Movin' on up

Dean and Sam moved to another room at the daycare. Apparently, the room they had been on for the last 2 months was a transition room. New toddlers were coming in so they needed to make room for them in the transition room. The teachers felt Dean and Sam were the most ready. I suppose that is a good sign that the boys can handle change.

They placed them in the new room a couple days before to see how it went and the boys were fine, no crazy tantrums or reactions to the change. This past week was their 2nd full week and so far there was one incident where Dean accidentally fell on another child and that child bit Dean. No major wounds but Dean is a bite magnet. Sam has a nasty temper and loves to bite Dean. There are times when Sam gets so mad, he's ready to bite me but I give him an "I dare you to bite because I brought you into this world and I can take you out" look. He stops dead in his tracks. He is smart enough to know better than to bite his mama.

But Dean is another story. Dean is sensitive. In a word, he is a wimp. Until he learns to bite Sam back or learn to stand up for himself, he will continue to be tormented by his younger (albeit by a minute), smaller brother.

All in all, I like the day care. I met the owner and he is a good guy. I asked him to speak at my mom's group to provide insight into finding childcare and he brought lots of info to the table. I don't think I will ever be 100% happy with any place or any one caring for my kids. I am sure I would still have issues if my clone were to be their nanny. I guess because I am not 100% happy with the way I care for my kids. I could do lots better. I could feed them better foods. Not let them watch as much Backyardigans. Play chase with them and let them play outside to get their exercise and vitamin D. But I do love my boys and would do anything for them.

I think they enjoy their time at the day care. They get to play with other kids, interact with other adults and get some education and art sprinkled in with play time. It would be incredible if they learned their alphabet, counted to 50 and recited the 42 individuals who have been US Presidents (and know that Grover Cleveland served 2 terms) before they were 2. But for now, I think it is better to let them learn through play. Besides, I love the sound of their laughter.

Family full of sickos

Has it been 2 weeks since I posted? Well it has been the longest and most miserable two weeks of my life. (Other than the time Dean and Sam were in NICU, which were the longest and most miserable 3 weeks of my life)

For the past 3 weeks, I have been sick, the kids have been sick and starting this week, Rod has been sick. Since they started day care, it has been nothing but germs. Both Dean and Sam had been snotty and sniffling and coughing and all around congested. I took Sam to the pedi last month and he said it was upper respiratory and viral and he couldn't give them anything. Every few days, one or both of them would have a fever, over 100 degrees. We would give them infant pain reliever and after a couple of days, be ok. There was a day or two when the day care called and said that one of them had a high fever so Rod would take them out of school. There were days they would cough so bad, it made them throw up. Last Wednesday, Dean went to the pedi and he had an ear infection. His first. He was given antibiotics for 10 days. Two days later, Sam went and because he had been dealing with congestion for so long, he was give antibiotics for 14 days.

During all of this, I got sick. I thought it was just allergies but when the sinus drainage kept irritating my throat, my voice got hoarse. My throat was so raw, coughing, eating and drinking were terribly painful. I couldn't sleep for all the coughing. I would go to sleep with a cough drop and then I couldn't sleep for worrying I would choke to death on the cough drop. After 3 weeks of this and no sign of getting better, I went to the doctor and got antibiotics for 10 days. That was last Thursday. Wednesday was the first day my voice started getting back to normal. I am still coughing up junk but I can at least eat foods and not cry after every bite.

It is not a pretty sight having the entire family sick but with all of us on some form of antibiotic, I think we are on the road to recovery.

First 2 weeks in daycare

They boys started daycare the beginning of June. The first day, we both took them in so that I could go over some things with the teacher. We were the first ones there and Ms. teacher was excited to have the twins start. I left the room while Rod was still in the class so that they would not freak out too much. It was pointless because they freaked out anyway.

On the 2nd day, Sam came home very hoarse. I was not sure if he was coming down with croup again or getting sick but Rod seemed to think it was because of the crying. And he had been crying a lot. He was also very clingy with the afternoon teacher.

Towards the end of the first week, afternoon teacher said that Dean was adjusting well. He was not as social as Sam and tended to play by himself. When Sam would come over to play with him, Dean would walk away. Sam was more social and played with the other kids however, he was still clingy and teacher had to hold him a lot. Sam also did not nap well at all. He may go down for 30 minutes and so far, 45 minutes is the longest he naps. Dean naps very well, almost 3 hours every day.


During lunches and snacks, they eat well. I wish that their menu was a little healthier. They are not eating a bunch of junk food but I wish there was more fresh foods in their diet during the week. We packed them a sack lunch on Friday and made them a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. It was the first time they had that and they seemed to like it. We packed fresh fruit and crackers and teacher said they ate everything. Thank goodness they do not have any known or major food allergies and are not too picky. That is one thing I will say about feeding kids, it makes it so much easier when they eat the stuff you put in front of them.


They go outside and play no more than 2 days a week. I started noticing a farmer tan on Dean. We have requested they put sunscreen on the boys when they play outside. A 16 month old has no business having a farmer tan. Sam is white and will burn easily. Dean has my coloring so I am sure he will tan easily but for now, they need to be protected.


The second week started bad for Sam. The daycare called Monday and said that Sam had 101 fever and red ears. Rod picked him up and took him to the pediatrician. That was the first day riding the bus so I hurried over there. Silly Rod had taken both boys out of daycare and was having a hard time of it with two boys. I walked into the exam room and find Dean running around, Sam crying and naked and Rod with crap on his shirt and a look of exhaustion. I told him he was crazy for taking both boys.


Doctor said Sam's throat was very red and with lots of puss. He tested negative for strep. Red ears are a sign of fever and luckily there was no ear infection. We gave him store brand infant pain reliever that night and by Thursday, he was feeling better.

