These were taken after they both ate their very first N.estle D.rumstick ice cream cone.
You know the saying "Rules were made to be broken," in my case it should be "Routines were made to be broken."
But
until recently, "routine" was the only way I knew to survive. By
staying close to home, keeping on a schedule, and only making plans if
it didn't interfere with meal, bottle, nap, or bed times.
The reasons for this are ...
part personality,
part first time parent,
part first time parent of twins, and
part parent of a child who was on a feeding tube for 2 months and to this day continues to struggle with eating.
At the beginning, I was just doing what everyone told me to do: get
them on a schedule or else.
I got this tidbit of advice from so many people I almost stopped
listening. That is until I met one mom in particular, she had twins
that were 6 months old and on completely different schedules. When one
was awake, the other was sleeping. As soon as she got one calmed down, the other one started crying. And the same went for feeding and changing too. After that, I was bound and determined not to follow in her
footsteps (as nice and sweet as she was).
Every couple months the routine would change a little here, a little there, but never anything dramatic. I realize keeping on such a tight schedule might seem a bit ... strict? overbearing? tedious? And sometimes it was. But for me (and I think for the kids too), there was a sense of calm in the familiar. Something to rely on when things got crazy.
In the last couple months, our routine has started to bend and crack. And with it, so has some of my neurotic, have to control everything behavior (yes, I said it).
I still prefer to do meals at home, and we're never out past nap or bed time. But that still leaves us plenty of time to do gym classes, music classes, play dates at our house, play dates away from our house, trips to the zoo, trips to the park, grocery shopping, and (our most recent adventure) blueberry picking.
Perhaps the biggest change, and by far the most liberating, has been (are you ready for it?) ... NO MORE MORNING OR NIGHT BOTTLES FOR BUB!
He still gets a bottle after nap and Fin gets milk whenever she wants, also out of a bottle, but only because it's one of those battles I haven't been willing to tackle. Not yet anyway. First up is transitioning Bub from formula to whole milk. Add potty training to all of that and we've got some serious fun times ahead!
We went through a spell of waking up multiple times during the night (Bub) and waking up painstakingly early (Fin), but for the last couple weeks everyone has been sleeping great. Yesterday the house was still quiet at 7:30 and I was downstairs (alone!) having a cup of coffee. I almost didn't what to do with myself.
Everything about them is growing, from how tall and strong they are (they can both reach, hang, and swing on the uneven bars at gym class without any help), to how they interact with us and each other, to their vocabulary and how they perceive the world.
My favorite part of the day is watching them when they don't know I'm there. Last week I watched Fin take all of three of her doggies (did I tell you she now was three doggies, we call them the "triplets", because two doggies was *so* last season) and cover them with blankies so they could go "night night". Adorable!
NEW Words:
- Daddy (used to always be Dada, the "y" at the end is new)
Every couple months the routine would change a little here, a little there, but never anything dramatic. I realize keeping on such a tight schedule might seem a bit ... strict? overbearing? tedious? And sometimes it was. But for me (and I think for the kids too), there was a sense of calm in the familiar. Something to rely on when things got crazy.
In the last couple months, our routine has started to bend and crack. And with it, so has some of my neurotic, have to control everything behavior (yes, I said it).
I still prefer to do meals at home, and we're never out past nap or bed time. But that still leaves us plenty of time to do gym classes, music classes, play dates at our house, play dates away from our house, trips to the zoo, trips to the park, grocery shopping, and (our most recent adventure) blueberry picking.
Perhaps the biggest change, and by far the most liberating, has been (are you ready for it?) ... NO MORE MORNING OR NIGHT BOTTLES FOR BUB!
He still gets a bottle after nap and Fin gets milk whenever she wants, also out of a bottle, but only because it's one of those battles I haven't been willing to tackle. Not yet anyway. First up is transitioning Bub from formula to whole milk. Add potty training to all of that and we've got some serious fun times ahead!
We went through a spell of waking up multiple times during the night (Bub) and waking up painstakingly early (Fin), but for the last couple weeks everyone has been sleeping great. Yesterday the house was still quiet at 7:30 and I was downstairs (alone!) having a cup of coffee. I almost didn't what to do with myself.
Everything about them is growing, from how tall and strong they are (they can both reach, hang, and swing on the uneven bars at gym class without any help), to how they interact with us and each other, to their vocabulary and how they perceive the world.
My favorite part of the day is watching them when they don't know I'm there. Last week I watched Fin take all of three of her doggies (did I tell you she now was three doggies, we call them the "triplets", because two doggies was *so* last season) and cover them with blankies so they could go "night night". Adorable!
NEW Words:
- Daddy (used to always be Dada, the "y" at the end is new)
- Mommy (usually said multiple times in a row, even if I'm standing in the same room)
- Pancake
- Juice
- Mine
- Move
- Juice
- Mine
- Move
- Grass
- Booger
- Ice
- Key
- Cow
- Water
- Cat
- Dog
- Mia
- Baby
- Fish
- Towel
- Plane
- Broke
- Race
- Bruise
- Stir
- Eye
- Strawberry (or "wahberry")
- Blueberry (or "booberry")
They're also starting to put words together:
Car-Go
Bug-Go
They're also starting to put words together:
Car-Go
Bug-Go
Lawn-Mow (for a while there Bub was saying this 50 times a day, no joke)
One More
And we added "Help" to our list of signs.
Bub LIKES
- Waving hi to the recycle man
- Sprinklers (or anything having to do with spraying water)
- Opening and closing the screen door
- Galloping
- Doodle pads
- Cows
- Pretending to drive
- Wrapping toilet paper around his hand like a cast
- Riding on Daddy's shoulders
Favorite Books:
NEW Foods: Strawberries, blueberries, pancakes with syrup, hashbrowns (but only if they're from M.icky D's), F.ranz white bread, yogurt covered craisins, string cheese, popsicles (any flavor but orange, which is weird because he loves mandarins), and frozen Go.Gurt.
- Bubble blowers
Favorite Books:
Digger, Digger
How Does a Dinosaur Clean His Room NEW Foods: Strawberries, blueberries, pancakes with syrup, hashbrowns (but only if they're from M.icky D's), F.ranz white bread, yogurt covered craisins, string cheese, popsicles (any flavor but orange, which is weird because he loves mandarins), and frozen Go.Gurt.
Fin LIKES
- Bubble blowers
- Feeding walnuts to the squirrel that comes to our back door
- Playing hide n' seek
- Drinking water from a regular cup (Bub likes it too)
- Climbing into her car seat by herself
- Trying to change her own diaper
- Picking out which clothes she wants to wear (or at least telling you which clothes she doesn't want to wear)
- Climbing the stairs by herself
Favorite Books:
Favorite Books:
Clam-I-Am
The Very Busy Spider
NEW Foods: Cheddar cheese (cut into little squares), hamburger, potato chips, and popsicles (orange and wild berry are her favorites).
NEW Foods: Cheddar cheese (cut into little squares), hamburger, potato chips, and popsicles (orange and wild berry are her favorites).
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