Last Week in Snap Shots

 

Early last week, they brought down a house (their ball pit)

  

Ryad doesn't like wearing shoes, but I didn't realize he was planning on getting rid of them

  

Think you can get off on your own, don't ya?

  

Every baby needs to make their face now and then

  

A little touch up before going out to dinner 

  

Ryad going up!

  

Peaceful 5 seconds in the middle of the week, Ryad and Nael watching the sunset

  

Nael trying to climb

  

 Nael's toes

  

Army crawling under the table to get a potato (which BTW both of them call apple)

  

 Winding down with a bottle of milk

Dear Musical Jungle

This is the section where I write reviews for the many (many and many) items that we have bought and put to use towards the upbringing of our twins. I thought this would be helpful to the readers who are planning to buy baby/toddler stuff and also something to get back to when we shop for, I dare say it, our third baby (??). Plucky of me to even mention it, I know but, absolutely no plans yet.

 So here it goes...

 

I start with you Musical  Jungle because you were and still remain to be one of  Ryad and Nael's favorite toys 

We bought you when our kids were still cruising. Since then you have not only become an integral part of our kid's playtime but  in fact, also our living room decor. The kids have started running now but still love to drop a ball or two through your 'vines'. They could sit beside the elephant and keep slipping the ball through his ears to see it come out of the trunk for hours (well, not literally hours but, hours when it comes to baby retention power). 

But that's not all you sing songs, you have a mirror, a cute hippo, a bouncy frog, a clapping butterfly, a swinging alligator

Thank you Musical Jungle, you have been our money's worth.

This Day Last Year

Nael and Ryad have turned 15 months old. I will not say that time has flown and that I didn't realize when they got this far, no. My mind can place every milestone (that I so looked forward to) in an accurate time line. All the diaper changes, the hours of breastfeeding, the piles of bottles, the sleepless nights and drowsy days that followed. No dreamy nostalgia here.

What I will truly miss and remember are all the smiles, all the countless and cute babbling that have now morphed into legible words. All the fun traveling to new places and visiting family. All the tickles, all the discovering, all the learning. The first smile, the first steps, the first tooth I will fondly remember all of these moments. All our joys were doubled, every happiness was twice as nice since they came in our lives.

This very day last year they were 3 months old.

 

Nael and Ryad @ 3 months old

  

Two very serious 3 month olds

  

Not so serious at 15 months, are we?

 

Playing on the billiards table

Ryad's Guide To Eating Oranges - Baby Style

Ryad : I love oranges, or anything sour for that matter. I probably get that from my Mummy. If any of you babies are confused about how to eat an orange this post is for you! It might be a little more tricky for those  of you who haven't started teething yet. 

First take an orange and bite off a little skin. Remember to let someone wash before you sink your precious teeth in it

Now comes the fun part, you get to use your hands!

I'm making it look pretty easy, but its not

Feel free to use both your hands

That hole has gotta reach the other end of the orange!

Drill Baby Drill

Don't forget to reap the sweet (and sour) reward of your efforts

Caught Soapy Handed

 

The boys can't speak yet, They say many words, many cute words, but no sentences. This doesn't stop Mummy to assign speech bubbles to their thoughts, or what Mummy thinks are their thoughts, reminds me of old comic books in sepia. Read on... 

  

  

  

  

  

  

Did Nael take a bite of the forbidden soap? Find out next week!

To save y'all the suffering of suspense I'll tell you what happened, he didn't, Mummy intervened and banished the soap bar from the Land O the Showers and tossed it away in the dark cave from where it came. 

In other words she had enough of the soap eating business and kept it back in the shower caddy.

Success Story

I recently tried getting Ryad and Nael in the habit of sleeping on their own. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast they learned and also disappointed that I didn't try it before. Like always most of the time this was one of Daddy's brainstorms.
Earlier, Whenever they seemed ready to go to sleep I insisted on cuddling them then rocking them to sleep. Now all I have to do is tuck them in with their favorite blanket (for Nael) and plush toy (for Ryad), hand them a bottle of milk, kiss them good-night, turn off the lights and walk away. It’s as easy as that. 

