What We Did Last Week (Week of 6/1/15)

Well, once again we had a pretty bummy week. Vivienne woke up overnight Tuesday with a high fever. I called the pediatrician and explained that Jules just got over Roseola and she said it was likely that was the cause. We started her on the piggybacking Motrin and Tylenol and she was doing ok as long as we keep up with that. Her fever broke this morning and within minutes there was the rash. At least she's more like herself now! Ugh, I hate when my babies are sick! Now it's time to give all the toys a bleach bath to make sure we rid our home of these germs!

Nature/Outside Time

Once again the heat broke finally and of course we're too sick to enjoy the nice days. We've been inside most of the time this week other than a trip to the grocery store on Monday.

We did go for a walk to the gas station so mom could get a coffee and we met another mom whose twins are my age who promised me it goes way too fast.  Then we met a "nice" old man who told us all about he wishes he never had any of his 9 kids because after his wife died he never saw any of them again. Yeah, that was lovely. I went home and held my babies tight after that and vowed to never do to them whatever he had done to make his kids stay away.

We finally got outside Thursday, Friday and Saturday and loved our new Sportbrella!

Sensory/Exploration 

Water play! Since we couldn't get outside much this week I was looking for something other than a sensory box to play with. When they finished their lunch one afternoon while I was still prepping dinner I just took their water cups and filled them halfway and put them on the trays. It took all of two seconds for them to dump them out and start splashing! Viv even tried to lean over and suck it up. I gave them some wash cloths to soak it up and they thought that was so funny as it changed texture right in front of their eyes.

We've also been doing lots of sensory experiments with the foods we eat. Jules doesn't like to touch things that are too mushy like bananas or avocados but she will happily eat them if I give her a spoon to hold. Viv will dive right in and make a huge mess.

Music, Movement and Games

We listened to two new playlists this week on Spotify: Hipster Youth and Sing-Along! We also started making our own music with our shakers, coffee can drums, play xylophone and jingle bells. Daddy played the harmonica and the guitar for us too! They seem to really enjoy listening to Mom sing and Dad play, while they bang along, we're thinking we should start a band!

We enjoyed a visit from mom's cousin Abbie and their cousin Jillian who had so much fun using the tunnel with Viv and trying to get Jules to crawl. Viv is pulling herself up on anything and everything and even starting to scoot her way around the coffee table and the couch! Jules is right there with crawling but doesn't seem to want us to know she can do it! I've watched her out of the corner of my eye take two full crawls forward then drop to her belly and cry when she notices I'm watching! She seems to enjoy chasing a ball so I've set those up randomly throughout their play area to see if she goes for it!

They are finally big enough to really jump in their jumperoo! It only took forever, some kids are close to growing out of them by now, but it was worth the wait to see their faces when they started bouncing! They are also great for pulling up so we leave them out all the time now so Viv can practice her skills and also so we can pop her in a safe space if we need to use the bathroom or let the cats in or out!

We started playing a new favorite game this week too: Chase and scare the crap out of the cats. Vivienne has a brand new talent of finding them in their hiding spots (under the table, in the cat bed or on the couch) and pouncing on them before they even know she's there. Let me tell you, I don't think they enjoy it as much as she does!

Favorite Toys:

Little People Circus - This was given to us by a friend of Nova's and I hadn't taken it out yet but we brought it out for cousin Jillian to play with. Well they enjoyed it more than she did! Of course they don't actually play with it but they love the feeling of the people and skateboard in their mouths!


 
Wipe box - Amazing how something so simple can keep their attention! I gave them each an old wipe box to play with and they sat for about half an hour just opening and closing it. I filled it with cloth wipes and small balls and they reached in and pulled them out and shook it up. So fun!

Cups - Whether it's their straw cups, plastic adult cups, or their 5 oz. bottles filled with water they just love playing with them. They're supposed to be drinking from them but instead they prefer banging, dumping and rolling them!

Mirrors - They LOVE looking at themselves now. I will give them their handheld mirrors and they will "talk" to themselves and make faces then giggle. They also find their way over to their long mirror and bang toys on it and touch their faces. It is so cute!

Favorite Books:

I wrote about it last week but we are still obsessed with the Peek-a-Boo book! I can't get over how excited they get when I pull it out. They make the funniest sounds looking at the other babies! I am working on making a picture book for them of magazine cut-outs of babies and pictures of themselves.

Another book we are loving is Peek-a-Boo Forest! It's a soft book with lots of little crinkly bits (always been their favorite!) and beautiful colors. We've been reading it before bed most nights and they actually sit through it as long as they can play with it after!

Here's hoping this is the last sickness we'll have to deal with for a while and that we get our hands on a good baby gate to keep them contained when we go outside because I'm not sure how I'm going to wrangle two babies on the move! Have a great week!

Xo,
Maigen