Old pictures

I've had some pictures stuck in the camera memory for a while. I finally got the cable and down loaded them.

This is Leeza first haircut. I think this was their 2nd day home. Uncle Dan cut Leeza's bangs so she could see.Leeza always likes when you fix her hair.

I also realized that these are the pants that Sasha is wearing today. Back then, a whole month ago, I had to roll up the pant legs since they were too long. They fit fine now without rolling them up any!

Happy Thanksgiving- a little late

Happy Thanksgiving eveyone. We have all had a cold for the past week. Fortunately, other than being a little tired, the girls did not get too sick. We had the traditional turkey meal.. Sasha loved it all. Leeza poured her milk on it and then ate most of it once I added some gravy.
I am very thankful for having the girls home for the holidays this year. I know they don't understand any of it yet, but we now have the memories for the future.

I wanted to get a picture of the 2 of them together today. This was the best I could do. If Sasha looks like she is getting bigger in the picture, I think she is. I swear somedays it seems like she grows overnight!
Two 2 year olds don't want to sit posed very long and quite quickly began to move around.

They discovered that the bench was actually a toy box on thanksgiving day. I had been putting toys they didn't play with or outgrew already in here. They found them all and spent much of Thanksgiving day inside the toy box. So now the room is full of topys again. I need to sort them while they are a sleep and put some away in the closet.

Day Care

Day Three(well, part day 3 as they only go 2 hours each day) at day care sure was different. When I arrived to pick the girls up, I looked through the door first to see them playing with some blocks and other kids. Their teacher told me they both played in the gym and ran after balls and that they even smiled. Leeza smiled when she saw me and brought me one of the blocks she was playing with over to me. Sasha didn't even look up at first. I got their coats and told them it was time to go. Everything was ok until Sasha had to put the blocks back so we could leave. Total meltdown. She did not want to go. It has been a couple weeks since Sasha has done a full blown tantrum and I forgot how well she does it. She did it while I carried her out the door, all the way down the hall, out to the car, into the car seat, into the car seat again, into the car seat yet again and I got one strap on this time, into the car seat again and I got 2 straps on, and continued several minutes later while I finally got the buckles connected. She finally stopped crying after we had driven about a mile. I guess that means she had a good time today.

One month

The girls have been home for a month now. We have our routine each morning and evening down pretty good. Mid day nap is still a work in progress, but that will be mainly at day care in the near future so they will figure it out there. (Nap time at day care is 2 1/2 hours! Good luck getting Sasha to stay still for that long!)

I didn't weigh them on my scale when they first came home, but they now weigh 26 and 24 lbs according to my scale! I did mark their heights on a growth chart on the day they got home. In one month, Leeza has grown an inch and Sasha has grown almost an inch and a half. Sasha wasn't cooperating much with the first measurement so it might not be quite that much, but she has grown a lot. Sasha probably has also grown another inch or two around the middle, but I don't have any measurements there. Some of the 12 month tops that fit Sasha well when she first came home, now show a little of her tummy and won't probably fit at all in another couple weeks. The 24 months Leeza wears now fit her much better than when she first came home.

Leeza is now tall enough that she can easily reach and open any door knob that is not child protected. When she first came home, she was not tall enough to get her hand around the knob. So I now have to do even more child proofing!

They have been healthy up until now, but after only 2 part days at day care(a total of 3 hours), they have their first colds. They gave it to me and I am feeling bad. Both girls are a little quieter than normal so I think it is affecting them some, but no one seems to be feeling too bad.

They are still speaking only a few words in english, but understand so much more. bye bye, baby, mama, milk, no, arf arf(dog), up, book. Sasha can do about 10 animal sounds when you show her the picture. Leeza can do about 5. They are finally enjoying being read to and we do many books each day. Although right now, Leeza has all the books in her shopping cart and is pushing them down the hallway.

Clothes

Clothes are so hard to tell what size to buy. This is an outfit for Sasha from their Great Aunt Shirley. It is size 18 months which normally fits Sasha, but this one fit Leeza good and the other outfit(size 24) was too big for either! I have several winter outfits. This one in pink is size 12 months. I decided I needed to try it on Sasha today in the chance that it might fit. It did! Unfortunately, Sasha did not want to take it off. Wearing a winter jacket and snow pants inside gets hot, but she didn't care.

