January 17, 2012

*Birthday* Plans

Oh its winter, and all the festive season is over. So, what is a Mommy to do!? Start thinking about a birthday party!

Yes, that is what has happened! We will be turning two, in 2 short months. It won't be a super big celebration, but we will be going to a small party place, since it is just too crammed with 10-15 kiddies running around (along with their parents) in our little house!

So far, I have tried to keep the duo away from as much commercialized stuff as possible. Their diapers, clothes, sippy cups, bags... none of it has any characters on it! But, these animated characters have made a grand entry in to our household through the limited TV that they watch. And Emo (E.l.m.o) is our favorite (besides Th.omas). And, I just can't think of anything else for their birthday other than Se.asa.me Str.eet! They adore Emo... and are so happy and enchanted when they see him. I can't imagine what else would make them so excited - other than to see Emo balloons, Emo happy (cake), Emo decor. So, most likely, the theme is going to be a no brainer this time! :)

Has anybody celebrated or attended a birthday party at YMCA? How has your experience been at the Y?

Potty Question Mark!

PAATTY- That's what POTTY is called in our household. Where does Mommy and Daddy Poo-poo/pee-pee... and the answer goes Patty! Hehe....

The duo is starting to show interest in the potty a lot now a days. We have had a potty in the house for almost 9 months now, but never used it... but now a days they like to go sit on it (RM with his pants down, RT could care less), and then they also want to wash their hands. All this made me go buy Elmo Potty DVD!

RM tries to strain a little bit when he sits on the potty, as if trying to go... but we haven't really had any trinkle in the potty. But its a start. I am in no rush, I "might" give it a shot in spring/summer. I am hoping to have some company then and plus it won't be as cold to leave naked kids running around.

Now for all you folks who have been there done that:
-I am thinking of using the potty seat (on regular toilet bowl) than the kiddie potty at home. Is that just less work, because you have one (or two) less things to clean?
-If you are using the potty seat, there is no way twins can be sitting there at the same time... how do you handle it when one is on and one is not (but wanting to get on the seat right then and there)!
-How have you handled the situation when one was more ready to be trained than the other? Did you just wait?

Any other tips/advice will be greatly appreciated!

January 10, 2012

23 months

23 months and 1 week, really!!


This is a recap of the last two months - this post was started in January (yes, I have really been lazy with updating here)! To me they seem like little big people, and it is unrealistic to note down each small thing they do. As much as I would love to keep a record every month of their progress, I am not sure how I am going to address this in the upcoming months. It is bitter sweet, this blog started with my fertility journey - it was my life line, and today they are almost two, and I don't know where this blog is headed. I don't want to shut it down, neither do I want to neglect it... this is my baby too!! Only time will tell!


Here are the highlights:


-They can repeat pretty much any word we say, and communicate with all sorts of words and mini sentences in 2 different languages.


-The call out each other with names. They know their names, last name, Mommy & Daddy's names, street address!


-They can both identify up to 20 and pretty much say A through Z, along with some nursery rhymes.


-RT by herself has started identifying the letters that go with words. Like she will say herself Monkey.... M... and I have never purposefully prompted this to her!


-They both climb and sit on to their high chairs. RM has hopped in to RT's crib after getting up from a nap once. They are trying to climb in to their cribs from outside. Our days of them jumping out of the crib are near. I don't think I am ready for yet another transition and the sleep battle that may arise with it. I think we do have the railings for the crib to toddler bed conversion in the garage. Its stay in the garage may be numbered!


-The other day, during one of our cold/cough days, RT threw up... we had to change her and her sheets, I asked her if she wanted to sleep with us and she said yes. And yes, she did co-sleep with us without any problem. She was asleep in a few minutes without any wake ups. Though, she did get up a little earlier than usual. Just gives me some hope that we might be able to go out this summer for overnight trips without major sleep issues.


-RT sits with her baby doll and reads her stories. Her favorite thing to tell her doll is "Goo (Good) Job Baby".


-RT loves helping Mommy put groceries away.


-To them "Costco" equals "Grocery". Since Costco has the mega carts (side by side seating), that is our hot favorite place to go get stuff! So for their little minds, every item is picked up from Costco. If they are pretend playing that they are going out... they will tell me that they are going to Costco and start with a list of items (eggs, bread, broccoli (bocoli), beans, tomano (tomato)), Cheerios, chicken, fish etc) they are getting. Pizza (Pisha as they say it) tops the list.


-We went to a bounce house twice in the last 2 months. RM had such an awesome (aawshum
as per RM) time. He climbed up super big slides and came down it without any fear. RT had fun too, but she was a little hesitant and reluctant to go explore a few of the things out there.


-We did Gymboree in January... I basically had a groupon deal, where I got fee initiation and then super cheap 1 month class deal. The kids loved it. We will be starting gymtime at the local Y as well this month. We are thinking of getting them in to some sort of school environment this summer.


-It's crazy how much both of them have picked up. Like, we no longer have to tell them - oh look its raining! They will identify it and tell us even before we realize it! Even though we haven't really had much snow (besides the freak storm in October and some snow fall in February), they love seeing it on TV or in books.


-The other day they were roaming around the house holding each others hands, and RT was holding a baby doll as well! That is the cutest thing ever! They were waving us bye-bye! :) There is a lot of pretend play. They even act out our bed time rituals with their dolls - step by step! And, there is a lot of love too - kissing, hugging, helping out, consoling... at the same time some terrible two's as well!


-We saw our first movie in the theatre today - The Lorax. And I was pretty impressed how well they handled it. There was no stepping out in the middle of the movie because of an uncontrollable tantrum or meltdown. They were a little scared during some parts of the movie (where its dark and has creepy (to their ears) music), but otherwise they enjoyed it. They had their own interpretation... as in Lorax was a Monkey, and the fishes were Dorothy (thanks to Elmo)... besides that they had appropriate reactions of "Oh noooo" or "oh ooh" or clapping, or dancing to music etc!


-We have had another failed attempt of sippy cup transition for RT. RM has been on straw sippy for almost 5 months now! But RT... she is giving me nightmares about potty training, just looking at how difficult she is in transitioning to sippy and how fussy she is at eating her food.


-I ordered their Elmo birthday dresses from Etsy! I have a cake design in mind. The rest I still need to plan out. We have been so very busy off late, that I have been exhausted. We have been out and about every weekend doing some kiddo activity or the other... weekdays have been busy too!


-We go in for their 24 months appointment on April 13th, and RM's yearly follow up appointment with the neurogeneticist is May 4th.


-We are 3 weeks away from their 2nd birthday! The party is going to be on March 24th! :)