Reelin' in
I realized that I haven't reported the amazing (to me, anyway) progress the boys have been making lately. So here's a highlights reel.
Gus went through a period at about 4 months where he was quite vocal, and seemed determined to make himself understood. Then at about 6 months, he backed off from that. I tried not to worry about that (thinking, of course, about the brutal spectre of autism -- not that I know much about it, mind you, but they talk about infants and toddlers regressing from their achievements as a sign of it) but Dr. Pixie kind of shook her head when I brought this up and laughed at me, and pointed out that babbling could wait until 8 or 9 months and all would be fine.
That was a good thing to hear, since not only had Gus gotten bored with the babbling he had been doing, but Sam had never really done it at all. Sam has always been vocal and indeed, rather opinionated, but it's the same sounds over and over. "Hoo hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo hoo!" was an early favorite that was still being used as late as yesterday, and indicates anything from interest to extreme happiness to anxiety. (It's all in the inflection.) "Heh ... heh ... heh ..." in a quiet little voice was what I called his happy sound (made often while he was nursing, and I have no idea how he made that sounds while his mouth was thus occupied, but he managed). That one was used a lot in the early days, starting while we were still in the hospital, but it only makes a rare appearance now. (I love it when it does, though. It's such a gentle, sweet sound.) An urgent "Moo! Moo!" could roughly be translated as "I expect a bottle right NOW, missy, and if it does not appear in short order there will be crying! I mean it! Countdown commencing! Ten, nine, eight...."
So you see that while Sam made his needs known, there was not much syllabic action going on. Not much in the way of consonants. Gus was not big on consonants either, to tell the truth, but the highs and lows, the apparent (though mysterious) meaning he could wring from "Ahh oooOOOOoooo... Ah, ah, ah. Ah ooo. Ah. OOOOOOOooooooo... oh. Ah. Oh," made it seem like there was slightly more, ah, there there. (Okay, okay, so they were both monosyllabic wonders. Well, that's why we write, isn't it, to make ourselves known to ourselves?)
At any rate, eveb as both boys decided to spring the same number of teeth in the same week, they have both decided at the same time to take up babbling as their new hobby. Consonants and everything. "Blue" is a favorite (as in, "Ah blue blue blue! blue! Ah!" but the big winner around here (and they're both saying it, starting just last week) is... drum roll please...
Mama!
Okay, it's usually more along the lines of "Ma, ma, ma, mama, ma. Mah. Ah, blue blue. Ma," but hey, I'll take that. Sometimes it's just the two syllables, which sounds mighty word-like. And when Gus looks right into my eyes and says it, or grabs my pajama legs as I am walking by, and grins up at me and says in his little gravelly voice, "Mama!" well, that's plenty good enough for me. Or when little Sam pulls his tiny thumb from his rosebud mouth and says it in his light little lyric tenor voice, I'll take that too, no questions asked.
In other news, we do not have real crawling yet. However, we do have standing (Sam with authority and confidence, probably because he's been doing it for over a month and a half; Gus -- who started standing only in the last two weeks -- with the appearance that he's doing it mostly because I want him to, but hey, he is doing it!). We also have scooting: Gus on the slow side, but usually forward; Sam with speed and flair but always backward. This has led on several occasions to me running into the living room from the bathroom or bedroom and frantically looking for a hysterically crying baby, and finding that he has managed to back himself completely under the couch. The first time I pulled Sam out from under the couch this way, it reminded me so much of pulling out a recalcitrant cat that I laughed so hard I had to put him down abruptly. (He gave me the nastiest glare at this, by the by, which of course made me laugh even harder and think I might have to run for the bathroom.)
The newest addition to the highlights reel is the "triangle sit," which consists of the baby sitting up unsupported, with his legs stretched in a triangular position like a dancer warming up. Sam has been doing this for a week or so, and has worked up into sitting this way for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. The advantage to the triangle sit, as Sam has realized, is that you can use both grubby, wet little hands on whatever toy you are currently mauling. (Gus will put up with the triangle sit if I am right behind him and help support him, but his heart is not in it yet.) As for Sam, I usually put a pillow behind him when he sits like this since he is not happy if he falls straight back from this position and hits his head (and who could blame him?) but he hasn't actually fallen from this position for a couple of days now. And D told me tonight that while I was gone for a little while and he was watching the boys, Sam apparently managed to pull himself up into this position from a prone position!
Wow. I can't believe how far they've both come.
Darn. I guess it's time to get serious about babyproofing the house!
