A lot of people have been asking me questions about the difference between my book, Raising Your Twins: Real Life Tips on Parenting with Ease (Without Kicking Your Spouse to the Curb) and my DVD, Raising Your Twins: Real Life Tips on Setting Up the Ultimate Home Environment. Here are the answers to some commonly-asked questions.

Does the Raising Your Twins DVD contain the same content as the Raising Your Twins book? 

No, the book and the DVD cover different ages, so they have different content. The book covers newborn to 18 months. The DVD covers ages 1 to 4 years old. 

I only have one child, will this work for me or is it only for parents with twins? 

Don’t let the title fool you! Everything in the book and DVD will work for you whether you have one child, two young children close in age OR multiples. If it works for two children, it will work for one! 

Does the DVD contain similar content as your Youtube vidoes? 

The DVD is much more comprehensive. It was shot over 3 days with a professional videographer. With over 30 hours of footage edited down to 2 hours, only the best footage made it to the DVD. You’ve seen B and M put on jackets and make scrambled eggs on Youtube, but in the DVD, you will learn exactly how to replicate it at home with your child, including what you need to buy and prepare, how to present the activities, and the whole ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind every activity. The DVD covers everything from language, fine motor skills, care-of-the-self, care-of-the-environment to kitchen skills. If you are able to apply everything in the DVD, you will have an excellent Montessori home environment. 

How old were your children when you filmed this? How many episodes are they in?

This DVD was filmed over 3 days on their 2nd birthday. You will see them in action in Episodes 2 through 8.

What can I get out of this DVD? 

This DVD contains an incredible amount of valuable content. In this 121-minute, 8-episode series, you will learn how to set up every single room of the home as well as how to set up and do 24+ Montessori-based activities with your children. You will hear me talk about the big picture behind your child’s development, see actual children doing the work and receive a detailed instruction booklet, complete with pictures and resources. This DVD is essential for parents who want to raise a child the Montessori Way at home. It’s for the home-schooling parents, the parents who can’t find a good Montessori school nearby or can’t afford one, the parents who want to prepare their child for Montessori in the future or for parents who just want to try it out.  

On top of all this, you will get a complimentary 30-minute consultation with me, if you choose. This DVD is originally priced at $147, but is currently on sale for a limited time for $97. I can guarantee you will not find this much valuable content for this price anywhere else. 

I’m a nanny. Will this be helpful for me? 

Absolutely. There are many activities you can do with the child you take care of. The Back to Basics and Language episodes will be particularly useful for the child under 18 months. By 18 months, all the episodes will be applicable. If you don’t have a background in child development, there will be lots of helpful information for you. If you do have a background in child development, you will get lots of ideas for new activities.

What’s in each episode, exactly?

In Episode 1, I give you a tour of my Baltimore home and show you the most important components to consider for your child when designing each room in your home. Includes the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, play area, dressing area and cleaning area.

In Episode 2, I show you several easy, basic activities for the youngest toddler. I guarantee your child will LOVE at least a couple if not all of them. AND they are essential building blocks for good gross and fine motor skill development.

In Episode 3, I show you how to teach your child to put on different items of clothing and accessories. Includes detailed description of what to look for when you’re shopping for clothes. B and M demonstrates how it’s done. 

In Episode 4, I show you some activities that parents automatically do for their children. Teach your children to do these things and your life will get so much easier.  

In Episode 5, I show you some essential fine motor skills, including how to teach your child to cut with scissors, glue and sew with a needle. The goal is not to prove how capable your child is. The goal is to engage your child in activities they enjoy. And they will love some of these. 

In Episode 6, I give you strategies on how to maximize your child’s language ability. What will bring out the best language skills? What can you do to make that happen? What activities will enhance those abilities? What are the best books to read? How do you read to a child? Find out the answers and way more in this episode.  

In Episodes 7 and 8, I show you what you need to prepare to teach your children to bake and cook successfully. Watch B and M cook four healthy, delicious recipes your child will love to make (and eat!)

Where can I buy the book and DVD?

The book and DVD are both available through www.RaisingYourTwins.com. The kindle version of the book is also available through Amazon here.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes, we do. You will have the option of entering an international address at check-out.

What forms of payment do you accept?

