Daniel decided he did not want his status as tooth front-runner to be in jeopardy. So in response to Rebecca’s first tooth three days ago, he decided to bust out tooth number four, the companion to his first fang.
I sure hope those middle two come in soon…
The score: Daniel, 3; Rebecca, 1!
Only 2.5 months after her brother, my girl popped her first tooth today. She’s been gnawing on M’s fingers something fierce, so it was only a matter of time.
As for the requests I’ve gotten for a picture of my son, Fang, I have to wait just a little longer for it to come in enough to show well in a photo. But believe me, it’s silly-looking.
I discovered yesterday morning, somewhat to my surprise, that Daniel has cut a new tooth (his third, Rebecca still has none). I suppose this isn’t a huge shock, as he’s been especially drooly and gnawing on everything in sight, but the budding tooth hadn’t been as visibly apparent as his first two. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking.
Anyways, it’s an upper tooth. But, interestingly, not one of the middle teeth. A lateral incisor, so it would seem, the one on Daniel’s left. It’s counterpart on the right appears to be on the way as well. Um, a little out of order there, buddy.
Either my son is getting fangs, or he’s just going to look like an old man or a hockey player, missing his front two teeth. Nice. That’ll be cute.
Another day, another milestone in my house! Saturday, after returning home from our new Sign & Sing class, I removed our trusty Graco SnugRide carseat bases from the minivan. I had been leaving the seats themselves in the car for the last week or so. It has just become too heavy and cumbersome to lug them in and out of the house with the babies in them. While the kids aren’t particularly close to the stated size limits (22lbs and/or 29in), it just felt like time to be done with them. Maybe if I had just one kid I’d hold onto it longer… but not with two.
[As an aside, I can't imagine purposefully getting one of the seats with even higher size limits... not only are the seats, themselves, even heavier, but lugging a 30-lb baby around in a carrier?! Good lord!]
This also, of course, means saying a fond farewell to our Double Snap N Go. Ah, the Snap N Go. My constant companion. You just can’t beat having a carseat stroller frame. It literally was used almost every day. It has gotten to the point, though, that I have sort of a love-hate relationship with it. Convenient and essential though it was, it also drives like a bus and can be kind of awkward and clunky.
Taking the place of the old equipment are two Britax Marathons (purchased on sale from Amazon.com last month, at a better price than Babies R Us, even with the twin discount), which are enormous but should last us a good 3+ years. For the stroller, we’ve been using our Peg-Pérego Aria Twin off and on all along, but now it’s the primary go-to set of wheels. The best part about it is that it’s quite lightweight. The downside, as is the case with many standard strollers, is that it can’t handle much more than flat, dry, unobstructed pavement. I’m not much of an outdoorsy-type, but I do like to take nice walks and could see the benefit of a more terrain-friendly stroller. So, I’m stalking Craigslist to see if I can find something (the Mountain Buggy Urban Double, if I’m lucky) for a more reasonable price than the $650+ for a new one.
Daniel & Rebecca are outgrowing (physically and developmentally) a bunch of things recently. The swing hasn’t been used in nearly two months, bouncy seats even longer. And today, we wave goodbye to their main mode of transport for the last eight months. In truth, we’ll use them once more when we fly to Florida in two weeks, but that’s the last of it. I have an email partially composed, ready to send to my MOT club listserv, to unload all of this baby gear on someone else. It has been good to us, and it’s all still in darn good condition, but I’m ready to see it go. There’s plenty of other stuff taking up space in our house right now.
If I sit and think about it, it’s a little bit bittersweet to think that my babies aren’t such little babies anymore. I think about how tiny they used to be in those carseats they’re now outgrowing. I think about how the Snap N Go was a lifesaver, that I wouldn’t have been able to leave the house without it in those early weeks and months. But then I remember what those first weeks and months were like. And I quickly snap out of it and remember how much happier I am now, with fun and nearly-mobile eight-month-olds, than in the hazy, hellish days of eight-week-olds. Yeah… see you later, newborn stuff!
Cross-posted at How Do You Do It?
Since the kids are sitting up reasonably well on their own these days, and because the splashing in the infant tub was getting completely out of hand, we’ve moved baths up to the “real” bathtub! It’s not an ideal setup, as our bathroom has kind of an odd layout, and we have sliding doors instead of a shower curtain. That may have to change, since it makes for a relatively small portion of the bath that we can actually use. But it’s a fun development, nonetheless. And Daniel definitely seemed to enjoy himself, splashing away with the washcloth. My kids are getting so big, so fast!
It’s 8AM, my kids are in their exersaucers while I’m checking email and catching up on blogs (thank you, Google Reader).
They are cracking each other up. This is just so damn cool. Rebecca is singing and shouting and making all variety of weird noises, and Daniel is laughing his butt off. This is one of those times when it’s really cool having twins. I’m not going to attempt to catch it on film, since that will no doubt make it stop. But the blog will serve as a record. So cool.
This morning, I got one of my “your baby this week”-type emails. This one is less bothersome than some. I had to unsubscribe from the Babycenter.com emails because they were freaking me out, making me worried my kids were way behind in development. But the one I got today is a little more middle-of-the-road, so I keep it. Well, it mentioned that, at some point in the seventh month, most babies start to develop object permanence. An exciting cognitive developmental milestone, for sure. And one, the email assured me, that would mean a newfound love of Peekaboo.
Today, in two separate incidents, my kids suddenly thought Peekaboo was the funniest damn thing they had ever seen.
The down side, unfortunately, is the beginning of clinginess and separation anxiety. But for the moment, I’m going to focus on Peekaboo. Because hearing Daniel crack up while I hold a towel in front of my face is friggin hilarious.
Daniel! On his six-month birthday exactly, the tooth has broken through. We could see yesterday that it was getting close, but just in the last few hours, you can actually see and feel that it has cracked the surface. We’ll see if #2 is far behind…
Whose tooth will crack the surface first? We’ve been suspecting it for a few weeks, but I really do think both kids are teething. I didn’t want to jump to the conclusion too quickly, since I know a lot of people say “teething” when their kids start putting everything in their mouth. But that’s just what babies do, not related to teething.
But no, my kids are not just exploring with their mouths, they’re full-on biting everything they can. Sleep and eating are disrupted, and they love it when you rub those sore little gums. You can even see the tell-tale white bumps under the gumline. Not super close to the surface, but something where there used to be nothing.
So, we’ll see whose break through first. Daniel’s appear to be more prominent, but he also opens his mouth a lot wider than his sister, so it’s hard to tell on her. It’s amazing the range of ages when babies get teeth. Some get them at four months, or like my neighbor’s son, some don’t get any until 14 months! You just never know. But it doesn’t look like it’ll be too long.
Of course, I said that with rolling over. It’s been since Thanksgiving, and both babies (Rebecca, especially) still just hang out all the way on their sides, twisted and contorted, about half an inch from going all the way to their tummies. I don’t think they really have any interest in completing the roll. Belly to back is no problem, but the other way remains elusive. Ah well.
By the way, in case you were wondering, I am continuing to fall in love with my new lens. What a difference it makes, especially when it comes to indoor photos (which is about all we do when it’s cold and snowy). Here you go, today’s drooly monsters…
Daniel took a two-hour nap this morning. It was delightful.
Rebecca, almost exactly two weeks after her brother, had her first honest-to-goodness giggle session today. It was hilarious.
It was a perfectly clear, crisp day for a walk around the pond – my first with the babies and M. It was just lovely.
The insanity of the extended nap strike seems to have passed (knock on wood), and we approach the four-month birthday with a slightly improved sense of control on things. The babies and I are even getting over our colds.
Whew.
