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Friday, May 19, 2006

Being Held & Stimulation for Babies




Here are some pics of the babies being held (Me and Lexi at top, my friend Sarah and Lexi middle, and Little Lauran (cousin) with Preston






There isn't time to hold the babies enough, but others come and hold the babies frequently. I've been told the babies need to be stimulated when they are awake. Unfortunately, they seem to be awake at night - right when I am trying to eat dinner, watch the Finale of Will and Grace (I missed it last night due to this problem), or yes, trying to SLEEP!!!! How do you deal with 4 crying babies at one time? HMMM. I will get back to you on this one.

Last night I was about at my wits end. I was running around trying to stick pacifiers in mouths, playing music for the babies, feeding some while giving others "stimulation" via educational toys and videos. The crying was nonstop for 2 hours. All 4 were crying at one time, but most of the time it was 1 or 2 cries. I was holding one trying to calm her while another was in the room screaming his head off. I tried to lay them down and they didn't want to sleep. I had to walk away and take a tylenol for the headache that was forming. I called my husband who was in a softball game and asked him to hurry home. I had 3 crying babies who I collected and put on my lap. He collected them from me and we held on tight as we endured another 2 hours of nonstop crying. I think the boys tummies are really hurting from all the iron they are getting (vitamins and formula) because their crying comes in waves even while being held. Oh! and of course they are constipated too!!

The day before, I was trying to get them to fall asleep and my sister-in-law informed me that they are now staying awake longer as they are getting better and need more "stimulation." I tried reading to them. They honestly didn't care much for War and Peace. Just kidding. Actually, I read them Winnie the Pooh. They didn't have ANY interest and couldn't find the colors the book was asking them to locate. I guess they are not prodigies, at least not yet. So, I tried to talk to them. I find that when I talk to the babies, I usually say something meaningless and then repeat it a few times. "Yes, Lexi is a good girl. Yes she is. Yes she is. Do you want to chat? You do? What a good baby you are. Yes you are...." If anyone has some more intellectual conversation ideas they could share or other ideas of how to stimulate the babies' intellectually, Please SHARE!!! I would enjoy hearing your ideas. Don't all post at once now.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Amy. Nice to hear from you. Yes, I have been singing to them too - I am trying to memorize the lullaby tape someone gave me right now. And then we have a kids' songs tape that plays Old Mac Donald, Hokey Pokey etc. I know their brains are growing very fast and I wonder if there is any way to help them become smarter. I know a lot of people were trying to help their babies learn second languages by playing tapes of people speaking spanish, but research shows that doesn't work. It is from the interaction with a caregiver who speaks another language that helps them. So, short of having a friend come give spanish lessons, I don't think they will be learning another language this early. Reading to them feels really stupid. They don't look at the pictures and really don't care to hear me read to them no matter how I try. They look everywhere BUT at me. I really would like lots of ideas, especially on how to do it with 4 at once. Singing is good though! Thanks for the response. Sometimes I feel like I am talking to myself on here and then someone will say "Why haven't you written on your online journal?" and then I guess that people do read this :)