Double Trouble

So the girls were playing the other day, and decided they wanted things that were at the very bottom of their toy box.  Finally, I gave up trying to figure out what they wanted, and caved into their true desire to just do this:

And then they started to just do this:

Which ultimately led to this:

How much damage can two 19 month olds do in a matter of minutes? There you have it!

Big Girl Seats

We've made it!!! Now you've got to understand....this has taken us a while to get here.  We had to wait until the girls hit the target weight before they could go forward facing.  Understanding they were safer to be rear facing for as long as possible, this was ok!  But, we were ready, and the girls were ready.  Lately, they kept saying "Momma?" "Yes"  "Dadda?"  "Yes" or me saying "No, it's just Momma" whenever we drove anywhere.  They were constantly taking role...it was cute.  But, they were ready to turn around and experience the world in a car the way it's supposed to be.  So, today, on their 19 month birthday, we weighed them and they were ready.  We were ready.  So.....with much long waited anticipation....big girl seats, here we come.

Potty Time Part 2!

On Friday night, just before bath time,  a whopping 3 days after we got our first potty, Savannah went pee pee in the potty!  YIPEE!!!  Not sure it will stick...and not sure that she really meant to do it...but, we celebrated, clapped, said "woo hoo!" and we will try again!  Haven't had luck since Friday, but with zero expectations (just wanted to introduce it to the girls at this age), this made for a HUGE celebration!  

And I don't think she realized "It's a Small World After All" was playing as the sounds of the bathwater filling the tub overwhelmed the song.  And I'm ok with that. 

Time Out

Discipline is starting to stick!  Yipeee!  And the sister bond is really sticking.  Put the two together and it sure makes for difficult discipline time for momma and daddy.  

This morning I walked into the kitchen just in time to see a kitchen towel being pulled back and forth and to see Savannah move in to "kiss" Madeline's forehead!  I said "Oh how sweet!"  But then, I noticed the expression on Savannah's face....it told me that was not a kiss.  It was an attempted foul.  I immediately picked her up, grabbed her little chair, and took it to our Time Out place.  I gave her a little talk, with Madeline right there to hear it all, and then grabbed Madeline and walked away for 1 minute.

Madeline went to the little table and started grabbing for the other chair!  She wanted to take the other chair down the hall and sit with her sissy in time out!  Seriously?  How is it even possible to see anything so sweet, yet so bitter sweet?!  

When we were finished with time out, Madeline walked down the hall with me and we all sat down and talked about what Savannah did being wrong, then I asked Savannah to say sorry and give sissy a kiss.  They both moved in to really kiss and hug each other this time.  

Ahhhh!! It worked!  We all three got up, went back to the living room and resumed play activity.  And they were happy girls too!  But the loving bond between the girls....the "I want to be in time out too!" bond sure does make discipline DIFFICULT!!! And the older they are getting, the more I am finding it is going to be very difficult to not giggle all the time with these two when I need to keep a straight face.  Silly, silly sweet and sassy girls.

Potty Time!

We arrived home today to find our musical potty chair we had ordered had arrived! When you go pee pee in the potty, it plays music.  Sounded like a fun idea!  That is, until Chris ran water in it to see if it worked....it plays "It's A Small World After All".  Does this mean that when the time comes to take the girls to Disney, my most favorite childhood ride ever will now always be associated with "let's go pee pee in the potty!!"? Or....will we have accidents every time we take the girls on that little boat ride?  Great.

Sisterly Love

They really do really, really love each other!! They really, really do!!

There is nothing more gratifying, nothing more heartwarming than to see your children love each other.  There is nothing more scary than to think that they are just going to fight and maybe not like each other as they grow older.  But this week I really, really saw the love that they have for each other and the bond they have for each other growing so much stronger.

Yesterday we had the girls out and in the midst of all that was going on, we got separated and Madeline and I took off for the playground.  Savannah was inside, nowhere near the playground that neither of the girls had ever been to before.  When Madeline and I rounded the corner, there she saw the playground and immediately, her eyes got big and she started walking towards it saying in the sweetest little voice "Shishy?  Shishy?" (meaning Sissy, of course).  I put her on the merry-go-round and she loved it!  But the entire time, she just kept saying "Shishy? Shishy?".  

