Wednesday 6 April 2016

Two by two!

We have two little two year olds!

It's definitely been a difficult year. So much more difficult than the first. We've had a lot of worries and a lot of hard days. We haven't hit many of the traditional milestones but things are changing and there are some pretty great things happening so I've made up my own list of milestones we've hit in the last month or so. 

The morning call-out. It's finally changed from general crying or nonsensical yelling to a pretty clear, "Mummy...Daddy...Jen Jen" on repeat. "Mummy...Daddy...Jen Jen....Mummy...Daddy...Jen Jen..." Much harder to ignore than general whining but also pretty cute. I like it.

Getting in and out of the car. Two walkers means two less trips trips to or from the house. We get home. I just open the doors, get them out and they toddle into the house. Same goes for when we go out. I basically just carry our gear and they get themselves to the car. I never knew what a difference it would make but all of a sudden things are taking a lot less time. To put a cherry on top, the boys walking has coincided with Miss nearly 4 being able to put on her own seatbelt. It's amazing. Who knew getting into the driver's seat and not having to twist around to buckle her up would feel like a luxury!

Not reliant on the pram. I'm only seeing a glimpse of this but we now no longer need a pram to cross the road. We went to the library this week. Parked, got out and walked in. Carrying two plus nappy bag and keeping an eye on Miss nearly 4 is just hazardous. With walkers, things are all of a sudden so much easier. Even if I end up carrying one, it's still so much better than getting the pram in and out of the car for a 30 second walk.

Occasional dual independent play. The difficulty with twins is that even if one is happily playing, unless the other one is as well it makes no difference to me. I'm either able to do something of my own or I'm not. To make matters worse, usually if one is happily playing and the other requires my attention, as soon as I go to play with the second one, the first stops what he's doing and wants to get involved with me. 

The other problem is that they interfere with what each other is doing and this results in screaming. People often say to me that it must be wonderful that they always have someone to play with and I'm sure it will be one day but most of the time right now, it's more like they always have someone to mess up what they're trying to do. 

Having said all that, I am starting to see snippets of the future. It's still remarkable when it happens but every now and then they actually play together and keep each other entertained for a while. It pretty much always ends in tears but there is a golden time when it's smiles all around. 

Following instructions. This is one that I knew they should have been able to do a while ago but I didn't know what a difference it would make when they eventually got there. Now days when I ask someone to put something away, he loves it. He'll pick up the toy or whatever it is, toddle off and come bag with the biggest smile on his face, so proud of himself. They both are going through a phase of loving putting things in bins too. We'll be at the park, someone will pick up some rubbish, look around and walk 100 metres to put it in the bin. The other one will be so jealous that I'll have to help him find some rubbish so he can have a go too.

General comprehension. Finally, I feel like when I'm talking to the boys they're actually understanding what I'm saying. This is the one that rang alarm bells for me a while back. It just seemed like they had no idea what was going on in the world. As it turned out, they couldn't hear consistently, so sadly I was right. We've got that all sorted out now and it's great. I can tell them what we're doing, where we're going, who's going to be there and they actually understand. It's so much more rewarding, so much more fun and everyone is so much happier. 

I know a lot of these things happen for much younger children. I know that there are other milestones that we're meant to hit at two but this is where we're at right now and I'm loving it. All the things that we thought would happen between one and two are happening right now in the space of just a few months. Exciting times! Great times!


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