I suppose 21 months is somewhat of a milestone age. Especially since I only have three months until I can’t count their age in months anymore. Where the hell is the pause button?! I need to freeze time for just a little while. Ugh…broken record. So what’s happening with our favorite hooligans? Here’s an update for ya.
Fynnlee Ann:
Approximate weight 29.5 lbs
Approximate height no clue
Clothing: 24 months, 2T Size 5 diaper, Size 6 shoe
Greyson Paul:
Approximate weight 27.5 lbs
Approximate height no clue
Clothing: 18-24 months, size 5 diaper, size 5 shoe
Eat
I’m kind of at my wits end with this eating situation. Granted, we’ve had some sick kids so food intake has been all over the place. But it seems like anytime I put a plate of food down in front of the kids, Greyson is saying No! and trying to push it off his tray. And Fynnlee acts like she is being asked to eat toxic waste…she flails around in her chair and whines. The same things they loved a month ago (buttered noodles, mac and cheese, meatballs and chicken) are now the enemy. Don’t let these pictures fool you. They ate two bites of the mac & cheese, all the strawberries and Fynnlee ate the chicken because it was covered in pesto.
I’ve also discovered that they’re not big fans of leftovers (just shoot me). They are basically existing on milk, veggies straws, yogurt and fruit/veggie pouches. I’m sick of wasting food. And I’m fearing that some of Fynn’s sleeping issues are because she’s waking up hungry (more on that in a minute. HELP!! I can deal with picky. If all they want to eat are noodles…I’ll give them noodles. But they don’t even like those anymore so I give up.
Sleep
You guys…it’s been a long month (and a 1/2). Loooooooooong and sleepless. Fynnlee hit a sleep regression in December. It ironed itself out for a few days in early Jan and then she got sick. And then she got better but was back to crappy sleep. And then she got pneumonia and sleep got really crappy. And then she got better and it’s back to pretty crappy. So overall, sleep for Fynnlee has been horrible! Our typical night is asleep at 7 and then around 11 she wakes up screaming. We bring her to our room and put her in the pack n play next to our bed. She usually falls back to sleep pretty quickly. Then between 3:30 and 4:30 she’s up again. I refuse to get up with her before 4:00 so I’ll let her cry. Sometimes she falls back to sleep (one morning she slept until 5:40 once she fell asleep again) but most times she (and Jerry or I) are up for the day by 4:30. She takes a 2 hour nap at daycare and the weekends are hit or miss. She’s still pretty much a nap fighter at home.
Greyson and Fynnlee both had pneumonia mid Jan and we felt like we had 2 newborns. One of them was up every hour. It was horrible. High fevers, a wicked cough and major congestion. Poor babes.
Greyson is still a great sleeper, overall. In bed by 7 and up between 5:30 and 6:30. He naps for 2 1/2 hours at school and will take a 2 naps of at least an hour over the weekend. Boy loves his sleep, just like his mama.
Poop
This bullet is back! Because our little Squish is peeing AND pooping on the potty! Daycare puts the kids on the potty 3 or 4 times a day to get them used to the idea that toilet = pee/poop. At the beginning of the month, Fynnlee started peeing a few times here and there. And then a week or so later, it was every time she sat down. And then…she pooped. How huge is that?! I bought a little trainer potty for home and in my typical Mom-fail style, should’ve bought two of them. The kids basically just fought over the darn thing for two days. But I did manage to get Fynn to sit on it once and voila…she pooped! Jerry is horrified at this whole process.
Not as much potty training success with this little guy until this past week. Normally he just squirts it on the floor if he manages to go at daycare, but the past two days, he’s peed in the potty! Whoop! And at home on our little trainer, he actually peed a couple of times.
We are no where near ready to start the process of potty training. I’m going to let the kids dictate how that happens. Fynnlee is definitely “getting it” more than her brother but honestly, she pees so, SO much. I’m guessing end of summer or the Fall is when we’ll start actively trying. Who knows.
School (aka daycare)
We had our parent/teacher conference last week. I know…#heeheetoofunny. Here were the takeaways:
Greyson: Very polite (always says please & thank you), needs to work on his “listening ears”, speech is improving everyday, good napper, super sweet & lovable and….he has started hitting his friends when he’s frustrated (this has started at home with Fynnlee as well).
Fynnlee: picky eater, tantrums are legendary, super good at going to the potty (loves to be first in line), loves to dance, speech is excellent, good helper and….has become a tattle tale (she rats out anyone who takes her stuff)
Overall they’re doing really well. The hitting thing makes me cringe (I don’t want to have that kid) but I was assured that it’s pretty normal. There are 8 boys in their class, 4 of which are older than Greyson. His teacher feels as his speech develops and he can communicate better, it will work itself out. Hitting is just the easiest way to get his point across right now and we just keep letting him know that it’s not acceptable. Little Miss Tattletale is apparently just cracking everyone up. Who knew Fynnlee would be that girl? I thought she’d be the one getting told on. They will be able to move to the Twos class (didn’t they just move to Toddlers??) in May but they may not be ready. They feel Fynnlee might be ready before Greyson and I don’t want to hold her back. As long as they end up in the same class, I don’t care when they go.