Of course, then Leeza wanted to wear one. This one is size 18 months and just fits her. I doubt it will fit by January when she might actually need it, but for now, it fits. Sasha immediately took hers off when Leeza put hers on so that she could wear Leeza's!
I thought I had caught a break and quickly put both outfits on hangers to rehang in the closet, but the girls decided they needed them and spent the next hour and a half dragging them around the room. Why? I really have no idea!

This is their new game, Nap time. One lays down on the swing and the other covers her up with the bag/blanket. I guess I do this at nap time when I put them in their cribs. WHy can't they be this good at the real nap time?

Since Sasha's Mr Monkey is still stuffed under her bed, she has taken possession of Leeza's monkey. Here she is giving him a ride in the train car.

Blocks

The girls discovered the blocks today. I had been afraid to get them out since they tend to throw things and these would hurt, but so far so good and no injuries. They had a good time stacking blocks.

I had also got them some little activity trays to work on while they are coloring etc. They love the pockets on the sides where they can fill them up and store stuff in them.
They are also quite fun to lay on when you turn them over.

The girls went to daycare for 2 hours today to start getting used to it. Leeza did ok and played a little, but Sasha was very shy still and stayed by the teacher. I started them early so they could do a lot of days for a couple hours before they have to go full time. I think they like being around other kids, but it is a little overwhelming for them.

Mr Monkey is found and lost again!

I found Sasha's monkey shoved way under the bed next to the wall. I pulled out the changing table and crawled behind it and rescued Mr Monkey. After a happy reunion today, when Sasha went to bed, she spent a good 5 minutes shoving Mr monkey between the bed and the wall and slowly working him back down under the bed again! He is going to stay there! If that is where she wants him, then he can stay there for a while.
Sorry no pictures. I haven't taken any lately. I will try to take some tomorrow or this weekend. It is so hard to believe next week in Thanksgiving already. I haven't done anything yet to prepare. I haven't even started to think about decorating for Christmas. I am still removing stuff from the house to prevent the girls from getting into things.

Week 3

Week 3 was the first week by myself and it was tough, but we all made it through ok. Well, there was one casualty- Sasha's monkey is MIA. I have no idea where it is. I've looked all over, but cannot find it anywhere. He survived a trip through the washer/dryer, but seems to now have run away.

It was another busy week. We made it through another Dr visit, another trip to the hospital for more tests, and 3 different developmental therapist evaluations. We should be done with Drs and hospitals for a couple weeks, then we get to go back for more vaccinations, but at least we have 2 weeks with no Drs or needles!

The girls are saying more words and understanding what they mean. They now know Up -as in put me up on the bed so I can jump on you, milk-use this for any liquid, book, box and can make several animal sounds when they see a picture of the animal. I gave them some of the Little peoples toys that I had for them, but they still mostly carry them around in their purses or carts and aren't really playing with them yet. Sasha does play with the little FP swing set. I am planning on waiting until spring to get them a real one so it doesn't sit out there unused all winter. Sasha also learned how to climb out of her crib- I was hoping for a few more months before she learned that one. They are getting comfortable in the house which means they are now exploring everything especially anything I say do not touch. They know eat/lunch and come running when I say "anyone want to eat lunch?" Sasha is no longer stuffing her cheeks with food and is now actually eating really slow. I have to serve in several courses otherwise Leeza is done way before Sasha and she does not want to sit and wait for her. No one will eat any vegetables of any kind yet(except for potatos which really don't count). They are eating fruits and juices though. They like any kind of pasta including lasagna. They had peanut butter and jelly for the first time today( I needed something quick). Sahsa loved it and Leeza ate most of it until she decided she didn't like it and then tried to spit peanut butter out. That doesn't work too well. Sasha likes porkchops while Leeza was not sure, but ate some anyway.

Leeza woke up tired today. I'm not sure why as she seemed to get enough sleep.Which of course quickly led to several meltdowns. Poor kid. This one was because Sasha had the hat Leeza wanted. There are about 5 hats in the room, but only one is the "good" hat of course.Sasha was in a good mood today. She had her cranky day yesterday. I guess they are rotating turns on who gets to be cranky each day.

Duct Tape- 3 Determined Child-0

If you are wondering why Sasha is looking so cranky, it is because for the last 2 naps and 1 night, she has not been able to take off her diaper during the night like she wants to. The diaper wasn't wet when she was taking it off, she just wanted to be naked. Then she would wet the bed and have no where dry to sleep. I would find her sleeping on top of her pillow and monkey. So the answer is the diaper is now duct taped shut. I watched her work on trying to get it off the first time for a long time. She still takes off her pants, but the room is warm enough that is ok for now.

