Where are my happy babies?

We are battling on with temper tantrums and screaming fits in the Z household.

Ciara is back to waking at 3 am (although yesterday it was Enya to give her her due too) and was not to be quietened, she stopped crying if I tickled her back but started again as soon as I stopped. I eventually left her to cry it out- around one hour later I finally got to sleep, I don't actually know when she stopped crying!

We had to wake the girls then this morning after their very disturbed night and I tried to keep them up after breakfast so they could only get one nap today but that wasn't happening! I might try not letting them have a midday nap anyway, because at nearly 2 years they should only need one nap and they wake up in such a rotten mood after a second nap that my gut feeling is they may be getting too much sleep. I will really miss the 2nd nap, as that is when I blog but heyho it has to go!!

Enya has in the last couple of weeks developed a high pitched yell which she uses everytime she doesn't get her way or feels frustrated, she is using it constantly right now. If she can't get a bottle lid to fit she yells, if I tell her no she yells, if I won't give her my knife she yells etc. etc. Ciara can do it too, but a) her cry isn't quite as piercing and b) she does it much less frequently. I'm going to mention this to the play therapist when we visit this week, see if she can add that to our list of goals- help Enya to control/work through her frustration constructively.

My darling daughters have also decided that their buggy is the worst form of torture ever. They want to walk (for 20m then they want to stand in front of their buggy and play with the straps) or run across the road. If I can keep the buggy moving it's usually not too bad (we try and outrun the crys!!) but stationary is way bad! If I could trust them to walk with me I swear I'd abandon this instrument of torture.

The only plus thing about the tantrums we've been having is, I've been getting more cuddles from my girls. They keep coming to me for comforting and cuddling which is always nice but I'd still like my happy babies back please!!

In a completely different direction: we weighed the girls this week and for the first time Enya is over the 10 percentile curve for her adjusted age- she is around the 25 percentile line (10,5 kg or 23 pounds, approx 80cm tall), Ciara is taking after her daddy and is plotting over the 90 percentile line (13.2kg or 29 pounds and approx 86cm). Hard to imagine they were born both barely on the 10 percentile curve! Although we now seem to be entering the "otherwise" toddler stage, with food refusals par excellance this last week, so I expect the weights to plateau until they master feeding themselves. I'm trying to relax and let them self regulate the amounts they eat and now that I know we are doing so well on the charts I think we have the leighway to let them experiment with what they need/want. I'm also trying to cut down on offering them biscuits as a snack, although Ciara refuses fresh fruit she will eat dried fruits instead.

I think I've babbled enough today so I'll stop typing and just wish you all a happy Monday!