I know i keep saying it but my goodness…what a month this has been! Although it has been a difficult one i have also been learning a great deal about the Toddler Twosome and Miss Teen.
I've also been learning about the commitment and love i will need to keep up with Ruby's early intervention activities…which have only just started….but so many appointments to fit in…the occupational therapist, the physio, the speech therapist, the paediatrician, speech playgroup, early intervention playgroup…it has been a little overwhelming for this Mummy who is yet to catch up on the sleep deprivation from when the twins were born (just quietly…i know i'm not alone with that one…it's also my excuse for not losing my baby weight yet though too!!!)
I am so very thankful of course that we have been able to access these services and that i am not currently working so i can fill my diary with all these appointments and actually get there….but goodness i am ready to draw a breath now! There has been little time for sewing, baking, crafting or blogging unfortunately (which are my outlets) but i have to recognise that all those things are not as important as getting Ruby started on this early intervention pathway. I shall share some of the tips we have been getting from the therapists in another post in the hope that they may help someone else. We are mainly working on her sensory and food issues first…i won't lie, it does seem to be a daunting road ahead of us.
The whole family seems to be going through a little growth process at the moment and although a little challenging at times i think it will be good for us all. I'm trying to capture some of these moments and hold them close…others i am letting go for my own sanity sake and trying to keep my sense of humour. Here are some of the lessons i have learnt from my toddler twosome and teen lately…perhaps they resonate with you too!
1. A Toddler's mood can change at any moment throughout the day….and they don't need to provide a reason (even though Mummy asks repeatedly…'.what's wrong now cherub'..ahem.. or words to that effect…)
2. The toddler twosome do not believe in quiet days because Mummy is a little fraught right now…
3. Miss Teen will need to be dropped off to a work shift, picked up from a work shift, dropped off to the movies/friends house/party and then picked up on the same day/night most weekends. I am now coming around to the idea of her getting her license soon…
4. Miss Teen will continually remind me how old we will be by the time the twins are her age….apparently this is hilarious. I'm yet to see the humour myself.
5. Twin toddlers will organise amongst themselves so that one is always having a bad day/week/teething/sick/grumpy/sad/not sleeping and the other is healthy and having a great day/sleep times….there may be room for both to embrace a bad day or night….but never, never an easy day together. I wonder how they keep track sometimes….it's uncanny, perhaps there are minutes.
6. The toddler ‘everything is mine' rule becomes even scarier when there are 2 toddlers….i was the parent who said they would never feel the need to buy 2 of everything just because we had twins…she has left the building now.
7. A teen can simultaneously watch tv, play on iPod, chat on facebook and do homework….but they can't multitask in the same way with chores….odd isn't it?
8. The toddler twosome can function quite well with one hand on Mummy at all times throughout the day…it has come to my attention that Mummy can not and does not handle these days with her usual patience and grace…..
9. Toddlers can find the most ingenious places to leave food that is often found only during the once a week cleanup (we won't discuss those weeks that the clean doesn't occur…) Actually…this also applies to the teen!
10. No matter how safe you think you have made your house or how many climbing ‘tools' you have removed….the toddler twosome will find a way to climb up to that place where you put everything for safekeeping a day earlier after they found your last spot. We now live with all our dining rooms chairs in the spare room and have taken to eating dinner on the floor….just easier that way really and the dog has proven herself a great vacumn! Miss Teen will display bouts of frustration when her belongings have been relocated yet again because she didn't keep them in her room (i want to say i told you so at this moment but i am a better parent than that of course…)
11. I have also learnt though that no matter how big the mess, how stressful the day, how many tears are shed or kilometres racked up on Mum's taxi…those hugs and kisses seem to fix it all……until tomorrow of course!
Warm Wishes
Oh Jode… I TOTALLY feel your pain! Although I have not had twins, I recall a few years where I had 2 young teens (pre-license) needing to be driven to sports and work (at different times and to different places of course) plus 3 younger kids to haul around for the rides (1 a toddler and 1 a baby who HATED the car and screamed every trip!). Oh boy, that was BUSY…
i found a lot of truth in those for my life. aren’t teens funny creatures? i often think the same thing about our Pip. and yes, those kisses and hugs make it all okay 🙂
Oh you to Jode. Our house is down to one couch and two bar stools and they are on the next hit list… be joining you on the floor soon!
Lovely photos as always, and a great post! We wish my son Jason had a sibling (we are actually applying for foster care!). I wish we had a teen! But then I’d be driving the teen-almost-adult every where. Uh, huh! And Jason, it seemed, was in the toddler stage, for years! He’s almost eight but his development has definitely reached the next stage! Bye, bye toddler-ee-ness (but they are so cute when that age!). BTW thanks for taking time out of your busy day and commenting on my blog! I need to do a better job of visiting all these great blogs, although I’ve been online-hanging with (linking up to) a group of great moms/people bloggers who write and you might think about joining in! You can read my “Climbing Stairs” post about Jason at my writer’s blog http://www.lifehappensthenwrite.com/2012/05/climbing-stairs.html, and poke around a bit while you are there! The writing linky blogs are: http://yeahwrite.me and http://thingsicantsay.com/ Blog-talk to you soon!
I LOVE this post Jode!!What wonderful lessons ~ and ohhh, how they resonated with me! I was chuckling at some and sighing with others. Number 1 is so on the mark – Master D is working on expressing his emotions at the moment and asserting himself in new ways! And quiet days – hee hee, we only try for quiet time after lunch and after dinner and mmm, not sure it ever happens! Your Miss Teen sounds very cheeky 😉 I remember that age well 🙂 Oh and what is with the food thing! We have that go on here too, although our dog often sniffs it out, and Little Miss Q has taken to feeding him as often as she can! But you are so right about the cuddles. And as challenging as some days can be (and oh, they so can be) it is still incredible to help these little ones (and not so little ones) navigate the world. Your girls are all so lucky to have such a wonderful mum xx
I just wish I could give you a huge hug! I cannot claim to understand as I am only a mother to one, not three, and definitely not twins! But I can relate a little bit. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan for a year, three months after my son was born (which was a very difficult experience for me), and even though he has been home for 4 months, I still feel like I haven’t had a chance to recover from it all…but life marches on. There’s always stuff on the schedule, not therapies and such but for me I’m getting allergy shots twice a week which require m e to arrange childcare. Then there’s all the meals, laundry, taking care of the crazy toddler. Some days I just want to scream and cry, at the same time. I just want you to know that you are not alone. I know most days I feel like I should be able to keep up better but it just seems impossible! I keep thinking “it’s just a phase, he won’t be a toddler forever!” But then I think that by the time he’s out of this stage, I’ll probably have another one. And then it just won’t end until they are all grown and out of the house so I pretty much won’t have a break for the next 20 years at least!!! lol
I hope you will take a chance to read this…it was written on one of my more desperate days!!! http://www.beautifulinhistime.com/blog/moody-may-blah-