Toddler Development – A week of firsts

It is funny how toddlers develop in fits and starts so you feel like one day you have a baby and the next a threenager is staring back at you with their hands firmly planted on their hips as they wag their finger at you and say ‘NO’.  It’s like they wait until they have really cracked a skill before they show the world. You know the feeling – one minute there is a baby and then you turnaround and they have stood up, or rolled over or started to crawl. Their progress sometimes takes my breath away. We have just had a big development leap in our house and so there has been a week of firsts.

I have written before about one of our twins having a bit of a speech delay and a couple of weeks ago I decided that I should get her to see a speech therapist. I just wanted to ensure that I wasn’t setting her up to fail when she starts nursery and school so I feel that now is a good time to get some hints and tips for helping her and to check that she is still doing OK and doesn’t need any additional support. Well anyway I think she heard me as since I have booked the appointment her speech has transformed. She has gone from perhaps connecting two words to managing a 5 word sentence yesterday. It is really quite extraordinary. She is also suddenly way more confident and loud. One of the things I was most concerned about with her development was that she did not volunteer any speech. She never named anything, but all of a sudden she can’t stop. It is amazing to see and hear! As we go down the road now she doesn’t stop telling me what she can see.

We also saw how much more grown up the twins are over the weekend when we took everyone to the cinema. It was raining yet again and I had just run out of indoor fun so we decided to risk it and apart from needing a new mortgage to buy the tickets – why is the cinema so very expensive? it was a roaring success. We went to see Peter Rabbit and everyone loved it.

I think the husband enjoyed it most of all! It was very funny for grown ups and engaging for all the littles. I was kind of amazed that the twins managed to sit still for that long but they sat there eating their Easter egg (yes we are those people who bring their own, but I draw the line at spending £30 on a bit of popcorn and drinks) avidly watching the movie. This is a revelation for me as it opens up loads of opportunities to do activities that needed longer concentration. They have clearly developed their ability to focus and their attention span so I am going to get planning.

The final potty training has begun…  In the past week the last of the littles to be in nappies has started to tell me when she needs a poo poo and so she is ready.  As the sun comes out the nappies are coming off and we are going for it.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about the prospect of not having to deal with that and not having a nappy bin in the bathroom for the first time in 7 years.  I am honestly going to have a little party.  Clearly I have a mountain of wet knickers to deal with before I can celebrate, but bring it on – we can do it!!

Finally we took our first day trip as a family without a buggy.  This is a serious milestone for us as we have had a buggy in tow for 7 years now.  As the twins rapidly head towards 3 we decided to risk heading out without restraint.  The girls are very capable of walking quite a long way now, but we use the buggy a lot as it is easier to have half the pack contained.  It is like ripping off the proverbial bandaid.  It had to be done and last weekend we went for it.  I am pleased to report that we and they were unscathed by the experience.  Everyone was very well behaved and stayed close.  My fear was always that all four of them would run in different directions and we would be left to decide who to save first!  Fortunately this was not the case and there was much hand holding and sensible walking.  It was a super slow process as little children are not known for speed except when you don’t want them to run!  However, we made it and it felt like freedom is about to return to our family.

I sometimes get a little sad when I realise how quickly they are all growing up, but when we have successes and experience firsts like we did last week I start to get a bit excited by our future as a large family.  I think we are going to have a blast.