Starting Solids, Potty Training and Preschool

The twin stars are now a little over 7 months old and so they started solids last week. Surprisingly, the entire experience is going well so far. We started with Earth's Best organic whole grain rice cereal for four consecutive days the first week and this week we started them on sweet potatoes. It was so cute watching them eat for the first time with the way their faces turned sour as they ventured into something new for the first time. They are still being breastfed and we hope they will continue doing so well until their first birthday, at the very minimum. We've been using Ruth Yaron's book Super Baby Food as a guide as well as advice from Dr. Sears' website. And never did I imagine we would have not two high chairs, but THREE! The original plan was to hand down the high chair our toddler is currently in and get him a new booster chair. We had decided on the Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster seat but it was a lot smaller and lower than we anticipated so the next solution was to get (what we had been trying to avoid initially) another Fisher-Price Space Saver high chair. The great thing about these chairs are that they actually grow with the baby and really do save on space by the amount of chairs available. They can be used as a booster seat well into their toddler and preschool (if they still need it) years. We've had the first chair (see photo below, far right) since 2008 and two years later, it is getting more than enough usage and has withstood the test of time. Highly recommended (plus Baby Bargains recommended them as an alternative to the Fisher-Price Healthy Care high chair, which we definitely don't have the space for and is partly why we went with this choice)!

On a different note, we aren't in a rush to get our toddler to be potty-trained yet but he has been showing some signs of readiness. Maybe after his siblings reach their first birthday, before he starts his preschool program, would probably be a better time to begin. Our priority is to fulfill the goal of nursing the nurslings for a full year. I don't know how I can focus on potty training during this time of frequent 2-3 hour feedings so the potty training can definitely wait. As Dr. Sears had said, "The later, the better!" It's not a curse to have three under 2 in diapers. Our toddler is around his siblings all the time so the last thing we need is for him to regress once he gets the potty-training thing down. We feel it will happen when the time is right.

As for preschool, we are considering and excited about doing the Little Saints program. We are fully aware that there is A LOT of work and preparation involved. We are looking to start preparing for it now this spring and summer, then officially starting the program this fall. Also we understand that Seton has an actual pre-K program underway, which we are excited about. It's due to be rolled out sometime next year. Needless to say...cannot wait to have a little more structure in our day!!