2.5 Twins!

Esther and William will be two and a half this month.

2.5 years old!! How on earth did that happen?

They have changed so much in recent times. Their language is amazing and they imitate people in real life and from the television. Their capacity for creative and imaginative play is growing every day and they love acting out things that they have seen, read or heard.

Esther and William have three favourite stories at the moment. Room on the Broom which we read and watch every day without fail. One Snowy Night from Nick Butterworth’s Percy and the Park Keeper Series which again we read and watch every day and The Snowman and The Snow Dog which we occasionally watch in quiet time.

A few times now I have walked into the lounge to find two toddler heads under the sofa cushions saying, “What is that under the sofa? Is it a monster? No, it’s a mole!” I often find them together in the playroom digging up imaginary snow with their imaginary spades and making imaginary snowmen. And first thing in the morning William can be heard declaring to the world, from his cot, “I am a dog, as keen as can be …”

They Make My World A Better Place

They really are very cute and remarkably clever. They are wonderful to be around for much of the time. But they are also very very challenging.

The toddler years can be challenging when you have your toddlers one at a time but toddler twins I am sure come from a planet of their very own.

Toddler twins can fight and argue about anything. Whatever one has the other one wants or recently in William’s case needs. I NEED that car, I NEED my crown.

They have also learned the word can’t which is fast becoming a high frequency word in our house, often when being told to do something by their sibling.

William sit properly.
I can’t, I can’t sit properly.
William yeah.
William no. William can’t.
William can.
William can’t. I can’t!

I am amazed every day by the things they choose to care about.

Puddled Pair!

They are learning all the time about emotion and feeling. Thomas the Tank Engine really helps with this as the facial expressions on the engines are quite clear. Esther and William will often say, Thomas is sad. Thomas not is not very happy. Henry is worried.

They do not yet know much about frustration and anger though this is what they are dealing with. This is what they feel toward each other in short, sharp bursts.

They try so hard to play together but they often want the same thing or Esther will want William to do something and he will not want to do it.

For example, we have a car that they can sit in and drive. Esther will be in the car and will want William to come and join her. William will not want too and the exchange will go something like this …

William do some driving
William not do some driving
William do driving
William not do driving
William say yeah
William say no
William yeah
William no
Willy yeaah yeah yeaaahhh
William no noooo noooooo

And then there will be a rough and tumble, a pushing or a pulling or sometimes even a biting and then there will be tears.

Sometimes Esther and William play together beautifully. They enter and explore each other’s worlds but often the play will end in tears and the tears are often the result of an act of physical harm.

They can be so very cruel to one another. And sometimes I just do not know what to do to make things better.

Mostly this does happen when we are home alone. They tend not to tantrum or fight when other adults are around I think because they have more attention. Often one to one.

Today for the first time they had a proper fight and then William threw a tantrum in public. I am writing about it because I am proud of how I and they handled it.

We were at our local church toddler group. Esther and William love it there. They love playing with the small world toys, the train track and the house. It is a full size play house with a play kitchen inside. Mostly they just love opening and shutting doors. I was sitting in the baby area with Matilda keeping a watchful eye on my toddler twins playing house peacefully together. Not long after they had begun they had a fight over something. I could not see clearly what but what I did see was William push Esther to the floor by her throat and hold her there! I calmly went over and removed William from Esther and from the kitchen telling him that he had been naughty. I remained very calm and put him next to the train track telling him to play there. I told him he was not to go back into the house. Esther I cuddled and made sure that she was not too badly hurt. I told her to carry on playing in the kitchen. William tried to get back in to play with Esther again but feeling they needed some space and he needed the equivalent of some time out I told him no. At this he got very cross and as I tried to cuddle him he headbutted my cheek bone. He was then very sorry and I just held him in my arms while he cried and I softly explained to him that he cannot hit people or headbutt them or push them when things do not go his way and that because he had hurt Esther he was no longer allowed to play in the kitchen. And do you know what? He finished our cuddle and then calmly played with something else. I was immensely proud and my heart was bursting with love for my silly, frustrated and confused little boy.

Awww!