I am over the moon with this new progress. Both of them were always difficult sleepers and I kind of thought I needed a crutch to put them to sleep (the crutch was first in the form of a bouncer, then an automatic swing, sometimes a glider and finally my own lap). These were by no means necessary for them but it sure made things a whole lot faster for me and when you have twins, fast is good. Ryad still needs a little work but Nael is pro now. Nonetheless I'm super proud of both of them and wowed at their yet another step towards big boyhood.

I took this photo when Nael went to sleep on his own for the first time. I wasn't even in the room, I promise!

Wordless Wednesday

My First Wordless Wednesday post!

 
Click to View Larger Image :)

OK so I'm a little late and we have already treaded into early Thursday morning but I just had to post this picture. Precious!

Bookie Woogie

I went to Barnes and Noble today and got some books for Ryad and Nael. They show such interest in books and it seemed as if it was time they got some of their own.
I know some parents start reading to their babies at 5 months (and some do it in utero too) but I think those stages are a little too early for the young ones (ever noticed the attention span of a 5 month old?), instead I would chat with them a lot and made small talk about the weather now and then. But today, I thought that it was finally time.

Besides, they have a lovely table and chair set which they usually use to hone their climbing skills. So I had to do something to stop it from becoming less of a reading place and more of a jungle gym. With books I was hoping to make them aware of it's other uses.

 

It started out great! 

  

The kids were having so much fun

  

This one book had pull outs to help learn colors

  

 And there was one with a torch that would really light up

 

 and one came with CD to sing along to

  

 Nael was really into the color book

  

But the afternoon ended with...books on the floor

  

...kids on the table again...

  

...and bite marks.

Tomorrow we try again :)

Faces of Ryad and Nael

This was my project from early November last year. All done from the comfort of my home. Beats the $200 professional photographs that we took during the holidays. Although I must add, it was by no means easy to get them to pose. They (then 11 months old) did not always stick around  the black background, which was actually an overturned comforter propped up on the end of the bed and a chair from the living room. I tried giving them toys to play with but the most interesting object in the room for them was my camera lens and they came grabbing for it every 10 seconds. I did mange to get these from that afternoon. Click on them to view larger images.

 

 Ryad &Nael

  

Nael

 

Ryad

Can it be? Does Nael have Celtic roots?

That or he has a good taste in music. Last night he had a tough time falling asleep. Usually I have to rock him to sleep but last night even that didn't work. I almost gave up and started playing songs for him on my IPhone. Nael, the curious baby that he is, took it away from me and started fingering it. He played random songs till Enya's song came up. He had the most interesting look on his face and I wish I had a camera to capture that moment. Next thing I knew he was lying down on my lap and he fell asleep in the next 5 minutes! On his own, without even rocking!
Here's the song he fell asleep to last night.

Never too Early for Discipline?

This is one of the 'caught in the nick of time' expressions of Ryad

I hadn't even thought about it until I read Stephanie's blog. How will I discipline my kids? Heck, I have no idea. According to Stephanie who is mother of 5 (including twins, wow!), her twin toddlers get together to venture out and conquer territories that her single kids didn't even dream of. I think that it might be true for most twin siblings, not because twins are more curious and outgoing than single babies, but simply because there are two inquisitive toddler minds at work instead of one. Being with another like-aged person they get a partner to help and even advice them in their conquests.

I have seen that both my boys have such different personalities (they are like the North and South Pole) Ryad thinks of things that Nael wouldn't and Nael does activities that are so not Ryadish. When they get together they do things they wouldn't have if they had been alone. They push each other at milestones too, if one started walking early you could expect the other one to watch and learn quickly from them. 

And same goes for all their mischief. If one climbs the TV table be sure to find the other close at hand, attempting to do the same.

As a first time parent I am little concerned if my kids will get into more trouble or if it'll be more problematic to discipline them. Till now the only discipline we have used is to keep temptations at bay and keep the 'no-don't-touch-that' items out of reach. I have heard and read that timeout techniques are effective for toddlers but I'm not sure if mine are ready for that right now. There is a cool timeout product (check it out here, there is also a giveaway that might interest you) that I came across on Stephanie's blog, a roll-up, machine washable time out spot, how clever! Not sure if my 14 month olds will really understand it's true implication though.

I really don't know when they will be old enough for 'big boy discipline' but right now I am happy with the lack thereof. I guess we will wait to impart real discipline till they are old enough to do real mischief :)

Nael at his naughty best