I think a few weeks back I posted our allergy plan, but haven't given any info on how things are going....
Firstly, Ethan has been fully successfully weaned onto formula. He drinks it well and has not had any problems!! Yay for Ethan.
Tracie has given up the breast pumping and did so very easily..... everything is back to its pre-pregnancy state. She's happy.
Secondly, we successfully introduced wheat and the boys are enjoying eating pasta, bread and weetbix.
Thirdly, we introduced Salicylates, and as expected, Benny had a reaction. We gave them a high salicylate diet until he had the reaction. Day 1 was fine. Day 2-4 both boys had very mild rashes (Ben worse than Ethan). Day 5 (yesterday) Ben had a larger and more acute rash. Today both boys are back on their low allergy diet. We are waiting for Ben's skin to calm down and then we will try the amine challenge next week.
CAR SEATS:
Well, after much debate, we decided the time had come to turn the boys into a forward facing position in the car.
It's all a matter of safety. They are safer in a rearward facing position for as long as possible. Australia's guidelines say they can be turned around when they are 8kg and are able to sit with minimal support (about 6-7months). The majority of the rest of the world's guidelines says 9kg and one year old. Currently they are about 9kg (Ben) and 10kg (Ethan). They are almost 11months and have been sitting unsupported for about 4 months.
We were planning to wait as long as possible to turn them (for safety) but even though their car seats say they can travel rear-facing up till 12kg, Ethan had outgrown his seat and become too tall to safely travel like that. We turned them both.... cos you just can't have twins being too different!
The first time we put them into the car, we got into the front seat, turned around to say hello and Ethan looked at us, gave a great big smile and waved at us..... it was SO SO SO cute!! He's so happy facing the front and being able to see us. Ben didn't seem too impressed and didn't really care either way!
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES:
Talking - Both boys have become very chatty and talk for hours a day. Ben has a quiet high voice and loves to say a sentence like 'da da a dai dai a da a dai' He also says 'hi' and 'nan nan nan'. Ben doesn't say mum very often. Ethan's voice is lower, and louder. He like to say sentences like 'mum mum mum bub mum bum mum bum mum' and 'a yay yay yay'
Eating: Ethan is very good at eating a variety of textures and flavours. He chews and swallows very well. Ben has difficulty with food that doesn't easily slip down his throat. He seems to get a lot of food stuck in his mouth and often requires a few mouth fulls of water to help wash everything down. Ben prefers everything to be pureed and slippery.
Fine motor skills: Ethan is very very good at picking up very small objects and putting them in his mouth. Unfortunately his favorites seem to be kitty litter and dust. Ethan is also good at feeding himself actual food, picking up his toys and spinning objects. Ben's fine motor skills aren't quite as good. He can pick up larger objects and sometimes gets them into his mouth. He is getting much better at his hand eye co-ordination and can pick up balls and put them into holes as he plays with his toys.
Gross Motor Skills: Ben is very good at his gross motor skills. He crawls properly, he can put himself into a sitting position. He can easily get himself into a standing position and walks along the furniture, sometimes almost runs. In the last day or two, Benny has started to leg go of objects when he's standing up. He can only stand for about 3-4seconds, but he'd defiantly getting better and sure is practicing a lot. Ethan's gross motor skills aren't as good. He still crawls on his belly and can't get himself into a sitting position. He is however now very good at standing up. He can stand up where ever he wants, walks along all the toys and furniture and has recently (thankfully) learnt how to get back down too.
We find it interesting that Ethan has better fine motor skills, where are Ben is better at the gross motor stuff.
SLEEPING:
Since the boys were born we've all been sleeping in the same room. We decided the time has come for us to sleep in a different room. We have given the boys the bigger room (as they have more stuff) and we moved out. We bought our selves a new bigger bed and we're enjoying sleeping in our new room. The boys have coped very well with the adjustment and actually seem to sleep better. We have had a few unsettled nights with the boys waking a bit more than usual as the next street is being re-surfaced with night road works (very bloody noisy all night long!!!). We hope this is almost done and things will be back to normal soon. We've been spending some time decorating their room now that it's all theirs, it's almost done and we'll upload some pics soon. We also plan to decorate our new room and have already done our guestroom. We still need to do the study...... ohhh how the days need to be longer!!
DISCIPLINE AND PUSHING BOURDARIES:
Our boys, especially Benny are starting to test their boundaries and can be very stubborn with the things they want to do. Ben seems to be obsessed with standing at the coffee table and banging a plastic toy on the table. I think he likes the noise. He's not allowed to do this as we don't want him to damage our nice coffee table. Every time we tell him to stop he gives us a very cheeky little smile and bangs it again. We tell him to stop 2-3times then get up, take the toy off him and make him sit down and tell him 'no'. This, of course makes him cry for a while. Within a minute or so he's back at the table, often with another toy testing us again. Sometimes when he knows we're not paying attention he gets up to the table with a toy and taps it very lightly so it only makes a quiet noise. He looks at us and smiles and you can see him thinking 'i wonder if they'll stop me this time'. So cheeky!!!!!! They are also forbidden to play with electrical cords, the TV and the laptop and love to push those boundaries too. Ethan loves to open and close the storage box that contains nappies, wipes, bags, creams and other things he's not allowed. He gets very upset when he's told to stop. We are trying to introduce discipline and set boundaries without it being a big deal. It's a tricky balance. We hope we're doing it right.
Wow.... long post tonight. Sorry about that. I'll upload some pics next time.
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