Most Magical Homemade Toy for Toddlers

We took a visit to Ikea today, and it was there in the aisle that inspiration hit.

If your toddlers are like mine, they are absolutely fascinated with pulling out and putting back the straw in the top of their "take out" cups.  While this can be a bit frustrating as milk drips down your arm as you wrestle the cup from said toddler in the middle of the restaurant, properly redirected this fascination can make for an awesome fine motor practice.  And who am I kidding - something great to keep them occupied for a while.

Loosely inspired by an idea I saw at Full Hands Full Hearts, when I saw the ORDNING Kitchen Utensil Holder at Ikea I knew it would be perfect for practicing dexterity. 

We added a pair of SNÄRTIG Silk Flowers and a pack of SODA Drinking Straws  and we had something that kept their busy hands and minds occupied throughout our trip, and well into our afternoon at home.  What I really appreciated about these flowers is that while they are bendable, they have an excellent coating preventing sharp ends from becoming dangerous.  

And while it may look a little less glamorous in normal lighting, the true magic is that a few random items thrown together can occupy two toddlers for literally hours - all for around $10.  That's definitely magical in my book!

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Closet Sharing: Organizing Kids Clothing with Two!

After writing about how we handle clothes our babies have outgrown, it's time to cover how we handle how we manage the babies current wardrobe.  Here's our guide to managing a closet built for two!


1 - Before we even open the closet doors, we try to keep track of all of the clothing the babies have in current sizes and for the future using our Baby Clothes Inventory.  It's great having it all down on paper to see what is hiding in our closet!


2 - Second, we try to stay organized.  With two babies, spanning three sizes and two or more seasons at a time, we need awesome closet organizers to manage our closet chaos!  For us, it works best to separate from right (Julie) to left (Brayden) and then by size vertically on top with the smaller sizes, and then below with larger sizes.  I work from the top down, trying to put the smaller items on the babies first as we can extend their "fitting" life just a little longer.  Find a strategy and closet design that works for you!

3 - Prioritize closet space and put the rest elsewhere.  While full outfits and coordinates as well as all tops get hung and placed in the closet, onesies, socks, pajamas, and all "non-dedicated" pants and shorts go into the babies' dresser.  The top two drawers are shared for socks/onesies/swimwear but each gets a drawer for jammies and one for pants.

4 - Get Creative!  We re purposed a second bookshelf for baby linens like towels, blankets and wash cloths.  To fit as many clothes in as we need to, closet organizers and storage boxes are an absolute must.  We have a second hanging rod in our closet to expand our hanging space.  We keep accessories in baskets on the top shelf and always keep an eye out for potential storage solutions to help us manage the babies wardrobe better.

5 - Pack away anything that is not currently in use.  We already covered how I manage previous seasons clothing, but our future seasons are packed into stack-able bins with lids with clear labels.  When the time comes, we'll be ready to unpack and get dressed, but having clothes for future seasons on the racks is just too much to handle!

Our "dream" twin closet by California Closets

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Clothing Organization for Two: Twin Tips

The organization challenges began even before my babes came home from the hospital.  I remember the first clothing item I bought for the babies - a Winnie the Pooh three piece outfit, neutral in color since I wasn't sure of the baby's (singular at the time) gender.  It was all downhill from there as I learned to enjoy shopping in "both sides of the store" and my Mom and Mother in Law also rekindled their passion for baby clothes shopping.

The best description I can give is that I am a "baby clothes trafficker" with new clothes coming in (fresh from the clearance racks) for future seasons, clothes too small into the keep pile, clothes heading for kids consignment sales, and of course - piles and piles of laundry.  Sometimes I feel like I can barely keep up with it all!

Despite the struggle, I've found a few solutions and strategies that have been helpful for managing their wardrobes - past, present and future.

Just as how their clothing is just too much to tackle in one day, our system is too much for even one post to handle so we're going to break it up a bit.  First, we'll cover the "retired" baby clothes.

Clothes that have been retired from our closet have three categories - each with a designated place in the babies' bedroom.

