15 Months

We are back from California and I am still recovering from flying across the country with two 15 month olds, it was CRAZY!! Each time, I say "never again," but then a few months pass and I decide that seeing my family is worth it (though, during the 5 hour flight, I seriously begin to doubt it) and so I do it again! We also switched health insurances again so we had to schedule a doctor appointment for less than 12 hours after we got back to DC. Bad idea... but thankfully the boys never really adjusted off of east coast time, so they weren't total nightmares that day.

We woke them up just 10 minutes before we had to leave and brought some water and snacks along with us. We were 20 minutes late of course, because it took us a little longer than 10 minutes to get out the door but at least I had Brandon with me this time! Thank goodness they didn't stick to the "15 minute grace-period" rule!

But there's nothing like a doctor appointment in snooty DC to make you feel like the most inadequate parent on the planet. We currently go to a practice that has 5 or 6 doctors and we never know which one we're going to see. There are a few that we love (like the ones that cared for them during their pneumonia), but a few that aren't my favorite. We saw one of the non-favorites this week and he had a long list of things we were doing wrong:

*The boys are too old to still be drinking from bottles, we should have switched them to only sippy cups a few months ago. (They do drink from sippy cups during the day, but at naptime and bedtime, I still give them their milk in bottles).

*They're getting too much dairy which is the cause of their constipation so we need to cut back on the milk. (Hmmm... this isn't going to go over too well with Cullen. That boy LOVES his milk! But I am glad we finally know why they have frequent problems with constipation so we can remedy it)

*They should still be riding backwards in their car seats for another few months. (I had always heard that we could switch them once they were 12 months and over 20 pounds. We just switched them about 2 weeks ago because their feet were getting cramped against the backseat but I guess we'll have to switch back again)

*We should never give them juice. Ever. (They only get juice like once a week- tops. But I answered yes when he asked and then didn't want to sound like I was making excuses, so I just listened to the lecture about how juice is just added sugar and has no nutritional value.)

*We should be brushing their teeth twice a day, not just once. (Oops! That's a lot of teeth brushing for Mommy to do!)

*They also have a "slight delay" in their speech but not yet a "true delay" that we should worry about. (I already knew this but I'm not worried at all. I also wouldn't really be surprised if they still weren't saying anything at their 18-month appointment either, they don't seem very close right now at all. Who knows, though? Maybe that will change quickly and they'll be saying Mama and Dada by next week?)

*He also implied that the reason they're not speaking yet is because I don't read to them enough. (Really? I try to read to them a lot but after a few pages they just slam the book shut on my hand, laugh, and then throw it across the room. I guess they don't have much patience for books right now. But I do talk to them all day long, isn't that enough?)

*They have a few other small delays in motor skills but again, I'm not surprised, they've been late bloomers at nearly everything and always catch on eventually. Plus, I know that they can do some things like waving, but just choose not to most of the time. They've known how to clap and point for months, but just recently started doing both more often. They were late walkers but now they're literally running around. I know they'll do everything in their own time.

Don't worry, though, there were a few good things from the appointment ;-) They're both growing steadily and right along the curve based on their birthweights. Jackson weighs 22 pounds, 4 ounces and is 30 3/4 inches tall. Cullen is 23 pounds, 8 ounces and 30 1/2 inches tall.

The doctor was also very surprised that they had zero stranger anxiety. He said nearly every single child in the 1-2 age range has some degree of stranger anxiety, but not our boys. I've known this for a while now, and I am always amused by it. How many toddlers are literally jumping out of their parents' arms into a strangers' arms? Or straight-up refuse to hold their parents' hands when walking in a crowd? Or walk right up to a stranger and hug their leg in an airport? Or smile at the strange doctor sticking things in their ears and noses? I don't know where they get that from but I am glad for it now. It's nice that we've never once had to be paged during church, or that they don't throw tantrums when we leave them with babysitters. They may be slightly behind in motor skills and speech but they're socially advanced. Take that snooty doctor! Just kidding, I know he was just trying to be helpful and at the end of our appointment he said the boys are "just fabulous" and "very healthy."

Oh, and we took his advice and did try to switch to sippy cups at naptime and bedtime yesterday and it was a total disaster! The boys both went crazy, screaming at the top of their lungs, hurling the cups across the room and dumping all their blankets and stuffed animals out of the crib. At one point, Jack even tried to take his clothes off and throw those out of the crib too. I went back in several times to try to settle them down but each time I left, the crying just got louder and louder. I never realized they were so attached to their bottles until we tried to take them away! Well, I eventually gave in and poured the milk into bottles and they were happy as could be. They laid right down, closed their eyes, drank their bottles, and fell right asleep. Oh dear, I always thought we did such a good job training our kids to sleep, like that was the one thing we did right. They never cry at naptime or bedtime, we just put them in their cribs, give them a bottle and they don't make a peep until morning. (Yes, I know it's not best to let them fall asleep with milk because it's bad for their teeth but they fell asleep so easily with their bottles and I would have been giving them milk right before bed anyways so I didn't see the big harm in giving it to them while in bed. But I guess I did that wrong too!) Now we have to start sleep training them all over again but without bottles or pacifiers (they don't like these anymore) or swaddle blankets. How the heck are they supposed to fall asleep then? Should I just plop them in their cribs and let them cry it out? Should I gradually move onto sippy cups at naptime? Should I not give them anything in their cribs and just try to train them to fall asleep all by themselves? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Anyways, we have a very busy weekend and I really have got to straighten up my house because we're having company over tomorrow and Sunday (I'm making Easter brunch- yikes!!) I will try to post my California pictures soon though!