Gus went through a period at about 4 months where he was quite vocal, and seemed determined to make himself understood. Then at about 6 months, he backed off from that. I tried not to worry about that (thinking, of course, about the brutal spectre of autism -- not that I know much about it, mind you, but they talk about infants and toddlers regressing from their achievements as a sign of it) but Dr. Pixie kind of shook her head when I brought this up and laughed at me, and pointed out that babbling could wait until 8 or 9 months and all would be fine.
That was a good thing to hear, since not only had Gus gotten bored with the babbling he had been doing, but Sam had never really done it at all. Sam has always been vocal and indeed, rather opinionated, but it's the same sounds over and over. "Hoo hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo hoo!" was an early favorite that was still being used as late as yesterday, and indicates anything from interest to extreme happiness to anxiety. (It's all in the inflection.) "Heh ... heh ... heh ..." in a quiet little voice was what I called his happy sound (made often while he was nursing, and I have no idea how he made that sounds while his mouth was thus occupied, but he managed). That one was used a lot in the early days, starting while we were still in the hospital, but it only makes a rare appearance now. (I love it when it does, though. It's such a gentle, sweet sound.) An urgent "Moo! Moo!" could roughly be translated as "I expect a bottle right NOW, missy, and if it does not appear in short order there will be crying! I mean it! Countdown commencing! Ten, nine, eight...."
So you see that while Sam made his needs known, there was not much syllabic action going on. Not much in the way of consonants. Gus was not big on consonants either, to tell the truth, but the highs and lows, the apparent (though mysterious) meaning he could wring from "Ahh oooOOOOoooo... Ah, ah, ah. Ah ooo. Ah. OOOOOOOooooooo... oh. Ah. Oh," made it seem like there was slightly more, ah, there there. (Okay, okay, so they were both monosyllabic wonders. Well, that's why we write, isn't it, to make ourselves known to ourselves?)
At any rate, eveb as both boys decided to spring the same number of teeth in the same week, they have both decided at the same time to take up babbling as their new hobby. Consonants and everything. "Blue" is a favorite (as in, "Ah blue blue blue! blue! Ah!" but the big winner around here (and they're both saying it, starting just last week) is... drum roll please...
Mama!
Okay, it's usually more along the lines of "Ma, ma, ma, mama, ma. Mah. Ah, blue blue. Ma," but hey, I'll take that. Sometimes it's just the two syllables, which sounds mighty word-like. And when Gus looks right into my eyes and says it, or grabs my pajama legs as I am walking by, and grins up at me and says in his little gravelly voice, "Mama!" well, that's plenty good enough for me. Or when little Sam pulls his tiny thumb from his rosebud mouth and says it in his light little lyric tenor voice, I'll take that too, no questions asked.
In other news, we do not have real crawling yet. However, we do have standing (Sam with authority and confidence, probably because he's been doing it for over a month and a half; Gus -- who started standing only in the last two weeks -- with the appearance that he's doing it mostly because I want him to, but hey, he is doing it!). We also have scooting: Gus on the slow side, but usually forward; Sam with speed and flair but always backward. This has led on several occasions to me running into the living room from the bathroom or bedroom and frantically looking for a hysterically crying baby, and finding that he has managed to back himself completely under the couch. The first time I pulled Sam out from under the couch this way, it reminded me so much of pulling out a recalcitrant cat that I laughed so hard I had to put him down abruptly. (He gave me the nastiest glare at this, by the by, which of course made me laugh even harder and think I might have to run for the bathroom.)
The newest addition to the highlights reel is the "triangle sit," which consists of the baby sitting up unsupported, with his legs stretched in a triangular position like a dancer warming up. Sam has been doing this for a week or so, and has worked up into sitting this way for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. The advantage to the triangle sit, as Sam has realized, is that you can use both grubby, wet little hands on whatever toy you are currently mauling. (Gus will put up with the triangle sit if I am right behind him and help support him, but his heart is not in it yet.) As for Sam, I usually put a pillow behind him when he sits like this since he is not happy if he falls straight back from this position and hits his head (and who could blame him?) but he hasn't actually fallen from this position for a couple of days now. And D told me tonight that while I was gone for a little while and he was watching the boys, Sam apparently managed to pull himself up into this position from a prone position!
Wow. I can't believe how far they've both come.
Darn. I guess it's time to get serious about babyproofing the house!
posted by Hetty Fauxvert at 11:13 PM
3 Comments:
they sound terribly advanced and very special - of course! what did you dress them as for halloween?
NOne of my kids were big babblers. I would have worried about Eric if he was little now, because EVERYONE has autism now. I swear, we know a bazillion kids on the spectrum. My ped says it's the new ADD. Anyway, he's fine, not even in school yet and reading on a 2nd grade level. The twins are pretty physical, but not so verbal. Not worried at all. Most of them do what they do when they're ready.
They sound incredible!
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