Well...

My boys have been somewhat slow to develop their linguistic skills. This was a little hard for me at first because I'm so, how to say it...verbose...loquacious.... So is our daughter, only about 10 times more than I am. The boys have been in speech therapy for about a year and they quickly reached a "within normal limits" range, but we continue with the therapy because A) there is still room for progress and B) they are obsessed with their therapist. Whatever Ms. H says GOES in their world. Serioulsy, it is like she is Santa Claus, they get so worked up and excited about going to see her every week. And I have to admit that I am almost as carried away with her as they are. She really and truly loves them (they are awfully loveable) and I love that about her!

In true twin form, one of them is a little more verbal than the other. He has always tried to do the talking for both of them, and for too long we let him do it. If W asked for juice, D got it too. If W asked for a snack, D got it too. We have finally gotten away from that as D will now tell you exactly what he wants and what he DOESN'T want. It's been so cool to see his personality emerge as his verbal skills are developing.

W's newest word is "well..." As in "W, what did you do at school today?" "Well....I...uh..." And he stops with that! It's too funny. It's like he's learned this new form, and he's not quite sure what to do with it, but by golly that's not going to stop him from using it! It's really cute.

In line with his newly found assertiveness, D's big thing now is "D's turn." Not "my turn" but "D's turn." Turn taking is tough for any 3 year old (and their parents), but with multiples, it's an art form, so it's good that they at least have the concept. It's a start!

And, frankly it's amazing that they, or anyone in our household, get a word in edgewise what with all the talking coming from the six year old, a.k.a Her Royal Highness, Princess McChatty. She's been saying things like, "Well, I prefer the pink one, although the purple one is quite lovely, too" since she was about 2 and 1/2. One of her favorite stories is when the boys came home from the hospital and she was about 7 days from turning 3, she asked me (amidst their tandem cries) "Mommy, is it time for the babies to go back to the hospital now?" And, for about 6 weeks after they were born, she asked me at bedtime every night if they would be back in my tummy when she woke up. Poor baby--she just did not know what had hit her! In retrospect, I'm thankful that she had the verbal skill she did so that she was at least able to verbalize her frustrations. Now that I have TWO 3 year olds, I realize that's not always a given. They have made such progress, though. I am sure that by the time the baby arrives, they'll be well able to express the same feelings their big sis had about them.

Now, I'm off to turn up the heat and go to bed. It is supposed to be in the high teens tomorrow morning. I really thought (okay hoped) that we left these temps behind when we moved from Chicago back to the balmy climate of Georgia. Oh, well...at least I know it won't last long here, as opposed to Chicago where the cold and wet and mud lasted until May.