Budding Artists

Well. maybe not budding artists. They really didn't get the whole concept of coloring. They scribbled on the books, windows, sheets, pretty much anything. I tried to show them how to color in the lines, but they had little interest in it. Thank goodness for color magic markers that don't color anything, but the book. Otherwise, I would have a lot of items colored right now.
This is leeza's first coloring attempt.

This is Sasha's first attempt. We will continue to try and they will eventually get it. They are finally starting to show a little interest in being read to. They now bring me a book and stay for about half of it when I read it to them. This is a big improvement from them showing no interest at all a few days ago.

This is the one book they seem to like and it is about a busy spider(I hate spiders). It figures, they like Barney on TV and books on spiders!

I think she looks like she is just hanging out having a little drink!

We have been looking for a good park to play at. This one has very little equipment, but the swings are small enough for the girls to enjoy. They didn't like the slide as it was open on top and had nothing to hang on when they start down. They spent most of the time in the swings watching traffic go by. they are fanscinated by vehicles. This park is in Downtown Mt Zion so there were tractors, cars, motorcycles, bikes etc going by. They really watched the girls riding their bikes past the park with a lot of interest.

It was colder today so we went to the mall to use the indoor play equipment there. It is about the right size for them. They had a lot of fun.

Day 1 by myself

My mom went home yesterday so now we are on our own. The girls had not spent any time by themselves yet so I am leaving them for a couple minutes at a time to do things. They go and sit by the gate and watch for me to come back. When they aren't sitting here then they are really quiet which means they are planning something or getting into trouble.

Last night the girls decided to use the swing as a jungle gym. They swung from the bars and climbed all over it

The girls also discovered the window behind the swing. I am sure they are plotting their next adventure.

Haircut day

Sasha finally got her first haircut at home so you can now see her eyes. She was pretty good and didn't cry. Jaime came to the house so we wouldn't have to go to the salon and wait.Leeza was really excited about getting her haircut and watched Sasha get hers.

After the haircut. She looks different without her little top knot.

The day started out bad with more tests at the hospital, but ended fairly well with everyone liking their new haircuts.

SW visit and the park

The day started with my one month visit from my Social worker. Only 4 more visits at 6 months home, 1 yr, 2 yr and 3 yr and I will be done with SW visits!!!!
In the afternoon after nap time, we made a trip to Spitler Woods park. The girls played on the slides and swings. At first, Sasha was very afraid, but after the first time down, she loved it. Leeza liked it from the start. The stairs going up were really tall and took a lot of effort to climb, but the girls went up the stairs and down the slide many many times.

The baby doll made the first few trips up and down and then she was left at the bottom to get up the stairs faster.

We have a lady coming to cut Sasha'a hair tomorrow. I don't think she would do well in a salon yet- or they might not want to hear the screaming!

Leeza had her bangs cut by Uncle Dan when he was here, but she is going to get a hair cut also. I think she looks like a little old man hairdo in this hat, but she loves hats.

Week 2

Leeza really likes her new baby doll.

Fun with Grandma!

This is Sasha's determined look. When she has this look, watch out because she WILL get her way!

Leeza wakes up late in the morning and is usually happy when she gets up. She also usually has a bad case of bed head! Her hair is fine, but it can get very fuzzy.

Sasha gets up early and has a few tears to start the day and then is in a good mood.

It has been a busy couple days. We went back to the hospital today to finish some tests and went to the SS office. The SS office people had no idea what they were doing and no interest in looking anything up and tried to convince me the girls were not citizens. I just nicely got my stuff and left. I will got to the Springfield office to get their SS number.

The evil bathtub drain monster

Last night, I got the bath ready and the girls were running around the bathroom naked(they would go naked all the time if allowed). The girls got into the tub, but the drain started gurgling as I didn't have the plug all the way tight. I reached over and flipped the plug in and out and it made a loud gurgle sound as it sealed. Sasha decided that must be something really bad and before I knew it I had 2 wet kids trying to crawl out of the tub and into my lap. Much screaming followed. Finally, I got into the tub myself and splashed around. Leeza decided that since she really never knew what was wrong anyway to join me. Then Sasha decided she didn't want to be left out so she joined us also. It was a rather quick bath as I didn't trust that the evil drain monster wouldn't return, but at least we all got wet.