This 2nd week has been all rainy and wet so no outdoor play except Thursday. Tuesday, they came home with their first arts and crafts masterpiece. It was coloring with brown crayon a pelican and gluing spiral shells to the paper. My heart swelled when I saw them. Is that dorky? I sometimes still think of them as babies and how could they possibly have the hand eye coordination to attach shells to a sheet of paper? They are growing and learning and that makes me proud and sad at the same time. I like that they are in a daycare and feel we made a good decision to place them in a school rather than continue with the au pair program.





Dean may be the sensitive artsy person. He is very particular about his art projects. Sam seems disinterested and just wants to get through them. I will need to start photographing these because at this rate, I will have no room for art projects from two talented toddlers.

Sunday, Dean was cranky ALL DAY. He had a low grade fever and he spent the majority of the day crying and sleeping. I think his tooth is bothering him because he kept reaching in his mouth.

Their first 2 weeks weren't so bad really. They are getting adjusted to going to school. They don't fuss in the morning when we put them in the car seat. They seem to play well with others. The afternoon teacher said Sam has a girlfriend. Really? He isn't out of diapers yet. you must be out of diapers at least 26 years before you can have a girlfriend. I read it somewhere. I did.

Back to the GF. Sam puts his hand on this girl's shoulder and follows her around the room. Dean apparently is shedding his shyness. He was sitting at the table next to a girl and started laughing. This made the girl laugh which in turn made Dean laugh. You get the picture. I wish I could see them during their day. I miss out on so much by not being with them and getting to spend more time with them. But I know this is good for them. Maybe not the whole girlfriend bit, that can wait 25 more years.

Tang

It was a sad weekend for us. Happy and sad. We said goodbye to Tang, our au pair who has lived with us since the boys were 4 months old. After searching for potential child care for the boys last year, I decided to go the au pair route. It was a last minute decision so we had to find a match very quickly.

Tang was the first au pair I was sent as a match. She is from Thailand and the agency said her English was a 6 on scale of 10. Her English was so hard to understand that I passed on her. I was given 2 other au pairs and neither one appealed to me. I remember telling my husband that I had a very good feeling about Tang and that we should go with her.

The process went quickly and before we knew it, we were preparing our house to welcome a stranger. A stranger who would care for our boys. We were nervous because we didn't know what to expect. And nervous because we were entrusting our children to a total stranger.

I picked Tang up from the airport and she looked nervous and unsure. And she kept bowing to me in greeting. We got her settled in and went over things with her and the local area coordinator. Believe it or not, the first day I left her by herself with the boys, I didn't worry too much. We spent the day before going on their feeding and nap times. It did not take long for her to get a routine down. As the boys got older, it became apparent that she knew their schedules better than I did. She was like a baby whisperer. Sometimes it was aggravating how she would tell me how to take care of them but I guess that was to be expected. The kids saw her more than they saw me in a typical day. Rod would say that the hierarchy was me, Tang and then Rod. It was true. If I wasn't here, they seemed to gravitate towards Tang.

In the beginning, she would work her hours for the day and then go to her room for the night and we would not see her until she started the next morning. As time went on, she would hang around with us as we played with the kids and got them ready for bed. She truly became a part of this family. It was almost like having a teenage daughter.

She was always willing to help out with the boys. She was especially helpful when my FIL passed away and we went to visit family. She took care of the boys.

It's hard to imagine what it was like for her to come to live with strangers. Not knowing if the host family was decent or if they were crazy and demanding. I think we were laid back and easy going when it came to her living here. She got lots of weekends where she could go out and visit friends. It's also understandable that she would get attached to her charges. The boys have grown so much in the last year, it makes sense that she would grow to love them. And you could tell she loved these boys. If we had visitors who wanted to play with Sam and Dean, she would hand around to make sure they were ok. She would even hang around to make sure Rod and I were ok with the boys whenever were took care of them without the other spouse around. Maybe she thought we couldn't handle babysitting our own kids.

When her year was coming to an end, we debated keeping her on for another year. I decided that it would be best for the boys to start day care. They would be at that age where their language would be quickly developing and I was wanting a more structured environment for them. Of course I weighed the cost and the pros and cons. They would be exposed to more illnesses. It would be more out of pocket for 2 kids in daycare. In the end, we decided to let Tang go.

We had a surprise going away party for her on Saturday. Her au pair friends came to celebrate. They cooked Thai food and cleaned up. It was a fun day. She got to say goodbye to her friends. She wanted to keep the boys for her last night and she ended up with Sam. In the morning, she visited with the boys while waiting to leave for the airport. She started crying when she held Sam. I started crying. It was not pretty. That is the first time I ever saw that kind of emotion from her. Of course, the boys had no idea what was going on, they went about their playing.

She wrote the sweetest thank you card to us. She thanked us for everything and said how lucky she was that we were her host family. She wanted to visit when she got some vacation and have the boys say her name. Saying goodbye is so hard. You never know what will happen and if you will ever see that person again. We would love for her to come visit if she got the chance. She has another year with her new host family before she goes back home to Thailand. If she came to visit, I am sure it would not take long for Sam and Dean to remember Tang.

We will miss you Tang. The boys will miss you especially.



Rod will miss Tang washing the dishes every night.

Who's your daddy?

Tang is taking an English as a second language class at the community college. She started Monday and Rod has been driving her since she does not have a driver's license. Rod went to pick her up tonight and was waiting in the car. One of Tang's classmates saw him and asked her if Rod was her father. Tang laughed and laughed. But Rod has been in a sour mood ever since he came home. Kinda like grumpy old men.

I'm gonna think that's funny until someone asks me if Tang is my daughter.