My sweet little bunnies are fifteen months already, and here’s a summary of the past month.
Feeding.
I am happy to report that Eric seems to be eating a bit better lately. Now they demand to feed themselves at meal times and if for whatever reason we have to spoon-feed them (because it’s soup, or it’s too hot, etc) then they refuse to eat until it’s them holding the cutlery and feeding themselves. In a way, both Jon and I are happy about this as it’s easier for us, but at the same time it is quite messy!
I’ve been saying for a while that I wish they ate more meat. They still only have 6-8 teeth each, so chewing is still not a mastered skill. The funny thing is that the other day we decided to try venison sausages, to try something new, and both Jon and I didn’t think they were that good (flavour-wise), however the twins absolutely love them! When we have normal sausages they eat about half. With the venison ones, they finished them all without wasting a tiny bit! How bizarre…
They eat pretty much every thing that we give them. I still haven’t found anything that they refuse. They love peas, carrots, broccoli, green beans, courgettes, peppers, corn on the cob, onions, tomatoes… And oranges, mangoes, pineapple, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, raisins… I am so happy that they like so many varied foods! Although I have already been warned that they may go off food in the next few months. Apparently it is very common for toddlers to start saying NO to food around the 18 month mark. Not looking forward to that…
Sleeping.
Well, we seem to have got rid of the morning nap. If they wake up after 7:30am then there is a very good chance that they won’t have a morning nap. Only when they wake up very early (like 6:30 or so -although this doesn’t happen often at all) then they have a small one at around 11. If they don’t sleep a morning nap, then they will sleep after lunch, at around 13:30 or 14:00, although in a couple of occasions they haven’t slept until much later!
I must say, their naps are a bit all over the place still. Some days they sleep for 40 minutes, whilst other days they sleep for over 2 hours. It is difficult to know how they are going to behave. But, at the same time, I am more relaxed about the whole thing. I am not as strict and won’t force them to nap at a certain time as I used to do. Elisa needs more sleep than Eric, so if in a particular day she needs a morning nap and an afternoon nap, then she can have them.
They sleep pretty well at night, no issues there.
Development.
They understand so much, it’s crazy! I talk to them in Spanish a lot (still not 100% of the time, but I don’t think that’s possible) and they understand! Eric is repeating lots of sounds, his latest favourite one is “caca” (poo in Spanish). When he poos and I smell it, I say “te has hecho caca!” (you’ve done a poo!), he then goes and stands by the changing table and says “ca-ca” and smiles 🙂 I am expecting him to go and stand by the changing table and say caca without me actually prompting him. That day will be awesome!
Elisa is not talking so much. Well, she is. She babbles a lot and makes lots of sounds, but they are not distinguishable syllables like Eric’s. She looks at me very intently when I am trying to make her repeat a word, but no success yet in her imitating me.
They are both pointing a lot. I read recently an article about the importance of pointing in toddlers. It is very important in their speech development! What do you do when they point at something? You say its name. They point at the phone? You say “mummy’s phone”, or they point at a mug and you say “would you like a drink in the mug?”. This way they are gaining lots of vocabulary, plus it’s also their way of interacting with you.
They are also getting more and more confident with their walking and running, but they still have clumsy days, like I was describing last month. I suppose it could be related to how tired they are… I don’t really know. Climbing is also a new skill that they are learning. They can climb on a little table that we have by the sofa, and from there they climb onto a slightly bigger table. They have also successfully climbed on the sofa once or twice. We thought we had baby-proofed the house, but it’s not until they can climb and reach things that you realise how dangerous everything is!
And speaking of reaching… Eric can almost reach the door handle. THAT is going to be a nightmare! At the moment we keep lots of doors closed but at some point soon he’s going to figure out how to open them… 🙁
Socialising.
I got a season ticket for Wellington Country Park and I take them there very often. The great thing about that place is that there are always lots of other kids around (not like when I used to take them to Bouncing Tots and many times we were the only people there). So they are interacting with other kids on a much more regular basis than before.
I have not seen my other NCT friends for a while now. I saw one of them a couple of weekends ago, we met for a picnic in the park, but we haven’t all been together as a group for ages! And especially not with the kids! I’ve got a feeling that as time goes by, we’re going to get more and more distant.
Health.
All fine in this department. We have had a tiny bit of teething from both of them but nothing major.
I need to take them to the doctor next week as they completely screwed up the 1 year old vaccines. They called us and told us that there had been a problem with their fridge and weren’t sure if the vaccines that the twins were given were in optimal state. Maybe that explains why both of them were so poorly after the vaccines last time.
And this is it for now. We’re going to Spain for a week next month, so I may be a bit late with their 16 month development update.
