13 Months old!!
Ok, so now we are officially into pre-todder territory. I refuse to call them toddlers. They just simply aren't. I found myself yesterday trying to relate and compare stories to a person with a 6-week old baby, because in my mind, my babies are still 6 weeks old!!
Feedings: Still rocking and rolling along with finger foods. We are now trying to work on self-feeding with spoons! Oh, what a messy, messy phase this is! We are only doing it in the morning, when our nanny (ha, ha) feeds them oatmeal. Sometimes, they will also work with yogurt. We will work our way up to other things. But for now, I think we are doing ok. Their appetites have dropped so drastically since they turned one. The good thing is that I was prepared for it. Every book you read tells you to expect it. I also read that if "if your toddler continued consuming calories and gaining weight at the same rate she did in her first year...she'd weigh as much as a fifth grader before reaching her second birthday". So....lol, that puts things into perspective. Because if this "lack of appetite", however,m I have found myself gravitating towards feeding them higher fat foods instead of lower calories veggies b/c of their food limit, which sucks! I swear you people out there with normal-big sized babies don't have to worry about this stuff. but, since mine (although growing at a perfect pace) are barely on the growth chart, I try my best to put weight on them. It also doesn't help that they are walking EVERYWHERE and probably burning off every calorie they consume within 5 minutes.
p.s. my feeding goal for this month is nuts. That is, PEAnuts. I am a scaredy cat wimp about it though. But, its on my list of goals. We must try it. I know that....I just skered.
Waketime/Napping: We are slowly gravitating towards one nap a day. I said...slowly. Sometimes they are fussy with their afternoon nap, so they are telling me they are close to being ready for it. So, that means for me to start lengthening their awake time, gradually, to prepare them. Right now, we are shooting for an awake time of 2.5 hours. So, that's our goal.
Nightime: Doing great here. Going down at 7:30 and getting up at 7:15, sometimes even a bit later!
Our Schedule:
7:15- wake/feed 7/8oz each whole milk for Josh & Jules then cereal with fruit or waffle with cream cheese spread
9:30 - nap (hopefully at least 1.5 hours)
11:30 - feed - 6oz each bottle, then lunch a little later. Lunch is either a pasta, ( I have found Annie's Organic boxed pasta and they love it! You can sneak in some veggies here too) beans, rice, usually avocado. I try to have a little bit of the biggies: whole grain, fruit, veggie, protein.
3:00 - feed 6-7oz for each + "dinner" This is either some of a pasta I have in the fridge, or toast with hummus and fruit. There also might be cut up tofu, cut up string cheese, chicken, cut up veggies, beans, or rice. I try to keep some easy things in the fridge to grab. My Twin Friend Maggie recently posted on her blog how to shop the grocery for easy finger food ideas, and its great!
5:00 - I am starting to try feeding them a snack here. The problem is that when I do, they usually don't eat as well at 6:30, but I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, sincet hey don't usually eat well them either. A snack might be milk, goldfish, cheese, mum mum with hummus, banana, cheerios, etc.
6:30/6:45 - I still feed another meal here, but they usually just pick at it. Their appetite really drops here.
7:00-7:30 - baths, a sippy cup of milk, story/bedtime
Outing/Events: It has actually been very pretty here until the last few days, so we have been trying to make it outside alot! The love riding in their Radio Flyer wagon outside, and we will walk around the neighborhood with it. Also, Jake's sister got us a year's membership to the zoo. So, we went last weekend with them. They didn't really care too muchyet,m because we only had 45 minutes bfeore it closed, but I'm sure once they get used to going they will LOVE IT!! I have also taken them to the park a couple of times to swing. I have developed a bit of spring fever, so now I am ready for schools to be out and to have a bunch of playdates with the kiddos. Also, we FINALLY got their one-year pictures made, and if I must say, they are keeeeee-ute!! I will post on them once I get them back. They got made at Ellington Agricultural Center here in Nashville, and it was a great location to get them done. And, I got them from a Groupon, super cheap. So, thanks Groupon!
Structured Playtime: I am adding this category here. I am really trying to be better about doing some kind of organized play with them throughout the day, b/c if I don't, its just wild play all over the house, ALL DAY. (especially with two, rambunctious, walking, getting-into-everything pre-toddlers) I found this blog post, and really, really liked it. I am doing to do a separate post about it.
Diet: Ok, so, I have been working out. REGULARLY working out. Um, if you don't mind, I may have a private conversation with my body...
"WHY aren't you losing any weight??? WHY? What is the point? All of a sudden you are working out and exercising and nothing?? Jeez-get with it!!!"
Milestones: All of a sudden they are so smart!! I have posted a little bit about Wonder Weeks, but it is really fascinating on spot-on it is. Wonder Weeks are a mental leap babies go through at certain intervals throughout their young life. All of a sudden the babes started doing all these cool things,and I decided to just check and see if we were on a Wonder Week, and yup! We are! They can now each point to their belly (well, Jules just lifts her shirt, thats a nice skill to have). Josh can point to his ears, and stick out his tongue when I say "tongue". Jules knows what her baby doll is, and will go and find it when I ask her to. She can also do this with a couple of other toys. I can start to say a few lines out of one of her favorite books, and I kid you not, she will go in the book basket and pull out the correct book-its amazing!! They are learning peek a boo, but they don't understand to cover their eyes - lol - they cover their ears! HeHe! They are so much fun right now!!
