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?
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