Lexi Talks (Well sort of)

Well, if you were starting to become annoyed with my more recent posts, you're not alone. I was annoyed by them myself! This is what happens when you spend too much time alone with infants and not enough with adults. Okay, it's a poor excuse, but I'm going to stick to it! I went back and edited last week's post a bit for sentence structure, spelling and grammar. I was in a hurry to get it out, but that's another poor excuse for laziness. I'll keep this post short and sweet in an attempt to get back on track; back to what's really important.
So, as the title implies; Alexis is finally babbling. Normally, babies start this by the end of 7 months, but Alexis decided to keep me guessing. Yesterday, in fact, I'd resigned myself to the fact that maybe she just wouldn't do it. That doesn't make any sense though, since I'm pretty sure that babbling is the necessary precursor to speaking. Anyway, this morning, while enjoying a luxurious sleep in, I dreamed that Alexis was in the next room and I could hear her saying Da da da da! very loudly. I went in and hugged her and praised her excitedly. But then I awoke from the dream to the same thing. Da da da da da! Over and over again. I called down to Ivan and asked if that was Alexis, expecting him to say that it was Mathilde, but it was indeed our Lexi! She'd begun babbling. And she hasn't shut up since! It is the sweetest sound, I can tell you. And the best part? Listening to both of my girls babbling away. We get Ma ma ma, Ba ba ba, Da da da and some ell sounds are starting to emerge too. It's so neat to see them try different things with their tongues. It seems to be related to eating too. As I give the girls progressively chewier things to eat, they need to figure out how to manage their tongues to avoid the food falling out of their mouths. It seems that as they do this, it gives them the idea to pair sound with the action and thus gives them more sounds to work with. I might be off the mark on this one, but it's what I've observed anyway. It's so fun to have new sounds filling the house.
I've included an extra, bonus feature for Nick and CJ, which includes our favourite furry beasty. I might add that this beasty is becomming more and more enamoured with his Gullies, while they just as in love with him. Alexis laughs and laughs at him and his antics, and of couse, they LOVE to pull his fur. River will put up with that for a little while but then he makes his escape shortly after the fur pulling has begun. Every once in a while though, he'll wander over to where his girls are and sniff at their necks, while wagging his tail wildly. When we return from being out, he greets them as missed members of his beloved pack, and he certainly loves them for the delicious morsels that fall on him as he waits below their high chairs. He's been so great with them and with me. He follows me upstairs when it's time to put the girls down for a nap and lies between their cribs until I'm done settling them, and he's with me when it's time to get them up. Mostly he leaves their toys alone unless he's being silly and trying to engage Ivan in a good game of Chase Me! Anyway, enough about River, though we'd be lost without him.
I apologize about the quality of the first video, (It's hard to film them when they're swinging), but I just had to get Lexi whacking Charles Tulo in the face while scolding him for being "bad bad bad." Well, not really, but one could imagine! Enjoy and we'll be back next week.

We're 7 Months Old!

