Moms of multiples tell it like it is

Our identical (we think?) twin boys are in 1st grade now. While their speech issues hinder their spelling, they’re still performing above grade level in language arts. But math is where they really excel. This fall, G’s standardized test scores for math were the highest in the class, well above the 99th percentile threshold. Right [...]

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My wonderful mother came for a (too short of a) two week visit with my favorite (and only) sister’s almost 7yr nephew. Oh the fun we had! The kids don’t have many cousins to play with on a regular basis so to have one living in the house for a whole 2 weeks was beyond [...]

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M has successfully completed two programs with a speech therapist, and we’re considering having her evaluated again. Twin sister J joined her for the second of those programs, and also benefitted greatly. Watching both my daughters work their way through speech therapy has taught me a few new things, and convinced me all the more of others. [...]

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When I was expecting our first child I didn’t really read that many books about expecting and giving birth but one thing I was interested in was language development in children, especially when they were raised in a multilingual home. You see, I was born and raised in Finland, the winner of Newsweek’s 2010 best country [...]

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My boys are in all-day kindergarten. When my daughter started all-day kindergarten two years ago, I was shocked to discover that there is a substantial amount of homework for all-day kindergarteners. Now I’m even more overwhelmed, because: I have a 2nd grader and TWO kindergarteners My husband works 2nd shift and isn’t around to help [...]

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My boys have just eight more days of preschool until summer break, and they’ll start kindergarten in September, right after their 6th birthday. This hit me like a punch in the gut last week – not because my babies are growing up, but because I cannot understand most of what they say without significant effort, [...]

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I had a lot of rules when picking names for my kids.  I didn’t want their names to rhyme or start with the same letter, I wanted them to be easy to spell and pronounce.  All names beginning with the letter J or H were ruled out, as were many names of crazy relatives.  One [...]

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I have a potty mouth.  It might not be reflected accurately in my writing, but it is not uncommon to hear some really choice phrases come out of me.  Especially when driving.  Or when I stub my toe really hard.  Or, really, any time I’m worked up about something. But now that I have a [...]

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We’re in a very fun stage of language development at my house.  At 18 months old, the kids are picking up new words quickly.  My son, in particular, attempts to repeat a word in almost everything I say to him.  It’s a lot of fun. As with anything developmental, I always think it’s funny to [...]

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Oh. Yes. The down side of language development. My son has, within the last two days, mastered the word “no.”  Greeeaaat. For the moment, actually, it’s kind of cute.  He’s been doing the negative-head-shake if you ask him a question and he’s not interested.  But now we have the vocal “no” to go with it.  [...]

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