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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Marley and Moises

Marley and Moises

Marley and Moises are "The Brothers" or "The Guys" or "The Babies".  They have been titled by various crowds within our world.  The look kind of like Arnold and Danny in the movie "The Twins."

Marley is Baby B and was born second three minutes later than Moises.  He is about 40 pounds heavier and 7 inches taller.  He is a love machine.  He loves to talk to people, he is loud, he is a hugger, and he is my biggest littlest baby.  He is a great life loving little boy.  He is the social publicist representing both he and his brother.  Most of the time will do the talking for both if Moises doesn't feel like engaging.  Marley is super strong like Mr. Incredible.  He really has no idea how strong he is but he is kind of like Godzilla walking through the big city everything moves and shakes and gets knocked over.  If he lays on Grandma and falls asleep she is unable to move him and has to wait to be rescued.  He is great at moving things and doing heavy work.  He learned to ride the bikes first and learned to skid out when turning which was really progressive for him.  He is turning out to be a great athlete as well.  He needs a few weeks to get it all together but once he does he is great!  He really perseveres and when something is difficult he doesn't stop until he gets it.  He is also my artist.  He creates these amazing pictures that are way above his age.  When he first started Kinder he had the hardest time writing his name.  He gets some OT and PT to help him a bit in preschool but he just had to wait until he was mature enough to do it.  Now he writes and draws beautiful.  Marley is my bookworm and loves to read.  Marley loves loves loves him some Thomas the Train.  He has a huge collection and can tell you anything and everything you want to know.

Moises is Baby A and was born first and has not stopped being first since then.  Moises is the more compact version of the two we never say smaller because that may ignite a competition.  Since the moment he could recognize people until he was over a year old he would cry his face off.  He did not like anyone outside of his immediate family.  I never had a child like that so in some ways it was so funny and others it was interesting trying to keep him from fearing everyone.  He has outgrown that, thank God, but he is still the more reserved not so quick to talk to you if he doesn't know you kinda guy.  Takes him a minute.  He's not shy he's just particular.  When they were little we had stationary jumpers and exersaucers.  In the jumper he would jump himself to sleep it was hilarious.  When they were babies he kind of resembled the glow worm doll and he was the more mellow kid.  He would just look around and Marley was the mover and shaker.  As it turns out Moises has turned out to be a superb athlete.  He just picks up the sport and plays everything with such skill and precision and wants to win.  His competitiveness definitely does well in this arena.  He just gets that blank look when playing on his face that only a Jordan or a Kobe can understand.  He has made All Stars for every sport he played so far.  We are like All Stars at 5? But they do have them now.  Times have changed. Moises loves numbers.  We are constantly going through math or numbers combinations and scenarios.

They were six weeks early (born five and six pounds) but seemed to develop exactly how they should.  They walked at ten and a half months and were very active.  However, it started to concern me because I wasn't hearing words form the way they should.  When I started to bring it up I heard everything.  They are boys and twins and this is normal.  They are twins and they have their own language. Don't worry they will talk and when they start you will be sorry.  However, all of those things may have been factors but regardless by the time they were two they still weren't even saying mama.  So, I am not one to wait on things like that and got all the testing going and got them into early intervention programs for Speech and Occupational Therapy and a preschool program that was designed just for this. 

For one year it was a full time job getting them to all the therapy appointments, the preschool that I had to be at with them, and any other appointment they had.  Because I am an older mother (lol) I had worked for 23 years at my job I was able to retire once I had them.  I say that because yes it was lucky but if I had to work during the time they needed all this help I would of never been able to do it or would of lost my job.  I really developed a compassion for parents who struggle with this when their children need help and they face so many obstacles.  Of course the earlier you get the help the better off they are by the time they start school but it is not easy and can be extremely time consuming and costly.

Both of them got Regional Center Services until age three then the school district took over.  They both started a Speech preschool at the school district and that was the first break in three years I had for 3 hours a morning.  I took them and the school bus brought them home.  Moises stayed for the first year and graduated.  Marley stayed two years until kindergarten.  It all paid off because now they are doing so well and love school.  I would do it all over again if I had too.

Moises ended up staying home with me the second year.  He did not want to go to any preschool.  We tried a couple out but did not want to go.  Again, I got all the advice about keeping him in a school etc. but I followed my instincts with him and I felt he needed this break.  They had been in and out of all this therapy and schools since age two that now he just wanted to be home with me and rest.  I knew once he started Kinder there were no more breaks.  Most "schools" for preschool are day cares and I didn't need a day care and they all wanted 300 to 600 for part time.  I exposed them to a lot and worked on all the preschool stuff at home so we opted to follow our instincts and let him stay home.  Once Kinder came he was ready.  He was excited he had a rest and it has be great.  I am really glad I let him be a baby one more year.

Marley still exhibited some Sensory issues and still gets some OT to help with that.  He was given a diagnosis of PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorder.  This has helped him get the services and accomodations he needs in school so that he is not just accomodated academically but understood.

Sensory issues are such an unknown and it took me a long time to grasp what that meant.  Marley is impuslive at times and doesn't understand his body movement sometimes and that is all sensory or Neurosencsory.  How do you fix that?  You don't you learn how to manage it and learn how to teach your child to manage it and try to make all the adults in their world understand that what it looks like.  Because sensory disorders can also look a lot like behavior issues and people tend to want to punish the child instead of help them work through it.  It's not the childs fault or even within their control and if the parent is not watching out and over what is going on they may be mistakenly treated negatively.

Everyone from the cafeteria staff, to the playground staff, to the janitors, to the teachers and administrators have been trained on how to deal with him and help him if he needs it instead of being punished for it.  Luckily, as he matures he is managing it.  Things pop up from time to time that we can't predict and we have to deal with it as it comes but luckily we understand it and the team around him understands it and helps him figure it out.  All the extra intervention and understanding helps him everyday.

They both are growing to be such awesome kids although most of the time I feel like I have been through a natural disaster with them but you gotta love them.  They are physical, LOUD!, competative, and passionate.

As I said before.  Whether you have twins, one child, or fifteen children follow your instincts and don't let anyone tell you to wait it out or give you a common answer.  Only you know your children best and it is your call all the time

2 comments:

  1. My brother and my sister both had twins, but I delivered three single babies. Guess the genes went in the other direction.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Joyce. I hear that a lot!! Babies of twins not having twins but then their children did. We have no twins in our families that we know of so we are baffeled.

      Thanks for visiting!!

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