The 6 months seemed a perfect time to share what our boys have been up to. All the new skills in the works, and how we are progressing as a family. That great leap from a family of two to a family of four was quite a challenge. I think we underestimated just how physically taxing it all would be, which might have been for the best as we went in with much more positivity than we otherwise might have.
Consider this what an average day with twin boys looked like.
Waking Up
When the first twin wakes up my husband will retrieve him, change their diaper if necessary, and bring him to me for (baby’s) breakfast in bed. I absolutely love being woken up to my husband handing me a newly awoken, squinty-eyed baby who is eager to feed. I typically pump before going to bed and wake up once in the middle of the night to pump again. Training my breasts to only produce during these times has allowed me to get much more sleep, and provides extra protection against hardening should the boys sleep in.
Starting The Day
I feel it sets the day in motion for everyone to be washed and changed into appropriate clothing to start our day. Each gets a fresh diaper and I let the boys pick between two outfits each. The boys will either reach out for the outfit of their choosing or show visual interest in a particular outfit. The clothing they can choose from is always seasonally appropriate, and each piece of clothing matches with one another. Only give a choice where all options are a yes!
The boys then stampede through the hallway to the living room for bottles. It never fails to make my heart leap watching them crawl, laughing a streaking towards me as they race on another. Baby B has the more traditional crawling technique, whereas Baby S has an upper body like a charging seal.
The Introduction of Solids
At 6 months we introduced the boys to solid food. In the weeks prior they had become very curious about the food we were eating and given small tastes from our plates. We started with a peeled cucumber spear. We left a hand of rind for the boys to more easily grasp, and they enjoyed gumming the juicy cucumber. As it was warm summer weather, we had more freedom for the boys to experiment with new (and often messy foods) outdoors.
Some foods they enjoyed with month:
- Cucumbers, steamed broccoli tops
- mangos, peaches, bananas
- scrambled eggs with crushed bacon
I’ll admit, I was quite anxious placing those first new foods in front of my boys. What would I do if both boys started choking? Would they have an allergic reaction? I sat close by and trusted in my boys as they explored the new tastes and textures. In baby-led weaning, the food is placed on the baby’s tray or in their hand rather than directly in the child’s mouth. The theory goes that a child has better control when self-directing food into their mouth. A piece of food spontaneously placed in a baby’s mouth may be too big or unexpected, causing baby to potentially choke or gag. Baby-directed feeding, in theory, lessens the likelihood of choking. The boys were very eager to try and explore new foods. They did occasionally gag on a piece of food, but quickly self-corrected and continued happily gumming on their meal.
Montessori Play at 6 Months
Activities on the shelf this month aim to build on hand-eye coordination, strengthen grasping, and encourage movement. They are learning to manipulate objects with their hands, and transferring between hands (or that of their brother`s hands!). Most objects still end up in their mouth. We make sure all toys are safe for little mouths, in good working order, and presented in a way that interests the twins. 90% of what the boys own was purchased by us second-hand, given as hand-me-downs from close friends, or gifted. This gives us a lot more freedom within our budget to test out what toys interest them and rotate toys in/out as needed.
Some of their favorite toys this month were:
Silicone stacking cups
Which is a bit of a misnomer because the babies don’t stack. I do the stacking, and the boys happily knock them over and giggle with delight.
Silver Sensory Reflective Balls
These really encourage crawling as the boys are still putting together the concept of brushing a ball toward themselves with their hands. Most often the ball is inadvertently pushed away, and off they crawl.
Baskets
I highly encourage you to scout out your local thrift store for small baskets to use on your shelf. Babies are keen to explore cause and effect. The boys thoroughly enjoy watching items fall out as they tip the basket.
Mirrors
We have mirrors scattered around the home at baby height for the boys to happen upon and study their reflection. Reflective metal mirrors on the floor for tummy time that they can look down into, horizontal mirrors stuck low on the wall to crawl past, and full-length dressing mirrors to play peek-a-boo with. Ideally, you want mirrors large enough for baby to see their whole body in, allowing them to study their own movements.
