At least he isn't biting...

We've been in daycare for about two months now.  And Jason just had his second parent-child conference with Zev's teachers.

The first one came after a particularly unusual day:  Zev had shown some unusual aggressive behaviors that day and the teachers were concerned.  Looking back, we believe it was the Claritin we had given him that morning, and we decided to give it only at night if he seemed to need it.  Sure enough, he didn't have any other aggressive behaviors (anti-histamines can have that affect on some people, a warning to all those parents who want to drug out their kids with Benadryl....)

Now it seems that Zev is having a problem 'using his words'.  When he wants something, rather than ask for it, he will grab it.  And if someone else happens to be holding it, well, sucks to be them...don't they know its ZEV'S TOY?  If he does ask for something he says he 'wants that'. 
"What?" 
"That" (maybe there will be some vague point or wave of a hand). 
"Tell me what you want". 
"I want THAT". 
"What's that?" 
"I don't know".

Obviously descriptive words are not part of his vocabulary right now.  "I don't know" is the answer to everything:

"What's on the page"
"What did you have for lunch"
"What did you do today"

I believe its just cognitive laziness, as he can be quite insightful when he wants to be or if you ask him the right way.   Jason feels perhaps we haven't been stretching him as much as we should be....and perhaps he's right.  I admit to being a little too dependent on the daycare situation now:  I know they teach him things there and he does a lot of activities, so I've been rather slacking in the home activities.  We haven't been as good at reading together or doing crafts or games together.  Yes, I have the 'but I have TWINS' excuse...but at the same time I don't want Zev to suffer because I have two 1.5 year olds tugging on my pants 24/7.

So enough venting and time for some problem solving...

There is some time after dinner and before Zev's bedtime we could do some good story time.  The girls are already in bed at this point, and it is just Jason, Zev, and me.  Perfect time for some individual attention.  The limitation is that we are all rather sleepy, but it doesn't take long to read a few books (provided we choose the right books...what was I thinking when I got those Horton books???).  I also had bought some workbook activities we could try.

At school they are going to institute a sticker chart:  every time Zev uses his words to ask for something he gets a sticker.  His perception of reward isn't quite 100%, so I'm not entirely confident that he'll get the concept, but we'll see.

Meanwhile the girls are doing well.  Fighting playing together quite nicely.  As soon as I pick them up at daycare they come over to me (no, they are not walking!!!  They walk on their knees, which is cute but come on...stop being so lazy!!!) and cry and push each other out of the way so each can have sole access to mommy.  They fight over who gets to sit in my lap, fight over food if they both have access at the same time (Meorah actually grabbed the whole handful of Goldfish from my hand yesterday and pushed Tzelia away from her while walking (knee-ing?) away triumphantly), fight over toys they both want, etc.  But they also play together quite well, trying to feed each other, kiss each other, play peek-a-boo together.  Neither will sleep if the other isn't also in the room with her, which makes nap time a little tricky if one isn't sleepy.  But we manage.

Still little 'real' words, although their receptive language is fantastic.  Whether or not they listen is another story...

"Stop ignoring me, I know you know what I'm saying!  Come here!"

So far, words I know they understand

Milk
Up
Daddy
Mommy
Vacuum (Our DustBuster is Tzelia's obsession)
More
Zev
Banana (what is it with kids and bananas?  It was Zev's first word)
Down
Meorah
Tzelia
Stop
Come here
Peek-a-boo
Kiss
Hungry
Girls
"Who's here"? (which is what I say when I hear Jason coming up the steps outside)
"Diaper change!"

Tzelia 'speaks' more than Meorah.  I thought Jason was going to melt when she said "DA-DEE" after I handed her to him the other day.  Most of the time she just squawks loudly like a bird, and a really ugly one at that.  Meorah has a softer voice and often just repeats "AH BA BA BA BA BA BA" and then will make raspberry noises while pointing at things randomly...maybe this is where Zev learned it from...

A much longer update, but my opportunies to write seem to be few and far between these days....

happy mother's day

And a happy one it was.

We have the tradition of doing Mothers Day Brunch at the Westford Regency, which is also where I had my Bat Mitzvah (gasp!) 20 years ago.  Its a very nice brunch:  buffet style, with an omelette, waffle, and carving stations.  Not too much kosher-friendly fare, but good nonetheless.

Me and my cherubs:

Grammie and the Girls

Zev and Grammie (he looks just like his daddy)

Aunt Julia and Tzelia (check out the eyelashes on her!)

I haven't been able to post too many pictures recently because we've been slacking on getting them off the camera and phones.  So I'll make a big picture post soon.

Update-wise, things are going well.  We think Zev has allergies and have resorted to giving him Claritin occasionally.  When we gave it to him in the morning, Jason ended up in his first 'parent/child' conference:  seems Zev was pushing and hitting others.  Since aggression can be a side-effect, we decided that when we do give it to him, to limit it to the night-time, so the effect is on the downside of the pK curve (can ya tell I work at a pharma company?).  He is thriving in daycare and I find it hilarious that he has all these new phrases he didn't have before.  The girls are doing equally well, although not walking yet (!!!!).  Just a matter of time.  We're back in our routine.

On my side, I seem to have bronchitis.  I've been coughing non-stop for the last few weeks.  And now I find that my abdomen is particularly sore, which I am attributing to all the coughing.  I'm debating calling my surgeon to go visit him; recovery from an abdominoplasty can take a year, so I am still under his care.  I know someone who broke a rib from coughing too much when she had pneumonia, and while the coughing hasn't been that severe, it has been daily all day, and that's a lot of 'use'.  I just don't have a lot of time as it is and don't want to make an appointment...

But I'll probably bite the bullet if the pain doesn't go away in a day or so.  I can't make an appointment for this week anyway:  too busy at work.  And then too busy at home....as usual.