18 Months Old & Both Twins are Walking

At almost 18 months to the day, now boy twin is really walking.  He will go across the room, pick things up and carry them and looks really pleased with himself and his new skill.  His twin sister has been doing this for almost 6 months.

They are also mastering feeding themselves.  They have been playing with food for a long time but just in the past week or two they have bbeen able to clear a bowl of sloppy food, like beens or porridge, with their spoons. 

Well done twins.

Nice Glass of Red Wine, with my beans on toast, at 5.30pm - it helps!

Delighted to read that a longitudinal study has found that women who drink wine gain less weight than the teetotaller and the beer drinkers.  It seeems something is happening in the metabolic process so that calories in wine do not so easily turn into fat around the tummy!  It must be true, I read it in the Times this Sunday. My personal guess is that the no-alcohol women were seeking comfort in extra cake and chocolate!

I'm sure I'm not the only mum who longs for a glass of wine - by lunch time, infact, a pint of lager sounds good, too.  "Never before 5," is my motto, and I resisted until about 5,30 tonight when I sat down with the 3 kids to my beans and hash browns.  Actually, I had my first glass whilst doing the cooking, not that you can really call it that.  Progromming the microwave for the babies' ready meal, opening a can of Heinz finest, poping Hovis Granary slices in to the toaster.  My, it was delicious though I say it myself.

Helter Skelter

I took the twins to Helter Skelter in Broadstairs, a play centre for children aged 0 - 8, on Monday.
What  a nice surprise when the lady at reception asked if they were twins because they do discount. I think it is two for the price of one and half!

HS in Broadstairs is new, it is in York Street behind the Methodist church hall.  It is quite small, I guess compact.  Well thought out, I think best for children under 5.

So in Thanet we are well provided for by way of children's soft play centres:

• Wallies World has re opened at new premises in Margate, along the sea front. I have not been there.
• Jungle Jims at Birchington, Quex Park.
• Play Bay, in a basement under the amusement arcade, at the seafront in Ramsgate.
• Also Chally Chalk at the Pub (some chain) next to the train station in Margate.

The first steps of twin number one

Twin 1 has just started taking his first steps, at 17 months of age. He is following in his older brother's footstep as he was also 17 months when he started to walk.

Twin 2, however, she has been walking for ages, around about her first birthday. I am told girls are usually advanced. Well I can see a big difference in these two, but I know of boys who were walking at 9 months so I'm not sure if it is down to sex and gender.

One of the Twins has Eczema (not EXMA!)

Whilst one has porcelain soft skin the other has suffered from dry skin and eczema since whenever I can remember.

Red, Sore, Weeping in the Creases: ankles, knees, wrists and hands

It was last summer when he was about 9 or 10 months old when the weeping wounds on his ankles were bad enough to warrant a trip to the Doctor.
Remember, I have twins, so I simply do not make appointments and I never go to the doctors' surgery, it is all just too difficult to get out of the house on a schedule.

Well, GP prescibed hydrocortisone cream to treat the eczema flare up and E45 as a general moisturiser.  As expected the cream did a marvellous job, within a few days the weeping gashes had closed.  But the redness around his feet never got better. I didn't keep using the hydrocortisone because I know is not supposed to be used continuously.

Reactions to Creams & Moisturisers Causing Eczema Flare Ups

To cut a long story very much shorter it slowly seemed to emerge that the more I put moisturiser on little Edward the worse his skin got: slowly redder, looking burnt and blistered.  I came to the conclusion it was the cream because it would appear only in places that had been moisturised.

Again, remember I have 3 children, so unlike some more diligent mothers, I neglected little Edward.  He did not get smoothered in moisturiser all over on a regular basis.  I was told he should because off his dry skin and small patches of eczema, but if I put cream all over his legs and tummy when they were just a litle dry, the next day they looked worse and red.

Specialist Skin Doctor at the Hospital

My GP made an appointment at the dermatology department.  The Eczema Doctor prescibed a potent corticosteroid ointment called Elocon 0.1% for use once a day for 5 days.  This treatment ended on Sunday 31st Jan. For the first time ever he had beautiful soft skin coloured legs with no red patches and no itching and scratching.

This lasted over a week but sadly I have to report that yesterday the redness reappeared, he was scratching again at night and today I used the milder hydrocortiscone ointment which she also prescribed which is to be used at the first sign of a flare up.  I hope this will stop the ezcema in its tracks but other parents will know you get so used to it being there it is hard to believe it will ever go.

Be careful where you take advice on the web, lots of people are selling products and have dubious credientials, Here is some sound advice on treatment for a baby:

My Boy Girl Twins are Very Different

It is certainly interesting to see the differences between my 2 babies as they grow and develop. Being the same, the differences are obvious, whereas if I try to compare them to my older son my memory may be blurred by time. In fact, it is important to treasure, as much as possible, this time with the little ones because it is amazing how much you forget those unforgettable moments.

The differences which I am referring to are development of abilities, personalities, interests: particular as my twins are a boy and a girl.

Already, I cannot remember when darling daughter began to walk, even though it must have been within the last 6 months. I know my older son started walking at around 17 months and his baby brother looks set to be even later. The twins are 17 months old this week and darling baby boy has only taken a few steps.

So my girl has always been more able that the boy: turning over, sitting up, walking...
Nether of them show much interest in talking but the do lots of baby chattering to each other and with me. Victoria has always had a big smiling personality, she wears a grin which is so wide it must hurt her cheeks. Edward, Earnest might be a better name, serious, smiles only briefly, his smiles and giggles seem so much more valuable because of their rarity. If he is always like this, however, I think he could find it tough making friends.

It has been most interesting to see Victoria take to playing with dolls and teddies in a way that Edward never has. Whist both of the babies have a healthy curiosity about everything, Edward is more interested in the things you might associate with boy behaviour: how technical, gadgety things work.

I am not the type of mum to give them gender specific toys, by the way, I am happy for them to play with anything that will not hurt them (too much).

I do not subscribe to the view that having twins is harder than coping with a single baby.

Yes, I did find it daunting when we first found out. I know that when I had the one baby 6 years earlier he had consumed all of my time and energy. I thought, though, people do manage and there are only 24 hours in the day. These twins can't take more looking after than there are hours available!

Of course, some things are more difficult. Breast feeding two simultaneously, for example. When both of them cry for attention at the same time, especially in the middle of the night.

Getting out of the house seems harder as there are 2 babies to dress, 2 nappies to change and twice as much stuff to take. By the time I'm ready to go it is often late afternoon and I have lost the will to make it!

The joy of twins, however, is that they keep each other company, they play together and entertain each other for hours. It is lovely to watch and lovely to leave them to it!