I was also proud of myself for how I handled the situation. And my heart did a little leap that maybe just maybe I am not such a bad mummy after all.

One of things I need is to build up my confidence and faith in myself and moments like these can only help.

They also help Esther and William begin to better understand each other and be together and become the best friends I just know that they are going to be.

The friends they are already fast on their way to becoming.

And I hope that they will be friends with me too.

If I handle more situations like these correctly.

Today was a good day.

I think that I did good today. Do you?

For The Stour Centre

Thank you for an absolutely shocking inconvenience and massive waste of time!

I am a mummy of three young children. My twins are two and a half years old and their little sister is just 8 months.

As a busy mummy of toddlers I am always looking for ways to get them out of the house and to keep them active.

One thing that the twins, like most toddlers, like to do is bounce and because of this I thought that a trampolining course might be the perfect thing for them.

I asked them if they would like to try trampolining and they both said that yes they would.

As a mummy of twins I am used to being told that we cannot partake in some classes and activities for health and safety reasons. Because of this I am careful in activities I plan. With this in mind I phoned The Stour Centre to talk to them about booking the course. The Centre had to ring me back and I had a lovely chat with a lady who said that yes I could bring twins to trampolining as the course is run by a lady who bounces with the children. I have to be there and sit and watch. I expressed concerns about this as I was not sure how my 2.5 year old children would react to doing something without mummy. She said that the instructor was very good with and used to young children and she would support them and encourage them. She said that I could come along that Tuesday to see what I thought. She said that I would have to register the children to the Stour Centre and then I could sign them up to the course after I had attended this initial session assuming the children were happy and confident enough to take part, and I was happy that the class was appropriate for them.

Having made this phone call I was feeling happy that we would have a lovely afternoon watching other children bounce and perhaps Esther and William having a first go for themselves. I wanted to make it sound exciting for them and so I began talking to them lots about trampolining and bouncing and jumping. I talked to them about the special lady who was going to teach them how to bounce properly on a giant trampoline. Esther and William began to get very excited.

On the day of the class we drove to Ashford. We arrived at The Stour Centre and went into the reception. I explained that we were here for trampolining and as I had been told was asked to register the children to the leisure centre. I completed one form for each child. Esther and William wondered why we were waiting and so I explained that the lady was typing their information into the computer so that we could be allowed into the trampolining club. She kept us waiting for quite some time. Other customers kept coming to the desk and she would serve them all the while not transferring our details to the computer. Esther and William begun to get restless. Other children started arriving for trampolining. Esther and William were commenting on the other children and how they would be jumping with them.

The lady behind the reception desk suddenly looked up at me and said, £85.50. I was totally shocked. What?
I said, I thought it was £3.80 a session. She says yes it is but you have to sign up for a whole term through to March. I said, but what if they don’t like it? She said that would be tough. She did not use the word tough but that is what she meant. You had to sign up for the whole term without having ever met the instructor, seen the sports hall, the trampoline or what happened in the class. I explained to the lady about my telephone call with someone at the centre who had reassured me and said we could come along and try the class before committing. She said that the centre does not offer taster sessions.

Not even for toddlers?

I was furious by this point. We had been kept waiting for ages after filling in our forms and then expected to pay up front for a term of classes that we had just come to find out about.

There was no offer to find out who I had spoken to and no real apology. I had two children in the buggy, I was wearing the baby and I had enough bags to convince passers by that I was moving into the centre not only attending an hour long class.

I then had to explain to my children that we were not allowed to go into the trampolining class that I had promised them. They would not be bouncing with the special lady on the giant trampoline. In fact they were going to have to go back into the car for another long journey to go home having done nothing at all. I was furious and my children were heartbroken with disappointment.

The whole affair has left a very ‘Stour’ taste in my mouth.

Not offering a taster session for toddlers is craziness. Especially when the classes are advertised on their own website as £3.80 per session for non members. Implying you can come without being registered and that you can pay per session!

I would have been more than happy to pay £85 a term for the trampolining course just as soon as we had trialled it and been sure that both Esther and William were going to enjoy it.

If an establishment is going to offer services for toddlers then it needs to understand toddlers and mothers of toddlers. We like to be sure of our children’s safety, health and happiness. We like to see what we are signing our children up to before we commit to any length of time.

