Sunday, October 19, 2014

Mismatched Socks are a Prized Possession and Other Surprising Twin Tips




People have asked me, those who have twins and those who don’t, what are some of the best tips and things to buy as a new parent. Here’s a start of my list:

Store their socks in their shoes for those days when you are late. I call them every days. 

Buy a sweater organizer for the closet and label the large shelves M-F and put their laundered clothes away there. You then consistently have two, clean, matched sets of clothes for the week all done. Also saves prime drawer space.

Have a bunch of mismatched socks? Keep 'em in a big Ziplock baggie and stash ‘em in the car. It won’t matter if they match if a sock emergency pops up, and there will be a few of those. It’s surprising how handy they can be. They double as napkins for really icky spills and bandages (don't ask, but they really do soak up a lot of, um, fluid).

Load up the fridge with pre-made bottles when they are babies and continue to do that as they toddle on up to the preschool age. At 4 years old, you can leave pre-made juices in the bottom shelves or doors of the refrigerator so they can grab themselves. It will save you many round trips when you are right in the middle of something important. (Tip: If you are wearing the Fitbit or other step-tracking device, skip this tip, you’ll log a good 400 steps easy by mid-morning with all the calls for ‘juice, please!’.)

Time out for both. This can be tricky. When they are both upset over a toy or TV program, take away the object of contention. This saves you a double time out in separate rooms or areas. (Unless, of course, you are use a Fitbit, in which case double time out is a bonus to get to those 10,000 steps!)

A box of their plastic dishes to set the table. Around age 3 they can start to set the table. We live in a small house, so this box saves cabinet space and is really helpful around crazy time, or dinner in our house.

Blanket time. Read to them on their blankets, same blanket, around the same time, and maybe even the same book if it's not too monotonous. Then leave them there with a toy and go do something else for about 15 minutes, longer as they get older. Eventually, they get that when the blankets come out, they need to sit and play quietly until you are done talking on the phone, folding laundry, taking deep breaths in the bathroom for 5 minutes of alone time.


The remnant section at a fabric store is a gold mine of practical textiles that will come in handy at the oddest times. I have found small place mat sized sheets of thin plastic and yards of thick picnic blanket sized heavy duty rolls of polyethylene that have saved my tables, floors and carpets more than a few times, as well as some well-meaning friends who let us come over. The plastic sheets can be used under tiny baby fists as they mash their first solids into their mouths, the table, your hair, and the larger plastic can be tucked under high chairs to catch the spaghetti, tofu or whatever else floats your boat, but usually not theirs, as they traverse their picky palates over the years. They also make for great, temporary, art projects. Pin them to the wall and let your little one go nuts with washable markers, paint or stickers (a fine motor skills task that keeps them out of your hair while you do the dishes, or just sit, oh, yes, just sit). I also throw one in the back of the baby mobile and it has come in handy at parks, play dates and other jaunts we attend outside the havoc of our house.

To reuse -- baby jars come in handy for so many things for so many years, as do the plastic tubs the baby wipes come in (that your friends buy you for the shower, because you are going to run through those wipes, so don't spend the money on the cute container, which never works properly when you have a blowout of the bowel kind).

That's off the top of my head and in short advance of a friend's expected double bundle. 
Any twins moms have tips they'd like to share?

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

2,000 Steps to Better Parenting




I caved. I said I wouldn’t buy anymore diet gadgets or gimmicks aside from the locally farmed fresh vegetables at the overpriced farmer’s market. 

But I did it. I bought the Fitbit Flex. I had coupons, of course, and money off and money back. I hemmed and hawed until the last day of my store cash and coupons, and then I gleefully drove to the store and picked up the little sucker. I love new gadgets!

I couldn’t wait to test it out. Had to pull the hubby off his project in the garage to get my new little playmate to sync to my computer. The little lights winked hello and my relationship with the Fitbit began. 

I wanted to go slow, get to know each other. I had heard it can be sensitive, and I wanted to appreciate its strengths and weaknesses. 

I didn’t immediately go out and start walking around the block. I wanted this to be a relationship built on reality. And I was seriously curious how much activity I get just from day-to-day stuffs. 

After clasping it to my wrist at 2 p.m. Saturday, I’d logged 8,000 steps by 9 p.m. How is that possible? Sunday, almost 8,000 steps for the whole day. I can't help it. I want to earn badges and show off for my new little tech buddy. It is also getting me to look down at my meals and look up the fat content of Mongolian beef. I eat only half of my lunch at my weekly date with the girls and took the rest home, and I parked far from our dining destination to get a good walk in before I spent the next 4 hours with my friends.


While I didn't trust the Fitbit's assumption of 8,000 steps (if that's correct, then I'll need to walk 20,000 steps a day to get to goal!), I decided to log what we did on a normal day, and when I deviated and did a little more due to the new gadget.

Here’s our normal day:






Bike ride with the twins, but only in front of our house as we wait for the furniture man to arrive.

Wash all the linens and pillows as we wait for the new bed frame. Pull twins out of the pile of pillows more than once and hustle the dogs outside, who also think it’s a great game.



Take pictures of my latest Etsy creations for my shop KimsKnitKnacks.

Morgan wants to throw a ball against the wall. I leave the dishes and join her (something I wouldn't have done without the blinking light on the slim little band around my wrist). We get out the hand rackets and have a blast.

Dishes, finally, two loads of laundry and a romp on the new bed later, we go to the park.


We travel to the purple planet on our spaceship with not one, not two, but three steering wheels so everyone can drive. Jack is the first astronaut to step off the city-funded spaceship and onto the purple planet. We make angels in the tall grass.

We get sugar-free Slurpees and head home.

Jack throws a fit. We take a walk around the neighborhood instead of time out. We discuss his reasoning behind throwing a tantrum. This kid is fascinating, and breaks my heart. We run into new kids playing basketball. We spend some time making new friends.

We come home and head for the couch. But no, let's get ready for dinner together. We grill chicken and cut veggies for the salad. To the Fitbit's credit, and my new steely reserve, I have cut out the pistachios and had a smaller piece of pizza since wrapping this thing on my wrist Saturday afternoon.

At the end of the day, I’ve logged more than 11,000 steps.  

I think this could be the beginning of a healthy relationship.