In days past when I had alot of time on my hands (read: bedrest), I had read alot of books on raising twins and fostering a strong sense of their own identity. A few of the books had suggested that starting in the toddler years it is a good idea to separate them every once in a while, giving them each some one on one time with a parent. Bill and I have done this a little before, he would take Nixon to Home Depot while Reaghan and I went to Holiday Market or vice versa, but today we decided to do a whole morning alone each with a kid. It started out because I really wanted to go to the outlet mall in Howell, the kiddos needed new PJs, but surprisingly Bill didn't think that spending a morning shopping at an outlet mall and then having lunch sounded like a great idea. Besides, we recently had bird number three in our basement, so he wanted to do some investigating to find out how in the heck they keep getting in there and then fix the problem. Since Nixon has a bloody fit every time I subject him to shopping, and Reaghan is a budding fascionista, it was an easy choice with kid I would take.
Reaghan and I had a terrific time shopping, got some great deals, and then had a nice little girly lunch at a Chinese restaurant near home. While shopping I had let her walk in the stores part of the time and was totally surprised at how well she behaved - no snatching at items, though she did make a few selections (a very cute kitty t-shirt and a pair of pink sunglasses with flowers) and at the restaurant she sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair for the very first time! Reaghan was very impressed with the order of beef with broccoli with brown rice that we shared at Ginger, ate nicely with her spoon, and even kept her voice down! When we got home she showed all of her favorite items to Nixon and Daddy and then went upstairs for a nap with no problems!! There was alot of horseplay going on in their room right after we put them down for nap, no doubt because they hadn't seen each other for three hours, but they eventually settled right down.
Bill and Nixon had a great time as well. They hit the hardware store, then had a "manly" luncheon at BW3. Bill reported that Nixon was a perfect gentleman the whole time, downright chatty, and even flirted with the waitress (I'm sure daddy was proud).
Tonight is our monthly date night, we are heading to Ann Arbor to go to the Earle. We've decided that each month on our date night day that we will hang with a kid in the morning. I think that not only is it good for the kids, but in a way its really nice for us as well. You really feel much less stressed out with only one kid, and it is so nice to have that one on one time with them. Maybe next time I'll do a mommy-son breakfast!
It'll be fun!
By the way, special thanks to Leighla for her guest spot! Maybe the experiance will lead to her starting her own little blog!
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I often think about doing the one-at-a-time thing. Our girls are practically glued to each other's hips from the minute they wake up to the blissful moment they fall asleep. Now that I think about it, apart from the early NICU, they shouldn't know a world where their sister isn't within eyesight. That may come back to bite us. Hmmm. You post gives me moment to pause.
Nice to see great minds thinking similarily. We just instituted monthly date night! Mommy has many Mommy-daughter outings (OT, PT, etc). I take the girls out for coffee every Saturday morning. It's sweet.
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