(continued)
Jodi prepares most of Sam and Zoe's meals except for Tuesday and Thursday evenings when Telva is over and some weekend meals prepared by Mitch. Breakfast usually begins with a sliced banana followed by some combination of frozen mini-waffles, frozen mini-pancakes, bagels, toast, cream cheese, cereal, eggs, and vegetarian links. Lunch meals depend on whether everyone's home or out. Lunch away from home consists of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, sliced turkey, tofu, mini raviolis or other pasta, boiled carrots, mixed vegetables, beans, raisins, or fruit salad. Lunches at home are similar to dinners, and include Mitch and Jodi's planned leftovers, chicken, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, tofu, pasta, fruit, yogurt, and bread. Snacks include cheerios, pretzels, goldfish crackers, fruit cocktail, and raisins.
Sam and Zoe's days begin around 6:45 am (if we're lucky). Sam usually wakes up first, and cries incessantly until he's picked up. Zoe wakes up from Sam or soon afterwards, and whimpers. Mitch or Jodi prepare two 8 oz. warm bottles of formula (now whole milk), and they'll suck them down until they're satiated. Their day starts out in the downstairs playroom area until Jodi announces "breakfast" and opens the gate to the stairs. The first one there waits for the other, and then they start their crawling climb to the top. After breakfast, it's back downstairs to get dressed and watch Sesame Street. At 9:30 am they take their morning nap for one to two hours. Zoe sleeps in her crib downstairs. Sam sleeps in the playpen in the family room while watching TeleTubbies (weekdays) or the Baby Mozart or Baby Shakespeare videos (weekends). After they wake up, Jodi takes them out for their daily outing. Mondays and Wednesdays they'll often go to the local playground, Tuesdays they meet up with other twins, Thursdays they have their playgroup, and Fridays they have Kindermusik class. At 2:30 pm they take their afternoon nap for one to one and a half hours. They then play upstairs in the family room-dining room-kitchen area while listening to their Kindermusik CD and TV (they put the TV on). They sometimes go out in the afternoon, occasionally to the local market if Jodi buys food for dinner. But it gets too dark in the winter for much late afternoon activity. Dinner is served around 6:00 pm, followed by play downstairs. Mitch comes home from work around 7:00 pm, usually getting them all excited by poking his face through a door window or around a corner. He entertains them with highly engaging play until their bedtime. Around 7:30 pm they'll get their evening bottles and are changed into their pajamas. And around 8:00 pm they go to bed.
Their weekend schedule is slightly less structured, due to Mitch's influence and weekend plans. Mitch will usually take over all responsibilities at least one weekend morning to give Jodi a break. Weekends usually include family outings to friends' homes, entertaining friends and family at our home, going to the playground, going to the shopping mall, running errands, or eating out.
Sam and Zoe love to leave the house for an adventure. Running errands can be extremely fun for Sam and Zoe, as all the merchandise, displays, lights, and people in a store rival a zoo for interest