It's hard to believe it but it's true! These Gullies have reached the ripe old age of 7 months, and suddenly they are completely different girls. Both Mathilde and Alexis are able to sit up unassisted for long periods of time (basically until they're bored or tired). They now sit on the floor with their toys and play together, which has been a God send for me. I can get up and do the odd thing while they entertain themselves and each other and so really, we've achieved a whole new level of independence from one another. It's also really fun to sit on the floor and either play with them, or just watch them play! I've become so juiced up about it all that I just ordered about 7 books on infant development, learning and play from the internet. This will probably only serve to drive me insane, but at least I can maximize our play time and set them on the right path.
We've made leaps and bounds in the food department. As you can see from the video, Ivan and I introduced fish to their diet last Sunday. It was a white fish (turbot), and we poached it in water on the stove to cook it. Then we just served it to them like that. They really seemed to like it, so I think we'll do that once a week. We're looking at starting them on tofu, yogurt and lentils next. Maybe we will even try some cooked egg yolk next week. They've been enjoying apples, pears, peaches, plums and bananas for their fruit, and vegetables include: squash, yellow beans, sweet potatoes, peas and carrots. For snack time they've been having rice crackers with some cottage cheese. I tried grated mild cheddar cheese, but we had a repeat of the avocado incident. Ugh.
So why fish? As you know, I've been a vegetarian for 20 years now, and I do not eat fish. Ivan, however eats meat occasionally and would enjoy more fish in his diet. I've never known exactly how I feel about raising children as vegetarians. I am reluctant to entertain the fact that is it unhealthy to raise them as such, because there is no scientific evidence (that I know of) to show that a child absolutely requires animal protein to grow up healthy. There is, however evidence that the introduction of the fatty acids that are found in fish can improve their chances of avoiding asthma, improve brain development and lower the risk for heart disease. On the other hand, we might consider the risks associated with exposure to mercury and PCBs. I might add as well, that we can derive the same benefits from eating what the fish eat (aquatic vegetables for example), but I do not know of a reliable source for such products. Dulse excluded, but I can't even get Ivan to eat that! How can you win? Ivan and I discussed what was important to us as parents and how our decisions would affect our children, and decided that although we both agree that a vegetarian diet is ultimately healthy, we have an obligation to expose the girls to all things that may be good for them. They will make this choice for themselves later in life. In the mean time, we can seek out the best sources for their meat (organic, locally produced, hormone-free etc). And for my vegetarian friends, yes I'm aware that it may be said that I have the ethical responsibility to teach my children about eating sustainable foods with the least impact on the environment while showing compassion to the creatures we share the planet with. I think I believe that you can do both. I, however, will remain a vegetarian as it is a choice that I've made for myself and works for me.
So enough of my lecturing. These last two posts have been fairly controversial, I suppose, but I want to include our beliefs in the blog somewhat for the girls. Ivan and I intend on collecting the posts and publishing them in a book at the end of the year. I think it's really important that they see our decision making process. They will always know that we love them, but it may not always be clear why we do the things we do. Next week, I'll be back to tales of the Gullies and their leaps and bounds, which is really what you want to read about. Never mind what the parents are up to!
Have a lovely weekend everybody!
P.S. Toni, the girls absolutely LOVE the books that the kids picked out for them. (I do too!) That little bee is delightful, and it's so much fun to dress the bear. Although I'm not sure exactly why he needs the mouse in his pocket....Thanks, and hugs and kisses to Nick and CJ from Tilly and Lexi. xoxoxo

Play Time

Yesterday on Oprah (yes, I get to watch Oprah sometimes) the show featured an eight year old girl who had been so severely neglected that she was essentially functioning at the level of a 6 month old baby. The story caught my attention for several reasons. First, while studying Developmental Psychology at university, I learned that in order to understand what role our environment plays on who we become, we need to essentially remove the environment to see what effects its absence has on us. For example; the best way see what effect play has on a children is to take it away at a critical period and see what happens. Well, that's unethical (good thing), so it becomes really hard to study such a thing. Basically, we wait until we find a child who has been very badly neglected, isolated and hope that the caregivers of the rescued child will allow us to study him or her. There are many studies conducted on children who grew up in orphanages where babies received very little stimulation; where there were 40 or more cribs lined up in a nursery and only the perfunctory care was provided. From these children we have learned that play (among other things) is absolutely essential to the well being of a child and future person. The other reason I was interested is because anything to do with 6 month-olds catches my attention these days.
So, what was the point of showing the world this little girl's story? There has to be some relevance or it doesn't make very interesting tv. It really just serves to fulfill the voyeuristic need in us. For me, at least, it brings home the importance of stimulating a child from her very first day on this planet. And not with TV, video games and stand-ins for human on human attention. Okay, I know that for some of you reading this blog, this viewpoint may offend, and it certainly is not my intention to do so. We don't have enough evidence yet to show us what effect (if any) all this has on our children. We will find out soon enough. But in the mean time, I can, with what I learned about how children develop, infer (as others have) about what might potentially happen. Oprah's guest (child Psychologist Bruce Perry) suggests that one potential outcome may be a generation of apathetic people with the inability to show empathy towards other human beings. As a result of reduced one on one interaction, these kids may end up simply not being able to relate to one another as adults.
Ivan and I have long discussed these issues. We don't have the solutions to the world's problems, that's for certain. But we do share an important philosophy about parenting. And that is that we both want to engage fully in our childrens' lives. That for us means, watching TV with our children (when they do start watching it), reading to them, playing on the floor with them and eating together as a family around our table. It means activating their imagination through play, pretend and games. As I write this I realize how arrogant I might come across. We didn't invent these concepts. Anybody who has been in the field of caring for or teaching children knows all of this and so much more. But it's something we both feel very strongly about, and we are always seeking out information on the subject. It sort of makes Mathilde and Alexis a hobby of ours, albeit a very important and time consuming hobby! And speaking of....I can hear said children upstairs, awake from their morning nap, "talking" with one another. That's my cue to get them dressed and saddle up the stroller for a nice, long walk.
Thanks again for reading, and have a wonderful weekend. P.S. check out the webpage for updated pics of The Gullies!