TTT.....

[AtLongLast]

OTT / self-indulgent I know, but Toddler Twin Tantrums..... aaargh! Just as well they're so cute too. Ds2 was v funny today wiggling his bum singing uh, uh Bobby' in response to me dancing round the kitchen to Bobby's girl'...

Ooh, have you been naughty lavita?

Glad your garage is ok tarti. Actually 'only' took bro 4.5 hours to get home as he finished later than I thought. apparently he could have walked it in 2. what's work tomorrow? Open day? I've agreed to go in next Thursday & already starting to regret it.

Love dress 1 Kate but confess I might not be looking beyond the redness of the trim and as for wedding suitability - looks fine to me but I have proven my non fashionistaness.

Have you made the opera Lady? Hope you are feeling better.

We made it to Wales so just waiting to see if the calm after the storm of last hour lasts. Boys on camp beds in own room.... a first...

Oh, on subject of shopping.... Converse (red, of course). Is that Very Wrong? Am I Far Too Old now?

Definitely not too old ALL - I have many a pair myself! Why do I get the feeling that you have a slight obsession with red?...

Have updated on the thread, I wrote some gossip about Tom Cruise's sexuality will post on Facebook!

What about this Kate?

ALL I love Converse, and red is my favourite colour. I find them too narrow for my wide flippers though my feet have gone up half a size since pregnancy, so maybe I just need to buy a 7

Red dress Kate?

LVB The red is very cute!

Am steering away from white - simply because I get a little bit obsessive about dropping things down it - if its lots of different colours and patterns then it hides the dirt ;)
Plus, I'd like to go for something super summery and colourful, seeing as its Summer ... (or not!) and my dress is very summery and colourful!

I think that's me sold then . Possibly will wait for bday but I trying to talk myself out of a sewing machine too.

I may be just a leetle bit obsessed Kate

Stupid mobile 'net. Taken best part of an hour to regain connection.& now we're off to bed to prepare for inevitable 4am get-up / boys wondering where they are...

I find Converse perfect for this type of weather - too hot for nice winter boots, but too cold for flip flops. Plus once they start getting a bit grubby, you can stick them in the washing machine and they come out good as new. Normally I spray them with that water-proofing spray - I'm not sure whether it really works or not, but its worth a try!

Maybe I should just stay safe with Boden
They also do the same dress but in a 'Dusky rose' colour, with the same-ish print. DD1 and 2 could wear 1 colour, DTrips in the other.

Will it be a bit sickly (can't think of a better word) if I have 5 girls turn up virtually matching? I think I'm over thinking this as usual

Love the Boden dress Kate, I try to do co ordinating colours but we are off to a wedding tomorrow and the girls have matching dresses, I don't normally but they were so cute!

Shit, wtf do I get DH for his bday which I've just realised is on Monday [blush} ??
Needs to be under a hundred quid as I would rather spend money on myself, frankly
URGH

Yes is kind of open day/summer fair hybrid tomorrow. Right pain.

Lavita my feet have double in volume too since the girls, and they were wide to start with. Wouldn't get in converse now I don't think.

Hope you've enjoyed the opera mucky.

Enjoying the dress links Kate.

Must go to bed, early start x

Tarti this is what DP would like and it's £99

I really do love the Catimini ones, but we've got no other weddings or occasions this summer, and it would be £55 X 5..

Aww bless them, bet your DD's will look absolutely gorgeous :)

Tarti I love finding presents for people - give us a little clue as to what your DH is like, and I'm sure we can help.

DH is a nightmare to buy for, so I buy things that I like and pretend they're specially for him

Kate - love those dresses. This prob isn't summery enough but I LOVE this: here, at least it's in the sale! or there are loads of great reductions on summer dresses at Smallable. I'm even tempted to buy loads of stuff in larger sizes this summer but am having to stop getting the old credit card out.

Made it to the ENO this evening, it was AMAZING. Damon Albarn and the ENO doing an opera about Elizabethan mathematician-cum-sorcerer John Dee. Oh yes. Damon sitting atop the stage singing amazing songs throughout the performance, absolutely mesmerising.

Meant to say, I like that dress in the sage stripes rather than the green. Just beautiful.

Oh lavita, I would love that for a present. DH is weird not into technology at all which makes him v hard to buy for. Hmm how to describe him.. Imagine your dad/grandad. Not that he's old but he has similar tastes and pursuits!
Am now going to spend all day pondering how I can pass off apple tv as a gift for him, it's such a good idea! Enjoy your wedding today!
Kate, we MUST be able to find you something cheaper than £55 x 5 !
Mucky, sounds unreal, lucky you, a far cry from my night watching wimbledon followed by cdwm!

Slap happy with the !s there - must be my joy at getting up early for work on a Saturday

Not sure about the Apple TV. We bought it in Switzerland and unless we were missing something, it was a bit rubbish IMO I read some 'interesting' reviews too (after we bought it, duh) which backed up what I thought. As a disclaimer though - we had no other Apple kit at the time and I think if you do it might work much better. BUT do not buy if you intend to use the remote control which comes with it - it looks great but is like using one from the 90s - so old fashioned and tedious and slow to use!

