XOXO

The babes are growing more and more affectionate with one another and with us. Lucia, our most social being, has taken to laying herself down on her brother and sister and administering hugs to them. This kind of reminds me of when she'd take rides on Mazie and Elliott during their crawling stage, but they like her hugs better than they like transporting her places.

Another Comparision

'Tis the season for another holiday comparison photo. Above are the best two photos from our trip to the Christmas Tree farm last year during Thanksgiving weekend. Below are the two shots we were able to get at the Christmas Tree farm today. Somehow I thought taking photos of three beings would get easier. Silly me. At least we have preserved the occasion so we can remember these happy times years from now.

Christmas Tree Farm

Today we went to the Christmas Tree farm to pick out our tree with the children and our friends Kevin and Karen. We were able to get out between rain showers and pull the babes around in their new wagon (thanks Tia Karen, Uncle Jon, and Cousin Avery! We love it!) and walk around some. The children really love picking up leaves and acorns and pine straw.

Here are Lucia and Mazie trying to decide on a tree.
On our way back to the car the children decided that Kevin needed some help with the wagon.
Mazie helped steer and Lucia and Elliott pushed.
Elizabeth Lu:




Elliott K:



After falling on the muddy ground:
Mazie Bell:

Chili

"You should taste my mama's chili."

A Few More Photos

Here are a few photos of the babes from Thanksgiving Day. Lucia is checking out the Holly berries.

Elliott was loving the leaves and acorns.




This sequence is of Mazie watching her brother and sister get a cookie before she does.


Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a good afternoon up at Nana and Papa's eating the traditional holiday fixings. We hope you had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

The top photos, as you have most likely figured out, is LEM from last Thanksgiving. The photo below is from today: LEM. My, how they have grown.

Fire

We have heard that we are in for a cold winter this year. Here is what the Farmers Almanac says about this winter in the deep south:

Winter will be much colder than normal, with temperatures one to two degrees below normal, on average. The coldest periods will occur in mid-December, early and late January, and mid-February. Precipitation will be below normal in the north but well above normal in the south. Snowfall will be above normal in the north, with the snowiest periods in late December and early January.

So far we have had two nights of hard freeze, one night getting close to 20 degrees. This past weekend we built our first fire since bringing the babies home. They liked watching it. It kept us all toasty until bedtime.

Signing Time

Signing with the babies has been one of my favorite activities over the past year. H and I used certain signs for months before the babies ever signed back to us. They knew what we were signing for months, but didn't start signing themselves until they were over a year old. Right now they have a few signs they make, usually with prompting, though it is fun when they walk into the kitchen signing milk on their own accord.

My two favorite resources for signing are Signing Time and www.lifeprint.com. Signing Time is a television show for kids. We have the first book and DVD. This book is one of the babes' favorites. They know what some of the pages are asking them to sign. I like the DVD because it has two songs that we can sing and sign. The lifeprint site has the best explanations for how to make signs. The site was created by an ASL professor. Most of the words I look up on it are there.

What I love about this stage in our signing is to see how the babes deliver the signs. For example, here is how ASL says to sign please:

The sign for "please" is made by placing your flat right hand over the center of your chest. Move your hand in a clockwise motion (from the observer's point of view, use a circular motion towards your left, down, right, and back up) a few times.

Lucia's version of please is to do the "roll the dough, roll the dough" of Patty Cake: rolling her two fists around in a circle. Every time we say "say please" she rolls the dough.

The sign for milk is to squeeze your fist as if you are milking a cow, kind of like a beating heart. Mazie likes to move her fingers individually, as if she were impatiently tapping her fingers on a table, instead doing it on her hand.

Sometimes I try to think about what the children are seeing. What do they think of all these dances we do with our hands? Two of the signs we use are very similar: more and shoes.

More:
Sign: MORE Handshape: Both hands use a semi-flattened "o" Location: Normal signing space in front of the body Orientation: palms facing each other Movement: Inward. Bring both "flattened-O" hands together.



Shoes:
The sign for "shoes" is made by closing both hands, thumbs facing. Gently strike your hands together twice.


The babies usually sign more for shoes. We've been signing more a lot longer (parents generally start teaching signs that pertain to eating) so that is the habit or what is in the babies' heads. I wonder what they think since the signs are so similar. Perhaps they think their parents are crazy. The babes will sign shoes; it just looks like more than shoes. And Lucia, who loves to use her pointer fingers for everything, signs more with her pointers, rather than all four fingers.

Elliott has his own version of all done. Here is how ASL teaches to sign all done:

---

FINISH / over / done The sign for "finish" is made by placing both of your open hands in front of you. Each hand should face you, with your fingers pointing upward. Twist both hands quickly a couple times ending with the palms pointing (somewhat) forward. You can also do this sign with just a single twist which makes it seem more "final."

Elliott's version of all done is to take both hands, hold them up in the air, and sign milk with both of them. He uses the milk sign a lot. I just told him to go pick up his book, and I signed book. Elliott, while walking over to his book, signed milk with one of his hands. He understood book, but I would love to know what he was thinking as he went to pick it up while signing milk.

Have a good day and
.