"Clothes to Keep" go into a giant Space Bag  which holds an amazing amount of clothing.  While I use the smaller sizes for other things (like maternity clothes) the XL Cubes are perfect for baby clothes because when filled they are self-standing and can sit upright. In a year and a half, we've filled three, and they are happily being stored in our garage.  While we've considered pre-sorting this by size and gender for our future "hope baby," it's just too much in an already overwhelming task so we let it be.

Here is our before and after!  It's amazing how these guys shrink down after you vacuum the air out!

"Clothes to Sell" for kids consignment sales remain on the hangers (or stack folded if coming from a drawer) and are placed into a waiting laundry basket exclusively for this purpose.

When the basket is filled, the contents are moved to the basement, where our old luggage will store the garments to be sold.  They'll be tagged, sorted into sizes and repacked.  Out suitcases are perfect for hauling the clothes to our Mothers of Multiples sale where last time I made over $300 in sales!

Clothes with Stains have a box all their own, and get a few last attempts at salvation before heading to the rag bag.  I've learned quite a bit about stain removal, but absolutely hate to give up on something I want to keep or could get a few dollars for at a sale!


Keep an eye out for our next post in the baby clothes management series on how we handle current and future clothes!

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We love Early Intervention!

It was at our four month baby well-visit that our pediatrician diagnosed Brayden with torticollis.  "Torti-whaat?" I said to myself as I gave our doctor a blank stare.  The short definition is that Brayden had a head tilt, caused by the tightness of his sternocleidomastoid mucle (the muscle behind his ear that connected to his sternum).  For us, this was likely an issue that started before birth when he got stuck in a "frank breech" position with his feet on his head while still in my belly.  So the doctor prescribed Physical Therapy and sent us on our way.  While we started our journey at the Children's Institute's PT clinic (also awesome), the twice a week appointments were especially difficult with twins. Packing up an infant, and driving half an hour away, to have a half an hour session, while leaving Julie at home, dealing with his massive reflux and my pumping schedule - urgh... the hecticness of it is making my head spinning just thinking about it!

As Brayden's head shape was also an issue, we were referred to a specialist a Children's Hospital who suggested that we get in touch with Early Intervention as a source for home based PT who were awesome in helping with torticollis issues.  As an offshoot - this specialist also recommended a helmet for Brayden's plagioephaly (wonky shaped head asymmetry) which you can read about here.

So began our experience with Early Intervention in Allegheny County.  This incredible program offers physical, occupational, developmental and speech therapies to qualifying children within Allegheny County usually at no cost to the family. For us, the process included meeting with our service coordinator who met with us, explained the program, and had us complete some paperwork.  Because Brayden already had a diagnosis, he automatically qualified for treatment, but children without this would also complete an evaluation of all sorts of elements (physical, social, and cognitive development) and if their scores fall below certain levels, they are accepted for services.

Brayden was matched up with an awesome therapist who came to our home weekly, and was truly fantastic with our son.  She would stretch his neck, find his tickle spots, do massage, and play games with him.  It was so fun that he rarely complained!  Best of all, no long hauls to the outpatient PT office and expensive co-pays.

As Julie became more mobile, we realized that her crawl was a little "wonky" as well, and she wasn't rolling over normally.  Brayden's PT checked her over and concluded that her tummy muscles were not as strong as we'd hope, and so Julie too was evaluated and qualified for services.

As the babies have grown, their needs have changed.  Now VERY active toddlers, their need for physical therapy has passed and they are strong, flexible and very physically normal.  But we have had some concerns about their speech delays.  At 18 months, they each say only a small handful of words each (5-7).  Although I narrate our every move, Brayden only says Dada, Mama, Nana, uh-oh and yum and Julie's vocabulary consists of the same, plus "hi" and "no" (a recent addition).  Neither use these words to request food, nor can I get them to say "up" or "more" despite my efforts.

So yet again, we are thankful for Allegheny County's awesome Early Intervention program coming to the rescue.  Both babies are working with a developmental therapist who weekly works with them to encourage speech through engaging play and mimicking.