Communication
I thought the first time one of my babies said “Mama” it would make my heart explode. Which it did. But the first time they say Love you…forget it. Just shoot me dead because my life is complete. There may or may not have been happy tears and at that moment, I would have bought Fynnlee a car if she asked for one. THAT, my friends, makes all of her 4:00 am wake ups worth it!
There is literally a new word coming out of their mouths every day. And they are stringing words together. And repeating what we say. I was put on blast to watch my language around the kids (#mamasgotapottymouth) and it’s been noted. No more listening to Howard Stern in the car either. Greyson thinks every color is yellow and Fynnlee thinks they are all blue. They call Mickey, Mimmie and Jacob, Dodo. Jerry and I have fine tuned our Soscia-twin decoder rings and are really getting what they’re saying now. There is a bit of a learning curve because what they call something isn’t always the right name for it. (Fynnlee calls milk, Yummy.) They get pretty frustrated when they are clearly telling us something and we don’t get it. But we’re working on it.
Sibling Interaction
I follow a lot of twin families on Instagram. Most I haven’t met in real life but they are fabulous internet friends. And a lot of them are boy/girl twins and I will be the first to admit, I was a tad bit jealous of the crazy bond their twins had. Snuggling together, giving kisses, holding hands…my kids didn’t do much of that. Until recently. oh. em. gee. I can’t even stand it. I heard them laughing in the tub one night (I was folding laundry right outside the bathroom…calm down Jerry) and caught them giving big kisses to each other. They love to hug each other and when I say, let’s dance!, they grab each other’s hands and start swaying back and forth. Grammie bought them big bean bags for Xmas and they will snuggle up together and watch Mickey before bed. I LOVE it! Now, that’s not to say that Fynnlee won’t steal Greyson’s toy away from him or he won’t pop off and smack her in the head if he’s frustrated. But they are becoming more bonded and it’s incredible to watch.
Greyson is actually pretty obsessed with his sister. He copies her all the time…I guess she has a lot of fun ideas! If she’s crying, he’ll find a bink and bring it to her. And she looks out for him too. I’ll give her two sippies of milk and she takes one right to him. I know at the root of it all, they are just brother and sister born at the same time. There will be fights and whatnot, but I kind of love that they are becoming best friends too.
Current favorites:
Flow and Fill Spout bath toy (seen above) – LOVE this toy! The fighting over the water spout has stopped thanks to this $20 gem. Both kids love washing their hands (and running water in general)…they also love filling up the the tub. There are tears when I have to turn the water off. This solved my problem and in turn, is saving the planet. Win-win.
Music. As I was walking downstairs one afternoon, I heard the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” kick on. Jerry & the kids were legit headbanging together. These kiddos loves music. Greyson bounces his little legs up and down and slaps his thigh to the beat. And Fynnlee hops all over the place.
Pink Fong. OMG so much Pink Fong. We play the You Tube videos through our smart TV and when that little pink fox flips across the screen and says “Pink Fong”, Greyson SQUEALS in delight. And then he squeals again when Baby Shark comes on. The only way I can change Fynnlee’s diaper without a meltdown is to sing “I’m a Chef today…”. Those songs will haunt your dreams but they will buy you a solid 40 minutes to get stuff done.
Fisher Price riding toys. My brother and his family bought them these two riding toys for their first birthday and both kids love them. They race them around the kitchen and Fynnlee loves to push Greyson. They will crash them into each other and yell BOOM!
Play tool bench (similar). I bought this off of Craiglist for Christmas and they play with it every day.
Reusable pouches – I (therefore the kids) LOVE these things. I’ve had them for almost a year and use them every week. I mix equal parts whole milk yogurt and unsweetened applesauce and send them to school with the kids for breakfast every morning. They are dishwasher safe and so easy to clean. I haven’t had a leaking situation yet.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – all Mickey, all the time. I have seen every episode 892 times. Mickey’s Monster Musical is by far their favorite and it’s an hour.
Swim Class – We started lessons this past month at Goldfish Swim School. I put off lessons for a while because whoa, it’s expensive for two kiddos. But it’s money well spent. Both kids LOVE the water and get so excited to go to our lessons. Greyson laughs and squeals the entire time and Fynnlee basically pushes you out of the way to jump in the water. They are wild things and I am SO EXCITED for summer. Our community doesn’t have a pool but we’re most likely joining the Cranberry twp pool. Jerry and I love the water so having two little fishes in the family makes my heart swell. And we’re going to the beach for a week this year and I’m just giddy!!
So that is 21 months. It’s challenging and sleepless yet so fabulous! Greyson and Fynnlee are two little people now. They can communicate and we can actually understand them (50%) of the time. Sure it’s exhausting getting up at 4:30 every morning with Fynnlee but when she says hello to Jacob and gives me a big wet smooch after we’ve settled in with milk and Mickey, it’s 100% worth it. And trying to make dinner with little man reaching up (whining) to be held is difficult sometimes, but it makes me take a step back and focus my attention him. He makes a good sous chef too.
Life is so good and I love these two little maniacs so hard. The little maniacs that are turning TWO in less than 3 months. I don’t know how that is possible .
Grey & Fynn 