Feeding.
We are advancing in this respect. We are slowly giving them a bit more autonomy at meal times by giving them the bowls and letting them feed themselves. This works well most of the times although we have had a couple of messy accidents. Still, it’s a rite of passage and we’re happy that all surfaces can be wiped clean in the kitchen J
Eric is eating slightly better, however I am not entirely happy yet. We cannot trust him to completely feed himself yet, he needs a bit of encouragement and spoon feeding. He tires of food much faster than Elisa and will start throwing food off the tray half way through the meal (as opposed to Elisa who does it at the end of the meal, when she is full). Elisa, on the other hand, loves to feed herself and she even tries to use the spoon on her own. There is a lot of improvement to be achieved yet, but she does ever so well with her hands.
Sleeping.
They are both sleeping quite well during the night. We have even had a few “late” mornings lately! (late means anything after 7:30 am). In the last few days, though, we have had a heat wave in the UK and Elisa has not been sleeping greatly. She wakes up in the middle of the night all sweaty and very uncomfortable, so I bring her to bed with me. She sleeps better with me, so I sacrifice my comfort for hers!
The naps are all over the place at the moment. If they have slept well during the night and woken up “late”, then they are less likely to want a morning nap. I know Elisa would take it, but since I can tell that Eric wouldn’t be in the slightest interested, then I push Elisa until after lunchtime. This has worked well a couple of times, however, sometimes they then don’t sleep particularly well in the afternoon (probably because they are overtired) and the countdown to dinner and bedtime is a bit of a hassle. They get very cranky and cry all the time. Nothing makes them happy.
If they have woken up at a normal time (just before or at 7:00) then they will have a nap in the morning, but later than they used to. Now they have breakfast earlier, at around 9 or 9:30 and they have a nap at around 10:30 or 11. This has still worked well with my Monday class, which starts at 11:30 (well, we’ve just broken off for the summer, and will be back in September!). In a couple of occasions, seeing that they weren’t falling asleep and knowing that we had class coming up, I’ve just put them early in the car and gone for a longer drive on my way to the venue.
I am really hoping that they will settle into a new routine, where they just have the afternoon nap. It’s all over the place at the moment, which can be a bit unsettling for me at the time… I need to know what’s going on!
Development.
You know when last month I said “they’re really talking now”? Well, now they REALLY are. They are repeating words, and we have been blessed with “toast” and “tete” (=chupete, which is dummy in Spanish), and lots of “twin speech” words. They spend the whole day babbling away and Elisa is finding her voice now: she shouts more often than I would like!
Still, I think they are doing quite well in this area, especially taking into account that I don’t always stick to Spanish, and they must have a bit of a mush in their heads regarding language. Their cousin Olivia is 10 months older than them (just turned 2) and she is a great speaker. I will be happy if the twins can say half the amount she can by the age of two!
Walking is almost mastered. They hardly crawl now, when they are on the floor they get on their feet and walk 98% of the time. But their walking skills still need some improvement. They have clumsy days, when they will trip over and fall down again and again, no matter how much walking they’ve done, how rested they are, or how happy they seem. I suppose it’s all part of their learning process! Eric is venturing into running too and he loves to play tag with me J Elisa is not so keen on the running yet, mainly because she trips almost every time. Little by little… No rush to get them running yet.
Jon and I have taken them out quite a lot in the last couple of weeks (Jon’s been off work) and it’s been interesting letting them do the walking by our side rather than carrying them. One thing is clear: if I want to do that on my own (which I am not sure I do), then I am going to need reins. They both love to go their own way and they do not listen to me when I call them!
Socialising.
We have been on a bit of a go-slow in the last month in terms of meeting other friends with children, however we have gone out a lot and met a lot of people. Jon has been on holiday for the last two weeks and we have done and gone to many places! Manydown farm, Cotswolds wildlife park, Southbourne’s beach, etc. We have also eaten out a lot, and we’ve got to learn something about Eric: He is a starer! He stares at people regardless of what they are doing. If only he stared with a smile in his face, though! It gets a bit embarrassing at times… Elisa also stares a bit, but not so intently. Maybe Eric’s stare is more noticeable because of his big eyes…
Health.
Not too bad! I don’t think we’ve had anything to worry about this past month. A couple of high temperatures and a bit of teething, but that is it. Eric did have a bit of diarrhoea earlier in the month for a couple of days, but nothing major. No other symptoms with it, so we just let it run its course and didn’t bother with going to the doctor.
I haven’t taken them to the weigh in clinic for a while now (since just before their one year check up with the health visitor) and I don’t think I am going to bother any more. I am not concerned in any way about their weight. Yes, I would like Eric to be a bit fuller, but he is not skinny, and he seems to be developing well. Plus, what would the health visitor do about it? Ask me to feed him more? I already try that. I don’t need her to tell me that.
On other news, we have just changed the car seats from the maxi cosis to forward facing seats more suitable for their age range. We went down to Kiddicare near Southampton and Jon spent a while looking at all the options and finding the most suitable one for our needs. It turns out that when we narrowed it down, we only had two to choose from. So we went with a Britax with isofix that can also be reclined for their naps. Not cheap, but it was the one that gave me enough confidence. We are now thinking of getting a second pair for my car (we have fixed these ones to Jon car, as it’s the car that we’ve been mainly using during our holiday), as we cannot imagine having to move these seats from one car to another. They are not as “mobile” as the maxi cosis were!
And this is it for now. Keep you updated soon! xxx
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.