Unfortunately, twin families often find themselves with similar concerns as those we've had.  Smaller spaces as well as more time sitting is a frequent occurrence for twins and multiples.  Twins are also more frequently effected by speech delays although the true reasons for this aren't well established.

If you're a Pittsburgh family looking for resources, the Alliance for Infants and Toddlers is definitely the place to call for support.  Even if you do not have a doctor's recommendation, a parent's concern is enough for them to do an evaluation.  While I'd never encourage mom's to panic, and there is a huge range of "normal" my personal belief has been "if they qualify, they need the services.  If they don't qualify - even better as they'll be fine."  I personally don't feel like there's ever a down side to having a concern evaluated for the simple peace of mind.  If you're out of the Pittsburgh area, I have tried to find a directory for you but don't see one out there unfortunately.  My best advice would be to google "early intervention" and your county as these typically run through the Education Intermediate Units.

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They are who we teach them to be

Dan spent the morning outside, edging the front landscape with a shovel and wheelbarrow.  Nose to the glass of our front window, Brayden was watching his every move.  Since Brayden is typically better listener (for the moment) I asked Dan if he'd mind if Brayden came out to "help" for a bit.  For the next two hours, Brayden was right at his dad's side, quietly watching him work.  I asked Dan how things went when he brought the extra dirt around to the woods behind out house - how he carried Brayden while pushing the wheelbarrow.  He said it was not a problem because Brayden instinctively followed along, knowing right where he was supposed to be.

Later today, I had been napping and Dan and the kids came to wake me up.  Not one to waste an opportunity to connect, Dan laid next to me for moment with his head on my chest.  We're a pretty romantic pair (amazing after twins) and I gently ran my fingers through the back of his hair and ran my hand up and down his back.  Julie popped up on the ottoman next to our bed (their stepping stool) and stood there for a second staring at us.  After taking us in, she smiled and just watched us love one another.  I said to my husband "Just look at her - she's learning how you love someone!"  and that's truly what she was doing.

At 18 months old, I have been told their brains are like little sponges, absorbing every subliminal lesson, unintentional associations and bits of social programming that surround their little lives.  While we think we're teaching body part identification, colors and animals, what they're truly learning is how they will view and navigate this world in which they are a part.

That, truly scares the hell out of me.  No really - it does.  I'm terrified of having these little eyes (and mouths and hearts) watching my every move, and LEARNING FROM WHAT I DO!  Yes, in those sweet moments, Dan and I have a great connection, but what about when I undermine his authority and question his decision - am I teaching them to respect him?  When I get frustrated that I've lost the keys and the sippy cup has spilled and there's no more milk, and someone'e missing a shoe - will they sense and inherit my stresses?  When my dogs are begging for my dinner or sitting on top of my craft supplies and I yell "GIT!!!" - are they learning to be kind and loving to our pets?  While they're not yet too talkative, what about the words I say?  Are they the words I would be proud to hear come out of their little mouths?

Today has been such a deep reminder that these children, my babies, they will grow to be who we teach them be.  And these lessons are rarely intentional, but instead the classroom exists in our own subtle reactions and responses.

I consider my faith.  How are my babies seeing me share my faith with the world?  Are they seeing God's light through me in a way that will someday teach them to seek Him and have a light of their own?

While I wish the answers to all of these things were positive, that they were learning perfectly from what I do, I know that perfect parenting doesn't exist.  We all do things we're not proud to do and "do as I say, not as I do" is a phrase that many families live by.  But I want so much more than that for them.  I want them to value who they are, because I am proud of what they have learned from me.  I want them to find respect me as I have shared values that I would be proud for them to have.

And amazingly, as I am considering how I need to become better - for their sake, I realize how they intrinsically make me a better person for caring.  |

I have mentioned to my mother how someday I want to make sure I take excellent care of her as she ages, because I will hope that my children would do the same for me when it's my turn.  I can only hope that I can impart enough kindness, integrity and patience that they will walk my path behind me.