MacHaffie Kids

Sleeping

October 25, 2006

Both of the boys have been getting up in the middle of the night for several weeks now. Needless to say, neither Nancy nor I have been getting enough sleep. Two nights ago, Owen slept through the night. Last night, Andrew slept through the night. We’re hopeful that this trend will continue and we can get back to a full night’s sleep every night. At least the boys are going to bed early–tonight they were asleep by 7:30 (which is why I get to update the website).

I’m not sure I can even keep up with all the new words they’re learning. New words: Ahgah (she gets her own name–Reigny still just gets the sign for dog. Sometimes Ahgah gets her name followed by the dog sign.) Andrew and I had a nice conversation the other day. Andrew said, “Phone”, and I said, “Okay”. Andrew said, “Call-call”, so I asked, “Who do you want to call?” Andrew said, “Mimi!” so we called Grammie and Grampie.

We do lots of exchanges with the boys saying a name and us saying “X” loves you! The boys like that game. Sometimes we say other things (tonight it was “Grammie brushes her teeth. Grampie brushes his teeth.”)

Other new words: tire, Grampie (once, don’t know if they’ll say it again), and “book” is now a constant word The boys know “back” for backyard, and Nancy says they prefer going out to play in the backyard over going for a stroller ride.

The other day, as we were walking into the restaurant, I noticed that Andrew now walks with me across the parking lot and holds my hand rather than putting a death grip on my fingers. The boys are growing up! Grandpa Larry commented that he noticed how much the boys have changed just in the few weeks since he saw them last.

We’re getting ready for Halloween. We have two little plastic pumpkins for the boys to carry to put their candy in. Andrew is going as a fireman and Owen is going to be a knight in shining armor. We’ll put pictures up, hopefully by the end of next week.

That’s about it for us.

Pictures

Owen and Daniel (Steve and Skyree’s youngest) and daddy taking a picture of ourselves

Grandpa Larry putting Owen in the car

Owen sitting in the bookcase

Owen wearing the Scandinavian hat

Boys looking at Grandpa Larry in the restaurant

Boys playing in the restaurant

Andrew sitting with daddy at the computer

Andrew and cousin Michael
Andrew and Michael

Andrew at Steve and Skyree’s
$Andrew at Steve and Skyree\'s$

Leavings

October 16, 2006

Well, Grammie and Grampie have now officially moved to Texas. The boys have finally come up with names for the relatives. “Mimi” and “Papa” are Grammie and Grampie. We also have Nana and Bob. The kids are still working on a name for Grandpa Larry (hard letters for the boys to say at this age).

The boys seem to learn how to say a new word a day. Their comprehension is skyrocketting–I don’t even know how many words they understand any more. We just assume they understand everything we say.

The boys are now using “Ahgah” to refer just to Ahgah. Reigny still gets the dog sign (slapping the leg).

Owen is working on sentences. He managed a three-word sentence the other day. We were getting ready to go to Gymboree, but I was eating. Nancy said, “Are we ready to go to Gymboree?” Owen said, “Not Dada” and made the sign for eating. Owen also likes to chat with all kinds of sounds. He especially likes practicing giggle giggle giggle or cookie cookie cookie (his latest variation).

Andrew is more into learning and using specific words, particularly words that he can use to convey things.

Both boys are asking us to label. They like to point at pictures and have Nancy and I say the words. They also like us to read the same books over and over.

The kids are experimenting with different physical actions. I’ve seen Owie walking on his toes, and both boys like to stomp. Andrew has been practicing throwing himself backwards onto the air mattress.

The kids are learning to handle silverware. They are getting better at eating and getting the food in the mouth, although we still leave big tips at restaurants. We are starting to get away from using high chairs, though. We’re not even bothering with boosters–the boys can sit in a booth or regular chair just fine. Now if the booster seats came with velcro….

We had a church picnic back in September. I’m finally getting around to putting up some of the pictures from it.

Pictures

Andrew on my parents’ patio
$Andrew on my parents\' patio$

Andrew at the picnic on the play structure

Boys at the picnic

Boys playing with a truck

Kids sitting with Grampie in the pickup

Kids at the picnic in the play structure

Owen at the picnic in the play structure

Owen playing in a fountain

More words

October 3, 2006

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. The kids came down sick last week. Owen was running a fever for most of the week (up to 103 degrees at one point). Andrew had a cold. Nancy bore the brunt of it–she was up with them several nights in a row. Andrew has started coming down with nightmares / night terrors which is also no fun.

We took the boys in for a doctor’s appointment on Friday. He said we were doing fine and that the kids would be better soon (Owen’s temperature was back to normal on Saturday). He asked how many words the boys knew. We figured out later that they can say more than 40 words, and they can sign another set of words that they can’t say yet. We told the doctor to explain what he was going to do to Roo, and Roo would understand. The doctor was surprised, but he explained and Andrew was content to be examined.

New words: Andrew’s latest two words are “moon” and “book”. We were outside, getting ready to stroller, and Andrew pointed up in the sky and said “mom”. I said, “No, mommy is inside.” He pointed again and said the word, and I realized he was pointing at the moon and saying “moon”. I replied, “That’s right, we read about the moon in Goodnight Moon.” Then he made the sign for book and said “Book”.

Owen’s latest words he learned from Grammie: “giggle giggle giggle” and “tickle tickle tickle”. Owen’s very cute–he will sit and said the words to himself and laugh.

With my dad’s help, we managed to clean up the back porch enough to let the boys out there. They are having a great time out back, although we might get some rain today so they won’t be able to go out.

The boys get to draw with chalk on the patio and on the little plastic house out back. I drew some A and O’s for the boys and showed Andrew, “That’s an A.” I repeated it until he said “A” back. Then he pointed at one of the other A’s and said “A”.

That’s about all for this week. I’ll try to return to my regular weekly posting schedule.

Pictures

Owen with daddy’s shoes
$Owen with daddy\'s shoes$