House of Twins

G has turned into a little parrot, mimicing almost everything that we say - or the end of it, anyway.

Us: "Do you want to have a dance?"

G: "DANCE?"

Us: "Shall I put on your shoes?"

G: "SHOES"

Us: "Do you want some toast?"

G: "TOAST"

....you get the idea. She also makes animal noises (mostly) on cue:

Us: "What noise does a tiger make?"

G (looks puzzled for a couple of seconds) "GRRRRRRRRRAAAHHHHHHH"

Us: "What noise does a dog make?"

G: "Uff Uff"

G also says R's name if one us us says it - when she feels like it, anyway.

We definitely need to follow Davina's advice and remember: It's live SO PLEASE DO NOT SWEAR!

It was the girls' last day at their old nursery yesterday. Dh and I collected them together. Their carers refused to let us through the door...

...but we bribed them with cards, chocolates and flowers and eventually we were allowed in to be greeted with some very sad, reproachful looks.

The goodbyes were harder on the adults than the girls, who didn't seem that fussed. C, G's keyworker has taken our decision to move them particularly hard. If we had the funds and the space, we would employ C as a nanny because she has such a strong bond with both girls, especially G. However, it simply isn't practical for the girls to be at a nursery which is a 28 mile round trip from where we live and is nowhere near our places of work now.

The girls have absolutely thrived at Peter Pan's. When they started settling in at 4 and a half months old they were just babies really, still exclusively bottle feeding and sleeping. They couldn't sit up on their own. They were extremely bald. They spent their days getting endless cuddles and shaking rattles around aimlessly.

They leave as fully mobile, bold, confident, sociable, chatty 17 month old toddlers. They feed themselves. They walk. They climb. They are starting to talk and say actual words. They are extremely tactile and affectionate. They have lots of blonde hair.

The staff at Peter Pan's have played a massive part in the girls' development. We struggled with weaning and they really helped us out by trying out new foods on the girls and suggesting recipes. When R refused to drink water last summer they patiently fed it to her on a spoon. When G went through her difficult sleep phases they offered sympathy and advice. They told us constantly how much they loved the girls and how wonderful they were, even when they hit and bit other children (In fairness, they were on the receiving end a fair few times so overall I'm sure it balanced out)and we never had cause to doubt their love of and commitment towards the girls.

This was in evidence yesterday as we all adopted stiff upper lips and kissed and hugged each other goodbye. They presented us with scrapbooks (one each) filled with photographs, artwork and comments on the girls. We also received their Sure Start folders, which record all of the milestones achieved whilst at nursery, from sitting up unaided for the first time to their first words and comments on periods of observation conducted by their keyworkers.

We have promised to keep in touch and dh has already e-mailed them the link to the girls' Flickr site so that they can keep tabs on R and G's progress.

So, things move on and the girls have their first settling-in session at BDN (just round the corner from home) on Wednesday. I hope they like their new nursery. I'm sure they'll be just fine, as long as G doesn't shout CHEZZA too often!

Or rather, tiny wisps of blonde hair. The girls had their first haircuts last weekend.

G went first and HATED the whole thing. She had a nervous breakdown when the gown was put on. She refused to sit on the stool. She leapt into my arms and clung to me for dear life.

An executive decision was made that R should go first. Sans gown, she perched on the stool and sat quietly while her fringe was trimmed. I suspect that next time she will probably ask for a coffee and a magazine.

Take two with G. I held her while she sobbed as the tiniest wisps were cut off her fringe.

Mum and I collected the hair in little plastic bags with the girls' names on and the date. I proudly bought them home and showed dh. He thought it was 'A bit weird' until I reminded him that his beloved great aunt kept some of his blonde curls in a bag. He considered this for a few seconds. 'Ok, but it's still weird'.

I'd post a pic but the girls really don't look that much different. They've just lost their pointy fringes.

Busy, busy in the HoT at the moment. New job going well, girls' last week at their current nursery, dh on annual leave and doing a sterling job as house husband. If only it were like this all the time...

As I stood at the front door waving the girls (and dh) off when they left for nursery this morning, R and G turned round and, at exactly the same time, each blew me a kiss. Wibble.

In the midsts of time, when I was breastfeeding and the girls needed help with bottle feeding, we used to subject them to hours of cricket, baseball, rugby and repeats of Top Gear on Dave. When they were about three weeks old they watched The Great Escape (start them young). I say watched - we fed them at the start of them film, they passed out for two hours and woke up to be fed again in time to watch Steve McQueen trying to jump a fence on a motorbike. As they were either eating or sleeping, I figured that a bit of light television wouldn't do them any harm.

As they became more mobile and able to hold their own bottles, we started spending more time in the dining room and kitchen - the largest area of the house - and less time in the living room and their television viewing declined to virtually nil as a result. I would occasionally put You Tube on to distract them - I've talked elsewhere about their love of Keep Fishin' by Weezer - but they didn't really watch any children's programmes.

When I was a teenager, I joined a penpal scheme at school. I was thrilled to receive the address of an American girl. How exciting! I wrote a long letter to her detailing my love of Friends and Frasier and my desire to travel around her country when I grew up. I received a much shorter letter in reply. She was Amish. She didn't own a television. I'm mildly ashamed to say that I didn't write back.

