When I was expecting twins, I had no idea what I was in for. Then they came and it seemed that each day was a new learning experience. As I muddled through those first few crazy months, I made some big discoveries about parenting and about myself. What I've learned about raising twinsThere will be easy days and there will be hard days. How you respond to them makes all the difference. ...
Life With Twins
Losing the Potty Training Battle
Potty training twins is not going so well. The girls are not open to sitting on the potty, even for fun.Emily throws a fit whenever you take off her diaper. They don’t talk enough to let us know when they have to go, and I doubt they even know themselves when they need to go! They can’t pull up/down their training pants on their own. Mommy and Daddy are gone during the day, so the girls ...
Twin Talk and a Little Taylor Swift
The twins are finally starting to talk more! I was worried that they’d chat my ears off as soon as they started developing some language, but so far we’re all enjoying the little things they have to say. As of now, they ramble in baby talk for a few ‘words’, and finish up their ‘sentence’ with the thing they are trying to communicate. Like this: “blah, blah, blah, shoe”. They use a few 2-word ...
A Precious Moment with the Twins
The twins are going through a tough phase. They are struggling with a sense of what is “normal”. Being shifted from daycare where they are spoonfed at meals and babied more than toddlers should be, to home where Mommy asks them to hand her things and “help” put things away is a hard transition for them. Because of their daycare schedule, their naptimes have gotten irregular or skipped ...
Check Us Out, We’re Two!
I can’t believe that just a year ago I was going nuts trying to make the best 1-year party I could. This year? Not so much. I’m not sure if I have my third trimester exhaustion to blame or what, but I had no desire to make a big deal out of this year’s birthday. Sorry, girlies. Momma will do better next year. Here’s what we did to celebrate: Ate a family dinner at home. Got a new outdoor toy. ...
How Do You Tell Twins Apart?
At the school where I teach, there are the most adorable set of identical twin boys. They haven’t been in my class, so I don’t know them very well, but I see them almost every day at dismissal as they are waiting for their mom. I’ve spent a (probably unnecessarily) long time trying to study their faces in hopes of being able to figure out who is who. I’m sure their mom can tell in an instant which ...
We Survived Another Road Trip With Twins!
Folks, I am happy to say that we have now driven 2 looooooooong road trips with twins in the same year and have lived to tell the tale. Back in November when the girls were just over 1 year old we traveled from our home in San Diego my father-in-law’s house which is at basically the northernmost tip of California. We loaded the minivan with snacks, toys, 2 Pack ‘n Plays, winter coats that had to ...
We’re Big Girls Now! Weaning the Twins from Pacifiers
It was time. My husband and I had talked about it for a while, but when we heard the pediatrician’s offhanded comment, “You should really think about taking those things away", we figured the time was now. I had my reasons:The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents consider weaning their baby from a pacifier after one year (and our girls were past that age). I was starting to ...
Crayons Are For Paper!
We were so excited when the twins showed an interest in coloring. We started by giving them the backs of old papers to color on. Then we found a bunch of $1 coloring books at Wal Mart. Score! At that point, their love of coloring really grew. They soon found out that the crayons work on other stuff, not just paper. I was hoping to paint the walls in our apartment this summer. We’ve been living ...
Twins Talk to Each Other!
… And sometimes it ain’t in English. These two will chat away with one another in some secret baby babble that only they understand. One morning they sat in front of the toy shelf, pointing at something and chatting away. Then one of them reached up and took a stuffed bunny off the shelf. They both laughed and took turns giving it kisses. Like that was the plan all along. Sometimes they are just ...