Right now it is 5:00 in the morning an I am sitting on the floor in front of the fire, next to the Christmas tree. All is quiet in the house. This is a rare event as usually the children have radar for all of my movements. Life is very busy in our house on school mornings and at all times throughout the day. The boys are six now and the girls will be two in two weeks! They are starting to have opinions and bigger emotions. Their vocabularies are expanding and their personalities are huge!
There are a lot of changes occurring this month… the girls are almost completely weaned from nursing, they are quickly tiring of the long walks in the stroller, and they are starting to use utensils and plates at mealtime.
The boys are just amazing and a huge handful! I thought they were fun at this age…. But life has only gotten better.
I would compare having twins having a constant sleepover. And, you know how much fun kids have when they have a sleepover! They are always “creating” new things to do and games to play. Some of this is necessary and totally awesome. And… well, some of it is really difficult to manage because of the inevitable messes that result from their play. Now, this is a point that I have battled with. But, I can now confidently say that it is ok to pull the plug on a play and switch directions when it is moving in the direction of chaos. They have so much energy that needs to be channeled. Fortunately, I get that because I do too! So, I have some strategies built into our day to use that energy…
There is nothing more powerful than moving outdoors! Sometimes it is a battle to get out the door, but it is worth it! As a parent, you can sense it and anticipate the craziness. If you don’t have a specific time built into your day for a walk, run or bike ride just do it spontaneously! Sometimes that works better! Craziness inside starts then taking it outside and putting that energy into a game.
The boys are big enough now that they can create their own obstacle courses. If it’s raining outside, we use the garage or house in a structured play. We now have two 2kg ViPRs which the kids are learning how to lift, shift and tilt. It’s fun watching them move with their own little load. The girls have fun participating in family play and are creating their own patterns right along with us.
I also give the kids “jobs”. As you might expect a lot of them to revolve around food prep. The boys know the importance of food quality and how we turn ingredients into meals. They have gotten very good at peeling, washing, chopping, measuring, and mixing. The girls love tasting and sorting the ingredients.
I want my kids to know the importance of nourishment and movement! This is important to me and it’s something they can carry forward for a lifetime.
Look for new recipe posts coming up soon. Including the most amazing butternut squash turkey recipe!