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Showing posts from June, 2014

The 5 Love Languages of Children

The 5 Love Languages of Children is a book I've had in my Kindle library for almost 2 years now but I did not finish reading it until May this year. Not because it's not an interesting read, but because it's best applied to older kids. 


The original The Five Love Languages book was a huge bestseller for Gary Chapman and this version of the book delves into the application of the 5 love languages to the parent child-relationship. The 5 love languages concept says  that most people have a primary preference for how they give and perceive love. It would be one of:

Physical touchWords of affirmationQuality timeGiftsActs of service
The book expands on those 5 languages in chapters 2 to 6 before going into the  application of the theory of love languages in the realm of parenting. 
My Review: Here's a few of the many ah-ha moments I had while reading this book My love language is gifts. People with this love language love to give and receive THOUGHTFUL gifts. Emphasis on "th…
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"Do We Have To Share Everything?"

"Do we have to share everything?"

That was the question Spice asked me Thursday night as I was sorting their laundry. I was in the process of hanging a shirt that the twins' grandma gifted them from Nigeria. The shirt was originally meant for my niece so grandma had just one shirt made. Both girls saw the shirt and asked simultaneously "who's shirt is that?".

I replied that it was for both of them and they would have to share. That's when Spice asked that very impactful question above. I was a little taken aback and thankful that reading Emotionally Healthy Twins had made me alert to the girls' requests for more individuality. I asked Spice "Don't you like to share your clothes with your sister?" and she replied "No".

Twenty minutes later, after the girls had finished with their bath, I asked Spice the same question again and she still replied no. I needed to be sure so I asked her the following (Friday) night and she once more …
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Life's Little Moments #1

Being three and a half, my twins are at that age when they start saying cute / memorable stuff and what kind of a semi-mom-blogger would I be if I didn't come here and share some of those cutiesms with you.

Scene 1: I'm sitting with my head on my knees just trying to gather some energy for the bedtime ritual
Spice: Mama are you ok?
Me: Yes, just a little tired
Spice: Do you want me to scratch your back? 
Me: yes
She proceeds to scratch my back for a bit
Spice: Do you feel better now?
Me: Yes thank you so much

Now I know why she's always asking me to scratch her back. My baby loves back rubs I guess

Scene 2: Driving home from work
Spice: Mama, put both hands on the wheel!

Yeah! the 3 year old backseat driver is telling me how to drive. She's lucky I didn't stop the car and make her walk home ;)

Scene 3: Both girls are sitting at the dining table arguing about being best friends (or not)
Spice: Be nice to me "Sugar", I'm your favorite twin 

Now THAT was this weekend a…
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Insanity is not the reason I travel with twins

Our recent flights from Calgary to Lagos and back were the twins 13th and 14th flights respectively. Let that sink in for a bit! I've willingly got on airplanes with twin babies/toddlers/preschoolers 14 times in the last 3 years. I'm not crazy, I was motivated by 2 moms who had gone before me.

First one was my oldest friend O. We had lost touch for a few years and out of the blue she called me while I was still living in Houston and before I had the twins. We spent over an hour yakking on the phone and catching up on life. I found out that she

lives in the UKgot married a couple of years backhad a baby the previous monthwas visiting friends and relatives in the USwas leaving for Lagos and Abuja within the next week WITH AN INFANT IN TOW! I may have actually yelled this when I asked her "What the?!"
She simply brushed my shock aside and said the baby's got to get used to life with the mother he has. Very matter-of-factly. No drama, just fact.

Cue a few months later. A…
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Red eyes and globe trotting

In the last couple of months, I've been on 4 flights with the twins that tested the extremes of travelling with kids:

First was a red-eye return trip from Calgary to Ottawa to process our Nigerian travel documentsSecond was a globe-trotting 19 hour return trip from Calgary to Lagos, Nigeria with a connection in HoustonPhew. I'm glad for all the previous practice sessions I had because they came in useful and the flights were really uneventful. Apart from all the things I'd learnt from previous flights, here are some additional tricks I incorporated since the girls were now older Tell the kids what's going to happen (but not too early or they'll drive you crazy with questions). At almost three and a half years old, the girls could understand the concepts of airports and planes. Telling them what's going to happen and treating it all as an adventure meant they were excited instead of apprehensive and cranky. If possible, watch a few shows on planes and flying befor…
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