11 Months - Mobility, sippy cups, and new almost-words

The girls tried sippy cups on October 3 and Ada couldn't figure out how to get the milk out, but Julia and Emma eventually "got" it. They held it lying down and drank about 5oz each from it, but haven't figured out how to tilt the sippy while sitting up yet. Ada wants to play with the sippy cup, and she brings it to her mouth, but then becomes really frustrated when the milk doesn't flow. Darn those spill-proof valves. She wants it so bad, but couldn't figure out how to close her lips around the spout! I caved and gave her her bottle because she was getting very mad. My friend figured out how to "trick" Ada into drinking from her sippy cup. She performed 'thee olde' bait and switch. Ada was happily drinking from her Dr. Brown's bottle when my friend surreptitiously slipped it from Ada's mouth and substituted it with the sippy. Ada loves her bottle - she has started calling it her "tee tee." She whispers "tee tee" when it's time to drink. So cute.

Emma said "bye bye" for the first time on October 4 as I was leaving for work. It's pretty funny that Ada is saying "ta ta" in Afrikaans while Emma prefers the English. Emma repeated it after I said it, but now it's old hat. I'm trying to get her to do it again, but she won't oblige. Sometimes they're so sneaky. We'll say things over and over and over again, and then they'll repeat it once, with barely a whisper. And I'll go, "What? Yes! What you just said!" but no amount of excitement on my part will make them repeat it again. Sometimes I think I must have imagined it.

There is lots more copying going on in general. They now mimic one another with clicking their tongues. If one starts, they all join in. They sound like a little Zulu tribe. The only sounds I can consistently get them to copy are clicking their tongues and blowing raspberries. For some reason, they really enjoy making those sounds.

The speech therapist wants us to work on repeating sounds and words, and I'm starting to sound like a broken record to myself. But then, magic happens when you least expect it.

The day after Emma said "bye bye, she repeated "Woof!" (or some approximation thereof). I about died. I told her what sound the dog made earlier that day (Oct. 5), and clear as day, this afternoon she answered me "Bwoof bwoof" when I asked her about the dog. I think she's bored with the whole, "Where's Mama?" "Where's Papa?" "Where's the dog?" game I've been pestering them with.

They all can say, "mama," but not consistently, and they don't use it to call me... yet. I guess I should count that as a blessing that they're not calling for me specifically in the middle of the night. On October 7, Emma said "mama," but I don't know if she was just making sounds.

Emma can now stand for about a minute at a time without holding onto anything and looks like she wants to start taking steps. She's starting to cruise from object to object.


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On October 4, Ada cut her 4th bottom tooth, and 8th tooth in total. She has finally caught up to her sisters in the teething department. Ladies and gentlemen, between the 3 of them, they have 24 teeth. Wowzer. No wonder we haven't been sleeping much. Only 36 to go. Tee hee.

Ada's making lots of word-like sounds, but nothing recognizable yet (aside from the words I've mentioned before). She sounds like she's telling me a story sometimes. Very adamant, with intonation. She made "rrr" sounds for the first time yesterday before falling asleep.

She's also started saying "du du" - which means to sleep in Afrikaans - at bedtime.

Ada rolled a ball back to me on October 7. She has totally figured out the game.

On October 8, she said, "papa" to her dad. It was great that he was there to hear it, because she hasn't repeated it to me at all.

When Ada hands toys back and forth, she now says, 'ta' which means to give.

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Julia is standing for longer and longer periods every day, about 10 seconds at a time now. She is not yet cruising but looks like she wants to move while upright.

Julia started making many more sounds on October 7, including ones that are starting to sound like words.

She seems even more frustrated than usual with eating solids. She refuses to let others give her cereal in the morning, and has figured out how to spit anything out that she doesn't want to eat. Sometimes it's just a slow refusal. Stuff will go in, she'll taste it, and then it'll slowly ooze out of her mouth again. So messy and amusing to watch. I've just been going with it, keeping it happy, but it's been challenging. I feel like she's regressing - refusing pureed stuff she ate a few weeks ago.

I've been having her try different textures and foods, and just letting her play with it. She's more inclined to touch new foods, and sometimes will bring it to her lips, but won't actually put it in her mouth. Feeding them smaller pieces of spaghetti (mostly to play) is a riot. They wiggle it around, but then it accidentaly sticks to their face, hand or bib and they lose track of where it is. I intervene every now and then to help them locate it, and then I'm rewarded with a giggle when I hand it back to them. Who said you couldn't play with food? Despite the challenges, I love meal times. They crack me up.

More in a separate post about taking them to the acupuncturist for reflux in an effort to get them off the Pre.va.cid once and for all.