Double the trouble!

This week, and half of next week, I am taking care of my friend's little girl! She is a 20 month cutie and we are having a blast! It has been quite interesting seeing what it is like having two little ones around! My respect for moms with more than one child just doubled, especially those with children that are close in age!

 "Are they twins?"

As I loaded up two kids into my SUV and headed to the grocery store, I was totally grateful for these double shopping carts. There was even room for a 3rd (my bag). Simple tasks like this with ONE baby, not to mention two, are hard enough! While shopping, I literally was stopped 3 times and asked, "Are they twins?" Do you know how bad I wanted to say, yes they are! Aren't moms of twins like WAY cooler? Everyone thinks you are some kind of super mom if you say YES, because they don't know how you DO it. On complete opposite spectrums of the percentile chart, these 10 month apart kiddos are most certainly almost exactly the same size! Micaiah looks bigger in this picture, but really they are about the same. Except, my 10 month old wears a size bigger diaper and weighs a few pounds more... but ya know. Whatevs!

Basically, I have learned that having two is not that bad, you just have to be organized and always thinking ahead. Here are some conclusions of having two.

• It really helps when one of them can WALK, so for those of you that literally just had a baby and think you can already handle two, just wait a few more months...please. I'm sure it would be a lot easier if both of them could walk. 
• It really helps if they take naps at the same time. (Thankfully, this is true for me for the afternoon). 
• You pretty much have to settle for a less clean house. Right? I'm rather a little obsessed about keeping things orderly, but this week, I just have kind of let things go a bit. I'd rather focus my energy and attention on helping these babies learn how to share or make sure they aren't hurting each other. Both of them are only children, so they are both learning how to acclimate to each other and having another person around that wants to use those things. Today, I really focused on passing items back and forth to practice "sharing." 
• Keeping busy is best. We have had a morning at our vegetable co-op (playing in the nursery). We have gone swimming. We have spent time swinging outside. We have gone to the grocery store. We have colored. We have read lots of books. We have had free play. We have played with Abe.
• Let the older one "help." I'm not going to lie...having an older one that can "help" put up the groceries and unload the dishwasher is NICE! E would walk over and put the cheese in the drawer in the refrigerator or hand me a canned good to put up on the shelf. She would hand me a "BAUWL" out of dishwasher. It was precious!
• You spend a good amount of time redirecting/intervening/disciplining, and that is kind of hard. I would say the biggest "struggle" has just been having to really WATCH them interact and act on those negative behaviors right way. Since neither one is really used to having another little person around, it is hard at times to get them to play "nice". I have had to keep my eyes on both to make sure Cai isn't accidentally pushing E over or E isn't doing the same. Both have had their share of screaming at the other for taking a toy from each other!

I am definitely more tired at the end of the day, but overall, I am encouraged that I could EVENTUALLY have another one to tote around. I'm sure you guys probably have a lot of good ideas to try, so give me some hints! :)