At 18 months, I feel like we are finally getting into our day-to-day groove. We have always had routines that, with twins, have been a huge lifesaver and necessary. But what I’m talking about are the little things that make everything run smoother. We have recognized that certain patterns needed to be slightly changed, things that we’ve been doing for a while, to adjust for the girls’ new proficiencies. It’s completely okay to make necessary changes. This is much preferred over trying to make a routine work that just doesn’t, well, work anymore.

For instance, eating at the weaning table. This can be wildly messy and take hours (yes, hours!) from start to finish. There are many times I’d want to just use high chairs for every meal but, as many of us know, practice is necessary for growth.

So what changed? For one, their skills have been steadily improving. We have rearranged their kitchen area to give it more of a flow and make it easier to thoroughly clean (never underestimate the limitless areas where food can wind up, haha).

We have a more solid routine that has steadily evolved with their growth and development. This includes how we clean up after a meal.

We have arranged and rearranged rooms as needed to better fit current needs. While they are craving movement, they don’t seem to want to spend a lot of time in their movement room–so I put some of their favourite activities in there to encourage them to spend more time in that room and, hopefully, those climbing materials. It was also time to bring their bookshelf back into the sitting room as they now spend more time reading their books than they do tasting them.

Climbing the weaning table has been a challenge that they like to undertake. Redirecting hasn’t always been successful and rearranging sometimes had short-lived benefits. What has worked, activities! Having activities, like their DIY Buddha board, on their weaning table when we aren’t enjoying a meal has had the greatest impact. It’s also been a great opportunity to showcase certain materials, like puzzles.

They are really starting to enjoy playing with each other more and more, and that has offered a bit of relief. I feel like I’m starting to rediscovering myself and some of the things I enjoy–which I can then introduce to them.

Did you feel like life had more of a flow around a year and a half?

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