that has (so far) stuck with us is the best word in the English dictionary: "Mama". Of course, when I ask her to say it, she just babbles something that doesn't sound like Mama, but when she wants my attention, she remembers my name (and very loudly too).

Ari has started crying at bedtime and naptime more this month. I would see this as a regression if it weren't for the fact that Gabe is doing it too, so I'm thinking it's just a phase. I really hope that this isn't a sign that Ari isn't wanting to outgrow her nap, because I'm not!

This month, Gabe has made some gains in his fine motor area, which is where he's been having the most trouble since he was a baby. Gabe has never been much of a drawer (or a scribbler even), but he started drawing lines, circles, and ovals this month, which is a big improvement. Also, Gabe has started pulling down his own pants (and sometimes even pulling them back up). On several instances, he's even taken himself potty without telling us, which is a little nerve-wracking, because I'll walk into my bathroom later to see pee on the wall behind the toilet. Normally, I help the guy with his aim.

This month, Gabe seems to have had an awakening of sorts. He's started identifying emotions in himself and in others. One of those emotions is fear. Not terror by any means, but regular imagination-run-wild, psyched himself out, little kid fear. He is frequently telling me that different things are "scary", such as our neighbor's Halloween decorations (complete with life-sized skeletons and monstrous spiders... love it), when a car drives by him in the parking lot, the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland, the green light on his baby monitor, and a number of other things. I'm trying to teach him the difference between 'exciting', 'spooky', and 'scary', which he seems to use interchangeably.

I don't know if this is related to the fear issue or if it's just a part of the age, but Gabe has been fighting bedtime pretty hard lately. He has a number of different requests to postpone bedtime, such as needing to go pee, needing to go poo, wanting water, wanting another kiss, another hug, his bear wants a kiss, his feet need to be "down" (covered by his blankets), his "pillow" needs to be "fixed", and the list goes on. I have been excited to get him into a big bed (tentatively Christmas) for some time now, but I'm getting nervous with his protesting sleep. Will I want to put him back in the crib after a week of horrible bedtime episodes? Will I need to just lock the door? I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. His new bedding is really cute though.

I love how Gabe asks for things. He's been saying this for a while, but I'm only recently able to decode it. When he wants something, his request goes like this "Mahv some _____?" I was like, mahv? What's that Gabe? He got a little frustrated with me until I figured out that what he was trying to say was "May I have", and he just made it a contraction.

Gabe-isms this month:

• "Pacaderms, Mom! PACADERMS!" -- while pretending to fly around the kitchen a la Dumbo

• "Mommy, I'm gonna getcha... tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle!!!!" -- chasing me, hands outstretched, menacing grin on his face.
  
• "Gabe's okay... Gabe's okay" -- exasperated, after he had a coughing fit
  
• Gabe: "I'm all done" Mommy: "Please have some bread" Gabe: "Please have some ALL DONE!"
  

• "I'm sorry Dumbo!...It's okay Dumbo...Stay there Dumbo (in tears)" -- his reaction to having to wear (ahem, violate, in his opinion) his Dumbo costume for the first time. He grew to love it though :).

• "Mommy, I'm scared of the stinky one!" -- about our cleaning lady, thank goodness she couldn't hear over the vacuum... and she doesn't speak any English.

• "Mom, it's Jesus" (bearded man)..."It's a big whale mom. A baby whale and a mommy whale and a daddy whale. That's a big shark. The shark eat the baby whale. That makes me cry, Mom. The whale makes me cry." -- narrating a storybook to me (and that's not a version he's ever heard from me before)