In my last post, I explained some of the many ways I used Khushi Kanthas to make the first six months of life with my twin daughters a tad easier.
Opi and Mahi have just turned 15 months, and we still use our ultra-soft, eco-friendly, multi-purpose baby ‘kantha’ blankets all the time.
Now the girls are firmly established on three meals (plus multiple rounds of snacks!) and two naps (if we’re lucky!) a day, we have a bit more structure to our days- although we still haven’t managed anything like the kinds of routine lots of twin mums swear by….
Wakey Wakey – Rise and Shine
I consider anything after 5am a lie-in!
My daughters now sleep in sleeping bags, and we don’t use any additional bedding in their cots. But Khushi Kanthas come in handy for blocking out the light between the bars, helping them fall back to sleep easily when they inevitably stir in the middle of the night.
We start the day with milk and cuddles in bed. It’s really nice when one wakes up before the other, and we get a little bit of rare one-on-one time.
However hard I try, the good morning cuddles never last that long, as they are always at their most energetic first thing in the morning, and are much more interested in charging around causing chaos!
They’ve started getting really into hiding – having lots of Khushi Kanthas around comes in handy for den-building 😊
However hard I try, the good morning cuddles never last that long, as they are always at their most energetic first thing in the morning, and are much more interested in charging around causing chaos!
They’ve started getting really into hiding – having lots of Khushi Kanthas around comes in handy for den-building 😊
Meal Times
At home, I serve the girls as many meals as possible in their nappies – anything to save on washing!
I usually give them Weetabix and fruit for breakfast, but they’re increasingly more interested in munching on a bit of whatever I’m having 😊
For lunch and dinner, I try and make something from my favourite weaning book, Young Gums – the recipes are a lot more interesting than your average toddler food, and it saves having to cook separately for them. They are especially partial to a ‘baby burrito bowl’.
Playtime
The girls love sitting on their Khushi Kanthas to play with their toys – and they’re starting to play with my dolls. I was just about to return their baby bouncer to the friend who kindly lent it to us, thinking they’d grown out of it, only to discover that their latest favourite activity is bouncing their dolls in it….and when they’re feeling a bit sleepy, they just climb in with them, and have a chill 😉
Naptime
Like most little ones, the girls tend to have a morning nap around 9am, plus a post-lunch nap.
I’ve always embraced naps on the go. People are amazed at how easily the girls will drop off when we’re out and about….Khushi Kanthas are my secret weapon!
Even when it’s pretty warm, my daughters like to be covered by a blanket when they nap:
Adventure time
We use our Khushi Kanthas in the pram all year round. At the moment, we’re trying to make the most of Lockdown 2.0 by exploring as many parks as possible.
The blankets are also great for picnics when the weather allows:
They also make brilliant breastfeeding covers – yet another reason to carry a Khushi Kantha wherever you go!
I’ve never been particularly shy about feeding my girls in public, but it’s always helpful to have the option, especially as the girls get wrigglier by the day, which can make accidentally flashing a boob somewhat inevitable 😉
Time to Escape London
We were lucky enough to be invited to the Peak District for a weekend in September. We stayed with my lovely friend Cat, who worked on the Rohingya refugee response with me in Bangladesh. As a Child Protection Advisor, she had fully twin-proofed the house in advance of our arrival 😊
The girls loved ‘hiking’. We used Khushi Kanthas to keep their warm in their slings…and they doubled-up as makeshift changing mats when I needed to do a quick nappy change in the middle of a field!
As Opi and Mahi continue to grow, I’d love to stitch a few of their kantha blankets together into a larger quilt that they could use when they graduate to a bed, or to snuggle under on lazy days when the weather is rubbish.
How would you use a Khushi Kantha?