Other ideas - what about a wallet from Smythson or Paul Smith in the sale? A case of wine from Chateau Bauduc - made by an English couple in France and used by Rick Stein and Ramsay as regular wines on their menus... really delicious wine and quite cheap by the case/half-case. And they deliver. (Or would a gift of wine be seen more as a gift by you to you? )

Is he into clothes? I've just bought a few really nice things for DH from my-wardrobe, excellent reductions and not stupidly fashiony stuff.

Right, must go. Off to brave Hyde Park Lido on my own with the girls, meeting friends. Weather report - changeable. Can I be arsed?!!!

Just wondering if any of you guys have suspicions that one of your DTs is going to be much more sociable/popular than the other, and if so what you plan to do (if anything) about it? :(

We're just back from a lovely afternoon out at a steam fair with some friends who have a 5yr old boy. Every time their son plays with our girls, he massively favours Eve, and today was no exception - he never says hello to Juliet, never wants to kiss her goodbye, sat in the restaurant drawing a 'Valentine' card for Eve, and wanting her to do everything with him. None of this would bother me were it not for the fact that this seems to happen with almost every child we meet (not that they're quite so OTT with their affections towards E but the 'divide' is there). I can't recall a time when any child we've met has seemed to want to play with Juliet over Eve. It is breaking my heart, and making me give J more attention which I fear is setting up an even bigger disparity as she becomes dependant upon me for affection and validation rather than getting it elsewhere - ie. I'm feeling sorry for her and I don't want her to pick up on that.

Ugh, I hate it. It's such early days with all this stuff but I find it so hard. Eve is very confident socially, especially around older children, and just falls in with their step. There's nothing wrong with Juliet, she's just a bit more timid than her sister, and I don't want her to start to feel inferior :( :(

I have no advice at all but wanted to offer my support. It will be interesting to see how my girls develop..
2 of my best friends are twins, and 1 was always much quieter at school, not sure what my point is but many years on they are both still my friends.... (sorry that doesn't address any of your concerns)

Will think more and try and come back with some wise words

Thanks LVB

Loving the pics of you on FB btw; you looked fab :)

Oh! And if we EVER get a predictably nice few days of weather, we should try to meet at the Lido in Hyde Park. Have you (or Cerub) ever been? Went yesterday for the first time, it's SUCH a find. Quiet, enclosed, civilised, wonderful shallow paddling pool and playground suitable for younger children, lovely sunbathing and shady spots, and a cafe which serves fab food and wine. Had a wonderful afternoon there yesterday and even got to read the paper! Girls LOVED it.

I have a similar situation with R and M whereby R is the sociable outgoing one whereas M takes a long time to 'warm up' - I know exactly what you mean about overcompensating with your own attention and affection and I do think it's making matters worse in our case as R is only growing in confidence while M remains wary of new people and clingy in unfamiliar situations. Among their 'friends' I think different ones favour each of the girls but I certainly worry a lot more about M in the future, at school etc and am already imagining the excruciating sadness of one of them being invited to play dates and not the other, parties etc, oh god and one feeling they are 'saddled' with the other.
It must be a fairly common twin concern. I know if they were different ages I would find it easier to just respect their differences in character and not compare. But I know and sympathise with that awful ache of watching one of them get sidelined/ignored.
There must be something in one of the wanky twin books I shelled out for which have so far proved useless......

That is vaguely reassuring lavita. What I find quite interesting is that often twins have a shared best friend. It always seems a bit strange to me- surely someone bin that arrangement ends up feeling left out.
This is triggering the old same class/different class debate in my head...

Oh Lavita beautiful pics on Facebook. Gorgeous dress, you look stunning

Thanks again tarti. I can just see us posting on here over the years about these issues that are to come in the future... :( face and a :) face too...

Gawd love em we just love these kids so much, don't we? Just couldn't have been prepared for the strength of my feeling and how wibbly I feel at the mere thought that one of them might be rejected in some way in the future.

I know. I thought of you the other day, we were at soft play and there were some very rough boisterous pre-schoolers throwing themselves about, banging into everyone and running around yelling. My girls looked totally shellshocked and kept looking at me as if to say 'Mummy isn't someone going to make them stop it?!' - it reminded me of the time you were in the park and some nasty school age children were shouting at J and E from the top of the slide.
I just want to wrap them up in a big smug perfect bubble of perfectness, protected from all nastiness. Needless to say DH thinks I am an absolute moron in this regard and need to get real, which is probably just as well as he will probably in the end manage to prevent me from raising them to be insufferably precious little madams.

Ah yes, that incident. Funnily enough I caught Eve one of my girls being a bit mean to a smaller child in that same playground and it made me realise that they were/are just at the beginning of this new phase where they will inevitably become those same children (to a degree), trying out different behaviours for size and testing boundaries. Not to say that I will in any way tolerate it (when I see it..) and the thing that got me that time was that there wasn't any parent around to enforce discipline, but it gave me a shock to realise that my children are now capable of those behaviours...!