The playground didn't have little toddler swings, so I jumped on a swing and put Madeline in my lap, and again, heard this little voice saying "Shishy?"  Forget Mommy, where's Shishy???

For the first time, I truly I realized just how strong their bond is getting - they are enjoying life together!  They are enjoying all the new and fun thing life brings as a little team....they are truly becoming best friends.

Later that same day, the girls were in the kitchen just playing.  Madeline came up to me "asking" for a cracker.  I handed her one and she immediately said "Shishy? Shishy?" so I handed her a second cracker.  She took off, found Savannah just around the corner, and handed her the other cracker.  Savannah said "Tay Coo" (Thank you) and they both walked off happy as can be!

And then, just before bed that night, we said our prayers and then they gave each other kisses and hugs.  I cannot begin to express how unbelievably precious it is, each and every time.  I love my girls, and I love how much they love each other.  These are the moments that I am humbled by motherhood and humbled by the blessing these girls are to us.

Playing, Biting and Consistency

It really wasn't that long ago that a very dear friend of mine called me up and asked if my twins bite.  She said her son was bitten by a twin toddler and that she had heard that this was normal for twins to do. I immediately responded by saying "NO!  My girls don't bite.  No, no, no..not MY girls!"  Oooooh how we as parents seems to always say things that come back to bite us in the tail.

Rewind to a couple of weeks ago when we were at Cohutta Springs Camp.  Chris and I had taken the girls out in their jogging stroller for our morning jog when I looked down and saw Savannah repeatedly taking Madeline's snack trap.  She had one of her own, but she wanted her sissy's too.  So she would reach over, take it from Madeline, Madeline would cry, somehow get it back, then Savannah would reach over and steal it again.  This went on for a while until I heard the pause and then the wail.....oh the wail.  I immediately stopped running, came around to the front of the stroller, bent down and there it was.  The BIGGEST bite mark on Savannah's forearm.  

And so the biting began.  This has become Madeline's way of defending herself from her sister who has become quite the aggressor herself!  Oh they love each other...do they ever!  But they fight as siblings do! I was one of 3 growing up....I know.  But how do I respond in this role as the mediator and trainer of little human beings to grow up to become dignified, well-behaved people...non-biters??

We have tried scolding.  We have tried time-out.  Nothing was working.  And then I ran across the most BEAUTIFUL article online HERE about twin toddlers and biting.  I discovered I am not alone, and that yes, this is common in twins because they have the rare opportunity to spend day in and day out with another little person of the same age - another little person who also hasn't learned about boundaries and sharing and all the things that life as new toddlers brings. Singletons often experience this at daycare or on a play date with a friend...but twins, well every day is a play date.  So, it is bound to happen sooner than later with twins.  

The key word I learned was CONSISTENCY.  How is it that this word - consistency - pops up every time I have an issue I'm trying to deal with relating to my daughters?  Sleep...."be consistent".  Bedtime routines...."be consistent."  Church and sitting still...."be consistent".  Punishment...."be consistent." Don't keep trying a different punishment each time hoping that maybe this next method will work.  Instead, pick one and BE CONSISTENT!  Duh!  You would think by now I've figured this consistency thing out. Time-out may not work for a while.  The girls are not responding well to it at all.  But what I learned is that each and every time they do a behavior that is unacceptable - such as BITING - send them to time-out.  They will eventually learn that behavior X (Biting) will lead to behavior Y (An unhappy time - Time-out).  The article talks about a 3 year old twin that was found sitting at the bottom of the stairs - where their time out place was.  The mom asked him what was wrong and he told her that he had hit his sister.  He knew to place himself in "Time-Out!"  It took him until he was 3 years old to finally get it, but he got it!!!!!!

It may take my girls another year and a half to fully understand the consequences of their bad behavior, but it is my job as their mother to be CONSISTENT in my (and Chris') parenting to call them out and respond consistently to their bad behavior so that they can learn to be good girls!! 

Wow is parenting challenging.  To all the new parents out there:  Never, ever, ever think that it is easy and that what you may read in the books is always going to work, and most importantly, never, ever, ever say "Never! My child will NEVER do that!"  Oh how humbling the parenting experience can be.  :-)