Fabric Squares
We gathered scrap fabric and leftover ribbon from the craft sections of thrift stores. Their grandmother sowed together these fabric squares of different colours and textures. The boys are fascinated with the tabs and enjoy pulling on them. They pull each handkerchief from the basket one by one or dump out the entire thing and rank them out with their finger. They practice their pincher grasp on the ribbon tabs, rolling them between their fingers and intently studying the feel and the designs.
Books
Babies struggle to understand things in abstraction. Montessori-aligned books emphasize experiences based on reality. The twin’s shelf are filled with books that have realistic photographs of people, objects, and nature or illustrations that are based on real-life scenarios. Right now, we are keeping most of our books fantasy-free. I enjoy rotating in seasonally appropriate books where they can make connections between events in the stories and the changing outdoors. There are some all season favourites we keep in the rotation like “Bath time for Twins” and “Go To Sleep Baby Boy”.
Sleep Schedule
Nap: 1 pm-4 pm
Nap: 7:30 pm-9 pm
Bedtime: 10:30 pm
Nap Time
The boys are freshly changed before the nap to avoid any interruptions for an overfilled diaper, and to ensure their sensitive skin is protected should they sleep longer than expected. They are napping 2x a day most days. It seems that the first 2 naps of the day are around 2-2.5 hours for the first nap and 1-2hs for the evening nap. Now I suspect you are doing a double take on those numbers. Only 2 naps, not 3? Do they sleep over 2hs? Honestly, I don’t worry about trying to keep Baby S and Baby B on the same schedule. I am only concerned with putting them down to sleep at the same time. From the moment Baby B was born, he was stricken with FOMO (a term I genuinely didn’t know until everyone started pointing it out). I realized very quickly that it was in the best interests of my sons that I respect them as individuals with very different sleeping rhythms.
Night Time
We are especially fortunate that our twins took to overnight sleeping early. Since about 3 months the twins have slept through the night. Occasionally they would wake and require a simple one-minute rock and kiss before falling back asleep. Looking back, I think we leapt to get them too quickly when one began fussing. I suspect they were still sorting out how to connect their sleep cycles, and simply needed time to find their comfy spot again. Of course, when you have twins your biggest fear is one waking the other, which motivated us to quiet a fussing baby quicker. The boys slept so well in fact, that it quickly became apparent that night diapers would be essential. We swear by Hello Bello. Great product values, adorable designs, and most importantly accommodated our tall, skinny babies best.
Bedtime Routine
We read the boys one or two books and reread those stories twice each. One of their favorite books is “Go to Sleep Baby Boy”. We read the books slowly, pausing longer than you might expect for their little brains to process the words and images. They love the photographs of real babies. Young children have a difficult time distinguishing between reality and fantasy. Montessori values realistic images grounded in real-life scenarios. This book reflects on the day’s routine while settling down for bed. We can add in specifics of the boy’s day each night we read the book.
Time For Mom
The prepared adult is so much more than just reading, planning and preparing the space for your little one. Your efforts must also be turned inwards. That can seem like an exhausting proposition, taking time for yourself when there are so many other things in need of your attention. The truth is, that parental burnout is real. Twin moms are especially susceptible. If it helps quash the mom guilt, think about taking time for yourself as a proactive burnout insurance for your children.
Pampering time.
Every other Tuesday afternoon I would take a 20-minute bath. I’d try to make this as luxurious as possible: bath bomb, sparkling water, a nice book and possibly candles. During this time I was completely unavailable. I could unplug from the world and the boys would benefit from some alone time with Daddy.
Screen Free Mornings.
While I don’t have social media, I would spend my mornings watching news programs online. Before the boys, my husband and I would watch a youtube video before he went to work. We quickly realized this was zapping our family time. Even short 15-minute videos left us strained with all that needed to be accomplished before he headed to work. We had to adapt. Now I may watch a video or two after the boys are sleeping (or catch up on my own rest!) and my husband listens to new streams on his commute.
Rest and Reflect
Before the boys I would find myself watching an overstimulating program and going down internet search rabbit holes before bed. Once the boys arrived I quickly realized I needed to scratch out every minute of sleep I could. We are fortunate that our boys sleep through the night, but a day alone with twins is still incredibly exhausting. Before going to bed I would carve out 30 minutes to reflect on the day.
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