The Twins Have Started Nursery

It seemed like for ever before they would reach that age of almost 3 and a half and qualify for 15 hours each free at nursery. But that time is here and they have started. 3 full days I can drop them a little after 8am when on the school run but be home again before the rush hour congestion is really under way.
What luxury - a new life, eating my porridge in peace listening to the Today Programme at about 8.30am.

Unfortunately, it seems I (we, that is, husband and me) may have inadvertently upset granny as the twins are at nursery on the afternoons that she used to have them - I hope she does not think that was deliberate. I think she doesn't approve of the choice of nursery either as it is across town not within walking distance. But when I say across town it would be less than 2 miles away and takes 5 (or less) minutes to get there by car.

The decisions we make might not suit other people but we choose this particular nursery and these particular days because we think they are the best for us - my husband and I and the children.

The facilities for children 3+ are far better than at the other local nurseries that we looked at. I was also impressed by the staff on my visit.

I work from home and I am my own boss. A common problem is that other people don't seem to realise I work, and I know I am not the only one with this.
I am not at home doing housework and wondering how to fill my time.
The house is a cobweb filled jumble!
And I have not had enough hours in the week to think about things like painting my toe nails. So getting the extra hours at nursery for a few full days has made a great difference. I always just about reach my business deadline but perhaps now I'll be able to get more on top of things.

Do twins develop slower than other children?

I don't know whether this is a FACT but i have been told it is generally true that twins children are often about 6 months behind other children in development.
That would certainly account for the slow potty training, which I have mentioned before.
There are other things:
Son didn't walk until he was 18 months! Daughter was just about 11-12 months.
Neither of the twins had smiled at all when they were a few months old and should have reached that milestone.
In her early months my daughter hardly openned her eyes.
And throughut his first year my son rarely smiled.

Now they are 3 and certainly over the past year I would say they enjoy books that my fist singleton child enjoyed when he was perhaps a year younger.

I hink they could catch up. They are growing well now. So my daughter is massive (not fat) and my son, who is more danty, is also wearing clothes for his age, this wasn't the case a year ago.

And they start nursery soon

Twins, Nappies and Potty Training

I was a little embarrassed that my son reached his third birthday in nappies.

I can't remember when his twin sister mastered knickers and the potty but she was about 2 and a half, which also seemed a little old. I kept trying to get her going sooner but she really wasn't ready. But once she got the hang of it she was quickly dry at night too.

Now our son. About a week after his third birthday I simply insisted. I fully suspected that he could control his bladder and he knew when he was about to do a wee. Well he got the hang of it really quickly with very few accidents. All kids get there in the end.

National Geographic this Month on Studies of Twins

I haven't got this issue about Twins but it looks interesting.
You can see more here:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/01/twins/miller-text

When Should we Start Practicing for the 11 Plus

As the summer holidays are about to start we have discovered that a substantial number of children in the same class as our eldest are all signed up for summer tutorials in preparation for the 11+ which is taken in Sept at the beginning of year six.

No my son is not in year 5 but year 4. The 11+ is 14 months away. I looked on some websites and it seems lucky that I didn't delay. The more well organised started 11+ training in year 2 or 3!

I have discoved construction toys are good for 11+ because help many logical and non-verbal reasoning skills.
So playing with lego is OK for my 9 year old this summer holiday but TV will be severely limited.
Reading and puzzle books are to be encouraged.
Playing most DS & Xbox games are not.

And will all this careful planning of leisure activities, practice papers and private coaching help? Well, apparently yes: www.suite101.com/content/video-games--computer-aids-for-eleven-plus-preparation-a377852

Potty Training Twins - One Has Master the Toilet & the Other is Refusing to be Without a Nappy

All advice is welcome as I am at a loss. My first child was out of nappies at 2 years 4 months and it took him less than a week to master pants and blader control once he decided he wanted to do it.

I was told girls are faster at these things so when I had the twins... well at 2 years+ my daughter was leaking like a... well she liked to drink lots of water and without a nappy she was like a walking water feature.
It was about 2 years 6 months beore she got the hand of knickers & the potty and it took ages not an over night success. Then by 2 years 8 months she was also dry at night. So she caught up with her older brother on this success.

Now at 2 years and 9 months the twin brother is resolute, he is not going without a nappy and he doesn't want to try the potty or the big toilet. So what do I do?

In many ways he likes to copy his twin sister: he always wants to play with what she has, dress like her and do what she is doing. But he is putting his foot down on this one. He says he will do it when he is bigger!

Looking for a nursery for the twins

We are going to visit a nursery this morning. The twins are entitled to their free hours from next January and that time will be here soon. i know you need to ook well ahead if you want certain days in popular nurseries.

Without their free hours it will cost about £18 per hour to send two of them to nursery, such a lot of money! So i am doing my reseach. Some will charge exrta if you are late collecting them. I'm always late so that's not good for me. Some offer discount for siblings, that is good.

I was very happy with the nursery my oldest child went to, it was Fledglings in Ramsgate. I like these details:
1.they were only given water to drink because juice is bad for teeth
2.the children had times in different rooms through the day, as well as an outside play area there is a big hall
3.they went out for walks
4. they had their own packed lunch which i provided, what ever he did not eat would come home to me in the box so I would know. The nursery could provide lunch but I like to know what he is eating.

Some nurseries are awful. When research for my older son I went to see one in Thanet (not in Ramsgate) which was so awful that I had many sleepless nights feeling sorry for the children who were there.

The owner looked like a witch, that was sign number one! The youngest children (under 18 months) had to stay in one small room ALL DAY. They didn't go in the garden, out for walks, or even play in a different room. They did go to a dining room for lunch. The witch told me it was too much upheaval to take the little one to the gardens but the bigger ones did get out to play.

She told me she couldn't trust her staff to take them out for walks in pushchair because they could be smoking and on the phones to their boy friends. She told me the youngest children couldn't have books in their room because they would get ruined. Can you imagine leaving your toddler in such a unstimulating environment all day. What about in the care of a witch with bad attitude. in fact, it must be pretty awful to work there too!

From a web search I can see that there is still childcare at the sme address but it appears to have been taken over in 2004. Lets hope changes for the better. Perhaps Hansel and Gretel stayed at the nursery and pushed the witch into her own oven.