I think what happened to us on Tuesday was outrageous and I have not expressed very well here how angry I felt and how upset my children were.

Now we will be looking elsewhere for our trampolining training and the loss is the Stour Centre‘s, not ours.

On New Years Day we were all set for a day at the seaside with scooters for the toddlers and baby in the Graco Evo. We were going to stroll or scoot along the promenade at Hythe and enjoy some fresh, salty sea air.

However, as we pulled out of the drive on the first day of the year we realised that my car had a flat tyre. We were not going to be going any further than the park at the end of our road. Here we carried out Operation Nap Time with the Graco Evo and the twins were able to scoot and collect kindling at the same time. A lovely time was had by all!

Two new tyres and a full service later the car was ready to transport us to the sea front of our choice. We headed for The Leas Coastal Park in Folkestone where I have found a wonderful safe haven for spring and summer days. A place I would confidently go to alone with my three lovelies and spend some crawling, scooting, picnicking time!

Seeking the Sea at The Leas

After a brief stop off here we went on to Hythe where we walked along the front, William did some super fast scooting and we were once again able to test, admire and be admired with our new Chilli Red Graco Evo.

Evo Lover!

As I use the Graco Evo more and more Matilda seems to enjoy being in it more and more. She loves to be pushed along facing mummy so that we can have a little chat (as much as any 8 month old baby can ‘chat’!) and also she can look at her siblings who are often being pushed alongside her in their Easywalker Duo or are scooting alongside.

On Sunday she was happy to sit in her buggy and watch the rest of us playing on the beach. I was surprised actually at how long she stayed before I had to get her out to join us on the stones.

Pushing the Graco along the coast was lovely. It is so easy to push and steer with one hand leaving my other hand free to steer a scooter, hold a hot chocolate or collect fallen hats, scarves and gloves!! It is a stroller that allows for multi tasking. An essential requirement for a mummy of three under three!

The Graco Evo is an attractive stroller and it got lots of admiring glances. I am currently shopping for accessories for the Graco Evo. You can see my ideas board on Pinterest here!

The swivel front wheels mean that it has a tiny turning circle which is great. I do find that I have to lift the front wheels to mount kerbs of any size and it really would not move on the pebbly beach. I looked at the Bugaboo lady on the beach pull her pram along the shore on two wheels as I had seen Emma (Me The Man and The Baby) do with her Stokke Xplory. I was sadly not able to do the same with the Evo, though not for lack of trying!

But for straight forward, smooth strolling the Graco Evo is a stylish option for the mummy, and baby, about town.

The cosy toes does seem quite cosy but it slips down a lot meaning that I have to pull it up and hold it in place each time I put Matilda into the seat. It does not seem to be a very snug fit at the front either and so we use a blanket inside for extra warmth.

The hood which I did not like at first is growing on me because of the protection and shade that it offers baby from the weather.

The Graco Evo is a functional stroller. It is light, easy to control, it has a spacious seat for young toddlers and a roomy storage basket for mummy. It is a stylish stroller. It is lovely to look at and comes in a range of bright colours.

It can be used with other Graco products as a complete travel system allowing further functionality and flexibility.

This is an affordable parent facing stroller for first time parents and multiple mummies.

The brake is easy to use and works well. The handle is a good height if like me you are of average height. It is easy to fold up and the frame is quite compact though the seat unit is bulky.

I drive a VW Touran so have plenty of boot space but I think in a smaller car you may struggle to fit the folded stroller in.

I am testing the Graco Evo alongside five other mummies at this time and I would like to direct you to some of their reviews and others so that you can see what they have to say.

http://www.meandmykiddywinks.co.uk/2012/10/30/graco-evo-review/
http://www.monstersfunhouse.com/graco-evo-review/
http://www.pushchairtrader.co.uk/en/pushchair-reviews/graco-evo/
http://www.yummymummyintraining.co.uk/2012/12/introducting-graco-evo.html#

If you are looking for a good value, city street, parent facing stroller then the Graco Evo could be for you.

Matilda Mae is certainly happy with hers x