Yes! The twins have turned 18 months!
They are fun; they are lovable. They are terrors; they torture me. They bring lots of laughter and smile to the family. They are causing me to lose sleep.
Here is an update on their development.
Motor and Cognitive Skills
Mobility
Ever since they start walking, we spend a lot of time in the playground. I intend to build their physical strength and sense of balance. Thus we did lots of climbing up the ladder, as well as sitting and standing on the rotating disc.
Last month, they learned to hang on bars like a monkey. #4 has also gained sufficient arm strength to pose a downward dog.
Just today, #4 wandered off from the playground by herself! The louder I called after her, the faster she ran!!! I guess you can tell that who is the more active and mischievous one!
Some may prefer not to allow their girls to hang out in the playground too often, for fear that their daughters may turn out less ladylike, or scratch or injure themselves.
For me, I believe that having a healthy and strong body not only sets the foundation to a healthy mind and body; it also helps develop their stamina for physical activities and mental challenges later on in life. So I don’t cut the girls any slack just because of their gender. However, my eldest boy got away with these. I did not bring him to the playground as much because I was working till late night every weekday. But we brought him around the neighbour over the weekends, looking for exciting playgrounds to visit.
Swimming
The twins earnestly join their elder siblings for their regular swimming sessions. As far as possible, the toddlers are each accompanied by one adult. The twins enjoy swimming and floating in the waters while wearing their puddle jumpers *. There are times when they feel uncertain. We let them decide whether they want to stay in the shallow waters or they prefer to venture into the deeper ends.
I prefer not to use swimming floats which they can sit in because I don’t see how they can benefit from sitting on the floats. It seems they may feel more insecure seated in the float in a big pool because they will be further away from us.
When the toddlers feel anxious, I believe they want to reach out to us and cling onto us more than ever. Sitting on a float prevents them from doing so. Though sitting in a float makes the adult’s job more comfortable, the baby or little child does not learn anything about swimming. Instead, we may see them struggling throughout the swimming session, screaming at the top of their lungs for their parents to get them out of the float.
So our cheeky little ones like to join their older siblings in the water, get splashed by their inconsiderate koko and jiejie, and accidentally drink a little pool water. I believe this is how they can get used to water and learn water safety since young. But that would also mean a lot of work on our end as parents because undivided attention is required to ensure all 4’s safety. No phones, thus few photos on swimming.
Indoor Play
We continue to pull out toys like puzzles, stacking cups and cooking gadgets. They have gradually built the skill sets to match items and differentiate sizes. While fitting in a numeral into their 1-2-3 puzzle remains tough, they can match the numbers correctly. Cooking is great for pretend play too; we are sipping tea these days!
We play matching using real fruits and play cards too. When the refrigerator is overflowing with vegetables, we will get the toddlers to pull out some of the greens to match to their cards.
You may also be interested in:
Activities we do with the twins at home -12 months old to 15 months old
Our Favourite Baby Toys – 9 to 15 months
Communication and Emotions
The twins hit a significant milestone in their speech development this month (18 months old). especially for #3. She masters some new words almost every day. From addressing each of their family members to saying out their favourite food such as ice-cream and na-na (banana), they can also express their needs as such hunger, fear and pain. Just tonight, #3 gestured that she could not fall asleep because her feet were in pain, presumably growing pains that my son always suffer from.
I reckon reading to them and singing nursery rhymes with them have helped to expand their vocabulary. These days, my most used words are “we don’t fight, we share”, coz they fight every 5 minutes. These words are certainly not sufficient for building their vocabulary.
Eat and Sleep
Eat and sleep remain an issue for me. Firstly, both #3 and #4 have not weaned off from breastfeeding. Both need lots of comforts and need to latch to sleep. It is physically very tiring for me, and I spent a lot of time tandem nursing them.
Getting them to sleep starts from 8 p.m. every night, and often ends after 10.30 p.m. #3 wakes up every 30 minutes or so for more latches and settle down after midnight. Not that I don’t relish the time spent with them, just that I have two other children waiting for me to attend to their needs too.
#3 is getting used to the bottle, but she still prefers me over the bottle. I tried bribing her with the sweeter chocolate-flavoured fresh milk at times. Even so, she would point to me and say “Mummy”. Fortunately, she eats a good variety of solid food, and I am confident that she has sufficient nutritional intake essential for her growth.
#4 is the opposite of #3. While she latches for comfort, she relies on formula milk for most of her daily requirement. We selected Karihome as from many parents’ experience, Karihome does not induce a phlegmy cough. The twins had recurring bronchitis when they were younger, and drinking formula milk that produces phlegm not something we like to see.
You may want to read:
Managing Bronchitis at Home with Essential Oils
We bought a nebulizer for the babies’ use
My 3-month old was admitted to hospital for upper respiratory tract infection
As for solid food, #4 is a picky eater. We are having some difficulty identifying the food she likes, other than apple, french fries, ice-cream and other junk food.
Can you tell from the above that these identical twins are not identical at all?
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