Chick's First Two Word Sentence

Since I say this phrase at least 100 times a day, I'm not surprised it was Chick's first two word sentence.

Pea said his first two word sentence last night, but we didn't get it on camera. Not surprisingly, it was "More milk". I hope to catch it on camera soon.

Oh Dear from Two Kayaks on Vimeo.

Family

Us.

The only way Pea would wear his hood is if I wore mine too.

These two have a special bond.

Just For Fun

I stopped taking the twins' pictures with their teddy bears a long while ago. If you've ever tried to get a toddler to sit still, let alone lie still for any length of time, you'll know why.
Today, I decided to try my luck at positioning the twins for a picture. I couldn't find Pea's bear, so I used Chick's bear for both shots.
The picture of the left of each shot was taken when Chick and Pea were two weeks old and the pictures on the right were taken today (just a few days shy of of being 15 months). Holy. Cow.

And just because...here are some other pictures from today.

Pea likes to alert us all of any danger he suspects.  This is our sign for danger (also "hot").

When Chick shows affection like this, I get all mushy-like.

Then this happens, and I come back to the reality that is our spirited Chick.

Breath Holding Spells

A couple of months ago, Pea got hurt while playing with a toy. No biggie. The kiddos hurt themselves often throughout the week as they are adventurous and playful. Usually, after a brief cry and some cuddling, each is okay to go on about their playing. However, this time when Pea hurt himself, we saw him do the silent scream (you know, the one where you wait for the BIG scream to come when they finally take a breath). Only, a breath never came. Instead, he lost consciousness. It happened two more times before we finally decided he needed to be seen. Of course, all sorts of scary things ran through our minds: epilepsy, ASD, a brain tumor, etc. Scary stuff for any parent. Thankfully, none of these is affecting Pea.

He was diagnosed with Breath Holding Spells.

Breath-holding spells are brief periods when young children stop breathing for up to 1 minute. These spells often cause a child to pass out (lose consciousness). Breath-holding spells usually occur when a young child is angry, frustrated, in pain, or afraid. But the spell is a reflex. It's usually not a deliberate behavior on the child's part. WebMD

I can say with every certainty that Pea's Breath Holding Spells are completely involuntary and, at 14 months old, I can only imagine how scary it must be for him. Poor little guy.

Although we were told that he will eventually "grow out of" these spells (whatever that means) the researcher in me couldn't help but spend too much time online reading stories of parents whose children died as a result of BHS. Apparently, there is a type of BHS that is made more complicated by vagus nerve problems. In all of my research, I wasn't able to find a method of diagnosing this particular type of BHS, but when we see Pea's pediatrician in a couple of weeks, we will be asking more questions.

On a bright note, it has only happened three times in the last couple of months and we may, in fact, never see him have a BHS again.  If we do, at least we will know what it is and how to handle it.  I just wish we could explain it to Pea.

Pea looking adorable as usual.

In The End Only This Matters

There is a shift happening in my life. I can feel it. More and more, I'm deleting certain blogs from my reader (and people from my life, for that matter) and adding others that focus on positivity, on compassion and on kindness. I want to build a life for my family and friends that is blanketed in all three. Truly.

After I watched the video above (take the time to watch it in its entirety) I thought about the ways people might remember me after I'm gone.

My parents and my brother will likely remember me as determined, stubborn, strong, and dependable.

J. will remember me as independent, strong-willed and loving.

Tanya will likely remember me as funny, tenacious, loyal, and odd.

My friends will likely remember me as loyal and funny.

My students will remember me as strict (remember a whole class decided I could take Chuck Norris in a fight), knowledgeable, and sarcastic.

I don't know that "kind" would be first on anyone's list to describe me. It's not a bad thing. I mean, the words above are pretty nice words I've given myself on behalf of others and the reality of it may not, in fact, be so accurate.  It's not that I'm not kind.  I know I am, but it seems like these other adjectives are more prominent. 

And so, I'm working on it.  I mean, aren't we all?

Clever Chick

I just spent the last 30 minutes of the twins' nap time listening to Chick (on the monitor) chatter away in her crib. I decided to head up to her room to see if she was anywhere near falling asleep. When I opened the door, I could not believe my eyes.

Every single item that is typically in her crib was on the floor. Her soothers (all five), all her stuffed animals, her blankets, and her crib mirror were all scattered about.

Also, she was naked. 

All of her clothes were in a heap on the floor as well. Thank goodness her diaper was still hanging on by a tab.

I burst out laughing and never stood a chance at keeping my composure to let her know this was not a good thing.

Sigh...this girl is something else.