Frozen

Parents of young children will understand the power of the movie Frozen. Likely, the movie will permeate your soul through having watched it over and over again. 

You will know exactly which songs pop into your head when you open up the safety gate at the top of the stairs, and when you finish the part of the sandwich that your child doesn't eat at lunch time.

And, for those of you living in Saskatchewan, you can sympathize with the people of Arendelle.

Potty Training

After getting into a comfortable routine with a couple of 30 month-old toddlers, we decided that it was about time to embark on a new challenge. 

We had made a couple of attempts at potty training at times in the past, with limited success.

Let me tell you that potty training can be a frustrating time if you let it get to you. We treated the process as a learning experience for everyone involved, and I am proud to report that we are now 50% completed.

I won't tell you which twin won the potty training challenge, but most of you can probably guess who it was. 

Don't Turn your back on a Toddler

Once a week, I take a half-day off work to stay home with the kids, while Amanda goes to work.

It is at this time that the kids recognize that they are dealing with the weak link of the parenting team and conspire to come up with ways to pull a fast one on their father.

Yesterday, while my back was turned for a split second, focused on making lunch for the kids, Pritam decided that it would be the perfect time to give herself a haircut, using scissors that I had provided to her for a snowflake craft project.

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday... if it is too quiet, the kids are up to something.

Lazy

I'm pretty sure that most blogs die after the initial honeymoon period.

You start off really excited to chronicle your daily or weekly musings, only to find that life throws a series of obstacles in your way. After a few months of excitement, you get busy. You have to choose between shaving, video games, household chores, or blogging,. From time to time, you question whether you really even need to have a blog at all.

Anyone that is both a blogger and a parent of a toddler will understand that time is a precious commodity, and a blog will often be left by the roadside to make room for your favourite TV shows, fantasy baseball pools, gardening,  or personal grooming.

I think that, what I need to remember, is that my blog will ultimately be forgotten by everyone else. This record of my life as a parent will ultimately be a personal memoir. If I don't keep up with blogging, then I will be the only one who loses out.

All By Myself

Life with twin toddlers means that you don't get a lot of free time to yourself at home. You come home from work, then there is a daily routine of: 

1) feed the kids;
2) clean the fallout from the meal; 
3) bathe the kids; 
4) read many books;
5) sing many songs;
6) put the kids to bed.

Last week, there was a reprieve granted. Amanda and the kids went to Estevan to visit Grandma and Grandpa. 

So, instead of my regular evening routine, I found myself watching movies, eating in front of the television, and reading books that don't have pictures and rhyme. 

As great as this sounds, it was sad to see our copy of Goodnight Moon sitting unread on the table, and Darshan's "nink"* standing by itself in the upstairs hallway.

* Darshan refers to his water bottle as his drink, but in toddler speak, the "dr-" becomes an "n-" occasionally

Everyone came back home on Saturday, and the house was back to it's usual musical state.  

Road Trip 2014

Travelling with 2-yr old twins from Regina to Vancouver and back was a lot of fun. 

However, it was also a lot of work. 

Keeping toddlers strapped into car seats for hours at a time can make them ornery. We kept our travel days short and took long breaks. 

But the key to keeping our sanity was our built-in DVD player in our minivan. That, and a great selection of kid's movies, including:

The Gnome-Mobile

Annie

Mary Poppins

But, the whole adventure came together through the planning and hard work of Saskatchemom, who thought of every little detail to make the trip perfect for the twins.

Nobody likes rain storms....except kids.

Rain pours down all weekend. Water seeps into basement. Garden is flooded out. 

What kind of crazy people would actually be happy with this kind of weather? 

Toddlers!

Admit it...your inner child is screaming out to you to buy some rubber boots and to splash in some puddles.