Reading and words!

We are trying to read to the boys again. It's so hard to read them stories without them running away or taking the book. I read to them sometimes at night if I'm trying to get them to go to sleep but it's usually something I'm reading at the time. Poe used to knock them out!

We were worried that their language skills aren't up to where they're supposed to be. Every other milestone they are way ahead of where they are supposed to me.

Sunday, Joy and I made a list of all the words they know and to our surprise they are right where they are supposed to be . I looked on various websites to find exercises or things we could do with them.

That night, without much trying they started exploding with words. They are making a good attempt at trying to repeat us.

One of the exercises is to read to them. So this week, we both started reading to them kids books at night. It had been mostly ineffective. It is hard to keep them still for a story. They do like grabbing the book and "reading" aloud themselves. Which is really cute and awesome!!! But not so much for learning new words.

Last night, Joy suggested we do it at the dinner time with them strapped in. That was much more successful! They ate and watched us read and show them the pictures in the book. Joy and I both read them a different book.

We are also repeating words a lot as we are doing things. "Jacob is sitting on the chair! Chair! Jasper is sitting in the chair too! The chair!" etc.

We have a play outdoor grill and oven in their playroom that they have been playing with a lot lately. Last night, Jasper was playing with the oven and after he put stuff in the oven, I pressed the sticker buttons on it and said "beep beep beep". He repeated instantly! I then made a "shhhhh" sound when I pretended to put water in the pan. Jasper and Jacob both mimicked. Really cute!



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Going to sleep on their own

This was our method to getting the boys to sleep:

We start with giving the
boys a bottle of milk in their cribs. Sometimes they would fall asleep during or after finishing their bottle.

If that fails, we bring them back out to the living room where we sit and watch tv until they fall asleep or get antsy.

If they get antsy, I take one of them and walk around with them and try to rock them to sleep. After the one I have falls asleep, I do the same to the other if they haven't fallen asleep with Joy.

This method worked pretty well. Heck, they were going to sleep at night now!

The problem is that the boys were so used to this method that it made it really hard for Joy to them down for a nap.

So this weekend, or actually Sunday we started working really hard to get them to go sleep on their own.

So we gave them bottles and walked out until we heard them freaking out.

Instead of grabbing them, we made them stay in the cribs and Joy and I sat on the floor. I read to them. Joy would play music for them and sing. Or We both would sit silently reading to ourselves. But we did let them leave their cribs.

Sometimes I would get them to sleep by simply reading to them. Jacob seemed to be the first one to pass out but seemed to take a bit longer for Jasper.

The first night they were both out by 2am, then next 1am, followed by 12am. The last two nights they have fallen asleep on their own around 9pm.

Also they have been taking their naps easier!!

Let's hope this sticks up because it's really nice that they can go to sleep on their own and at a decent time. Shortly before they were pushing bedtime to 12-1am.

The only thing is now seems the boys are going through something, teeth or effects from the 12 month shots. Jacob woke up last night and had a big hissy and took awhile to get him to go back to sleep. He seemed in pain or comfy so I held and brought him to the couch. He didn't like that either, however eventually he fell back asleep. A couple nights before Jasper seemed the same way.

Reading and the Nightly Rituals

I've been majoring lacking at reading to the boys. I've been thinking it's time to start really reading to the boys at night. I was reading to them a lot during Halloween time because it's my favorite holiday and I love spooky stories. 

We got a nightly ritual going on now. Around 9pm, I'll change their diapers and grab their bottles of milk. Then Joy and I will feed them a bottle while watching a movie with the lights off in the living room. I'll leave the lights on in the hallway to give some light. 

I've been doing this for awhile to kinda let the boys know it's bed time. A lot of times they will fall asleep while drinking from their bottles. However if that doesn't work, I'll hold one of them and rock him to sleep. After I get one to sleep, if Joy hasn't gotten who she had asleep, I'll take him and do the same. 

So, last I incorporated a story before diaper changes. I read to them "A Flea In The Ear," a story about gullible dog and fox that tricks him. 

The boys climbed on me as I sat on the floor. They enjoyed trying to grab the book. I would keep moving it out of their direction as they kept getting closer and continued to read.  

After I finished, I realized that it would be a good idea to start reading as a part of the nightly ritual. I talked to Joy afterwards and she agreed.