I also recall the difficulties in engaging with the one or two children at school whose parents either didn't own a televsion, or allow them to watch it. When the playground was abuzz with chatter about the latest episode of Red Dwarf, they were silent. They couldn't join in with the film and televsion initials game. Remember that one? RHPOT - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves!

Bearing these two things in mind, I decided to start allowing the girls to watch a little bit of carefully regulated television. Some friends of ours bought them Peppa Pig toys so we felt we ought to watch the programme of the same name. They love the toys but aren't as enamoured with the show. G doesn't relate her beloved Pingu toy to the plasticine shape racing around the screen. R rolled her eyes at In the Night Garden and carried on putting Duplo bricks together. Dh and I like Timmy Time but the girls get bored of it.

So, what are televisual hits in the HoT? G absolutely adores Teletubbies and nearly bursts with excitement when the Sun (with spooky baby face) rises and the theme tune starts. She shouts EH-OH at the screen and waves frantically when Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa and Po appear. R also likes it but is slightly less vocal about her enjoyment. They both hate the bit with the children, which they maddeningly show TWICE but luckily we always watch it on the iPlayer so I can do a bit of crafty fast forwarding when they lose interest.

I prefer Something Special and having watched a few episodes find myself singing the theme tune: 'Hello! Hello!...' and perfoming the few random signs I can remember. Sparkly shoes! Crab! Family! Look! Dh tells me that Justin (lovely cuddly Justin) and Mr Tumble are the same person but I'm not having it. I refuse to believe it. They must be twins or something...

So, the girls' televisual education has begun. I know that in a few years they will be watching all sorts of rubbish. I'm hardly a model viewer myself, unless you count Gossip Girl and 90210 as intellectual viewing. In my defence, I also watch Mad Men, which I regard as my intellectual viewing for the week. It's nice to watch things with the girls at the moment. I just wish I could get those damned catchy theme tunes out of my head.

In the HoT, anything furry is a teddy (pronounced TED-EEE)...

...except cats which are called 'dats'.

Pigeons are called 'piddons' or 'piddoos'.

Beakers of water are called 'joooce'.

Shoes are 'schooos'.

More is 'maah'.

Confused? That's life with R and G for you.

As parents we can get so caught up in the day-to-day routine that we forget to step back and take a moment to reflect on our achievements. I'm aware that these sorts of posts can slip into smugness, so I'll try to rein it in but, borrowing (actually, shamelessly stealing) an idea from a friend of mine (it's fab, which is why I'm appropriating it!), here are a few things that I'm grateful for:

1. The girls will be starting at their new nursery just round the corner from home on 1st June. Their last day at their current nursery (a horrid 28 mile round trip) is 21st May. It's been pretty tough travelling backwards and forwards with the girls to work and nursery over the last year but things will be so much easier in a couple of weeks.

2. Dh is fab. Since I started my 'new' job, he's been helping me out by taking the girls to nursery or picking them up (depending on his shift patterns) so that I don't have to drive to nursery, drop them off, get the train back into London, go to work and do the reverse of the journey in the evening - I just have to do one of the journeys, which has made life much easier. He's a star.

3. I got lots of kisses from both R and G this morning and evening. G is pretty generous with her kisses, R less so - I must have done something right to earn one!

4. The girls have also started paying more attention to their bedtime story, curling up on our laps as we read rather than ransacking the bookshelves or retrieving packs of wipes from the cupboard.

5. R and G were dancing in the back of the car this morning on our way to nursery. When they hear a song they like, they wave their arms around, nod their heads, clap their hands and tap their legs along to the beat. My little dancing queens!

6. I'm finally getting things set up at work. Just need a router for my broadband and I'll be in business! Creating a new library on my own is hard work but I can finally see some light at the end of the (long) tunnel.

G spent the morning communing with birds in the park, waving her arms around in an ethereal fashion and chanting. At one point she attracted a flock of pigeons and a number of large birds with black feathers and beaks (ravens? crows?), almost as big as her.

R and I stood back and let her get on with it.

In the red corner we have G a.k.a. Hannibal Lecter, flesh chomper extraordinaire.

In the blue corner we have R a.k.a. Scrappy-Doo. Steal her toy and she'll unleash her fists of fury.

90% of the time the girls are lovely. 10% of the time they are...well, rather challenging at the moment.

G has been told off three times in the last week for biting other children at nursery. It's mortifying to be shown digital footage of bite marks that one of your beloved children has made in another child's flesh. On each occasion, there has seemingly been little provocation for her actions. She wasn't tired, hungry or frustrated. Her keyworkers' theory is that G is very affectionate and sometimes doesn't know where the line is between a kiss and a bite and it isn't malicious, just misguided. I'm sure that the Krays' mother said similar about her boys!

R occasionally hits children when they get in her way, steal her toy or distract her from a task. She's very single-minded and focused and has been known to take on toddlers bigger than her if she perceives them as a threat. On one hand I'm pleased that she's bold and confident and won't be a pushover. However, I want her to understand that she can't always get her way and that she has to respect others. Also, I abhor violence and I don't like the thought of either of my children hurting others.

I'm told that they are both going through phases, testing boundaries and seeing how far they can push themselves, other people and us. We're trying to be consistent with discipline - sitting them down when they misbehave, explaining that what they have done is naughty and that they shouldn't behave in that way, in a calm but stern tone of voice. All the stuff you see in the parenting manuals and television programmes basically.

I love the girls but when they bite and fight they are quite hard to like . Luckily most of the time they are lovely. It's the 10% we need to work on.