and even more joys....

15. Have I mentioned how much my girl loves music class? Look at her- sitting nowhere near me- having a blast!!


16. Fur Real Kitty, "Lulu". Yep- this is Violet's Christmas present. So ridiculous, but she loved it in the store, and she really never loves any toys. She adores animals, but is usually afraid of mechanical, battery-operated ones. I think she might actually think she's getting a real cat. JOY!

17. clean toddlers + kisses = big time JOY!!!

18. vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy sheets! Yeah!! I had to change Ollie's Thomas the Tank Engine sheet off of his bed today and the only other set of twin sheets we own (now that we're out of the crib mattress!!) is this pair- which used to be mine as a little girl! Made me happy. I also have a matching sleeping bag for future sleepovers. hee hee.

19. A moment today. I took the kids to the mall- a quick trip, just to pick up a few things. Piled them in the stroller which they haven't done in a while. I'm sure we are a sight at the mall- our big double-wide stroller, Oliver still in his Spiderman slippers, Violet refusing to take off her mittens or hat yet still guzzling her baba...suddenly Violet scream-sings out, "RUDOLPH THE RED -NOSED REINDEER!". One second passed and Ollie answered, "HAD A VERY SHINY NOSE!".

Reader, they sang the whole song, at the top of their lungs, taking turns with each line of music. Crazy bliss.

20. my follow-up from yesterday. I don't want to make this too wordy, but I also want to really make clear just what a blessing this was.

If I had to name the top five most difficult things about having a child with special needs, one of the things included would be the IEP meeting and all that comes with it. IEP means Individualized Education Program. It's something I'd never knew existed before Violet. It's updated every year, more often if needed, and can include any and all members of your child's team (you as parents, therapists, case manager, etc.).

The difficulty comes here, for me, in twofold:

1. as autism is the one diagnosis that presents itself differently in every child, there are no clear-cut means of treatment; every child is unique in his or her needs.

2. as much as I am fighting for the best for my child, it's the county's job to spend as little as possible. Bottom line.

We've been working on Violet's IEP since she turned 3 in June. We have ABA providers for her that aren't covered by our county; they'd prefer to use their own therapists. Ben and I decided to fight to keep our providers and this has been ongoing. We were told to expect, in this order: 2 meetings, mediation, due process and then court, if needed. We were ready for this, and ready to fight; we felt that strongly.

We had our first meeting the week before Thanksgiving, and it was civil, but no one seemed ready to budge. We talked about dates for the next meeting.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, we got an e-mail yesterday.

They're letting us KEEP our ABA. And paying for it. No more meetings, no money out of our pocket, no need for Mama to put on her boxing gloves.

Best. Christmas. Gift. EVER.

new updates...

*Violet is biting again. A LOT. Right now, Oliver literally has five huge welts/bite marks on his arms, and last night she bit him on the back while they were in the bath tub. I'm still doing the time-out chair, but Violet is pretty unaffected by the whole thing. Sigh.

*Oliver has two new favorite words: "truck" ("TUK!") and "tire" ("TAAAAHR!"). Trains, trucks, buses, pretty much anything with taaahrs have all become part of our daily activities. Every truck we see driving ("TUK!"), everything with wheels in our house, even talking a walk down our street, we get waylayed onto the curb in order to touch the tires of any car. I'm hoping to get him this for his birthday -they have one like it at the Please Touch Museum and he loves it.

*Violet took a terrible spill yesterday. So sad. She was throwing a ball and then running after it, but lost her footing and fell, face first, right to the ground. Poor little peanut! Her little nose is all scratched up now.

*My sweet girl said "I love you" yesterday. Yes, we know she has no idea what it means, but still heart-melting. She also counted to six the other day, on her own!

*Violet is obsessed with her belly button. No, honestly, obsessed. I think it's because it's suddenly too warm for onesies anymore, thus giving her easy access to the belly! Sometimes she walks into a room and her tummy is all red and blotchy; she's been poking too much!

*We were in the car the other day, and Oliver was in the back saying this mantra, "Mama! Dada! Sissy! Ollie!" over and over. I think he knows his family!


more soon....

cuteness overload.....

Oliver LOVES his ravioli!

I really thought this might be their 1st kiss!!


who knew baths were so funny??

spaghetti

The other night, the babies had their first spaghetti dinner. It was truly an event! Violet was somewhat contemplative about it, studying each strand before eating it, and not too fond of the sauce. She also REALLY like throwing it, one noodle at a time, onto the floor. Oliver LOVED the spaghetti. He had four helpings! Loved the sauce, loved the way it felt in his hands, often had one piece sliding down his throat while getting the next fistful ready.



I wish I could blow this photo up more so you could pan up; it's like" messy floor, filthy high chair, dirty tray, happy Violet! I love that her feet are crossed in contentment, too!

"Hmm....what is this stuff you call, 'Sghetty'?"

Tasty!

Oliver, up to his elbows in tomato sauce.

This was when he had a strand of spaghetti half down his throat, half still on the tray, and needed to stop for a quick laugh. Too funny!

Right into the bath as soon as they were done- what a mess! I love that you can see V's snaggleteeth, too!

water babies

I wanted to post these latest bath photos because we got such great shots of Nanny McPeanut's new teeth coming in! Both of top two have burst through (hooray!), but nothing on bottom yet. As you can see from the photos, we've gone back to bathing in the kitchen sinks, partially because of Ollie's new fear of the tub, and partially because it's so much easier for me to do when Ben isn't home. I KNOW my kitchen is hideous and getting worse by the day (and by the bath)....

the next few are of Grammy's visit the other day- Violet was SO snuggly after getting up from her nap! Oliver was entranced with "The Wiggles", and plopped himself right down on the cushion.

happy day to all mothers!

Oliver loves the water!


Oliver hates the water....



Violet goes crazy!



Just a quick post with some funny new videos of the twins in the bath. We've moved bathtime upstairs in a big duck in the actual tub. The babies are both obsessed with dunking their faces in the soapy water and sipping it. Violet also likes to try to stand up and crawl out. Very funny and very messy. Enjoy!

bathing beauties

Violet and Oliver: just a big tub full of
chubby babies! Violet is so happy and...what's that Ollie up to back there?



Oh...a quick nibble on his sister's foot, of course!

bathing beauties

Holy cow! How did we ever get so lucky to have babies as beautiful and happy as these? With the photos side by side, all 18 lbs of Ollie's gut is showcased (and we love every last ounce of it!), and Violet was so content last night, kicking her heart out in the tub (we'll post the video of that when we can)! Not much else to report- just needed to share the warm fuzzies with our loved ones.

warning...nudity ahead!

It was time to take the butt photo.. O and V didn't enjoy it much, but it needed to be done.