When you order through www.RaisingYourTwins.com, you can use Visa, Mastercard or American Express. If you would like to pay by check, please email me directly at stephanie@montessorionthedouble.com

When can I expect my order?

We ship out new orders everyday (except Sunday) from Portland, OR through USPS. If you are on the West Coast, your order will arrive sooner than the East Coast. USPS guarantees your order will arrive within 7-10 business days.

What if I don’t love it? 

If you are dissatisfied with the book or the DVD for any reason, return it and you will receive a refund, no questions asked. 

How can I order now?

Visit www.RaisingYourTwins.com and you will be able to order the book, DVD or both! 

It was bathtime. B and M are sitting in the bathtub while I’m reaching in to brush M’s teeth. She shakes her head from left to right and back again to dodge the toothbrush. I give up. She then takes her bath spray bottle and starts spraying first Brooke, then me. I say sternly, “You can spray water at the wall, but not at people.” Then she opens the bottle, takes a sip and spits the water out of the bathtub onto my feet. “No. Spitting. Water.” I say even more loudly. She throws the spray bottle on the floor, turns her head toward the wall and refuses to look at me. 

I was about to blow up when I stopped myself. Something was off. This was not a matter of setting more boundaries. She was doing this on purpose. Then a voice from somewhere reminded me: Connection Before Correction. 

I picked her up out of the bathtub (we have a rule that when you pour water outside of the tub, you get taken out). She starts to resist, but then, I get really close to her cheek and start sniffing exaggeratedly. “Hmmm…your cheeks smell good!” She smiles. I then take her feet and put it right up to my nose, “Do your feet smell good?” She laughs. I then bend her over to smell her back. She squeals with delight. Then she gives me her arm to smell. Then her hair.  “Smell, Mama!” We play and play. I finally give her a huge hug, look her in the eyes and tell her that she is delicious-smelling all over. 

I pick up her toothbrush. Without me saying a word, she opens her mouth and waits. I take the opportunity and give her a thorough flossing and brushing (I do this twice a week and let them brush their own teeth the other days). She then puts on her pajamas, runs off to play and is completely absorbed in independent Lego-building till I announce that it’s bedtime.  

In those moments of anger and frustration, I often want to go the route of yelling and punishing. I mean, don’t you? On bad days, I’m already yelling before I can stop myself. But over and over, I’ve witnessed just how ineffective it is. It may work for a few moments, but then it’ll just pop up somewhere else.

It turns out nothing works as well as connecting – I mean the genuine kind where you are fully present while playing, tickling, hugging, kissing, loving them. 5 minutes of it, and I find the children often go off to do their own thing: happy, fulfilled and satisfied. 

M on swings

It’s been a month since you last heard from me. The main reason is because Mark and I decided to try life without a nanny. We lasted exactly 29 days. 

Now that we have a nanny again, I’m over-the-moon excited (and have extra appreciation for all nannies out there) because I feel like I can finally get back to the projects I’m passionate about and have a little more me-time. Granted Mark has been a god-send this past month, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children, while I finished all the final details of my book and DVD. If you want to know more about my ‘second set of twins’ – which took much longer to birth than B and M! – visit www.RaisingYourTwins.com.

As some of you know, we’ve always hired Mandarin-speaking nannies because I want another person to speak Mandarin to B and M. However, our new nanny only speaks English, so I called my mom to ask her for some advice on how to keep up the Mandarin at home. 

Mom tells me a story about Renee, my 3-year old niece, who wanted a popsicle. Grandpa thought a whole popsicle was too much for her, so he said he needed to take a few bites before he could give it to her. He takes a big bite. “That’s too much!” she said nervously. He takes another bite. “Okay! That’s enough!” she says. As he took yet another bite, she exclaims, “No more! No more!”

In her moment of panic, she said the same thing in three different ways. The first way didn’t work, so she had another way of expressing herself to Grandpa, and when that failed, she came up with yet another. When a 3-year-old can say the same thing in so many different ways and all in the right context, it’s a good sign she lives in a rich language environment. 

B and M (now 2 years and 7 months) were on the swings a couple days later. As we were swinging, I started commenting on what was happening, “You’re going so high!” “Now, you’re not going as high anymore. You’re starting to slow down.” “Look, the swing stopped completely!” 

When they said, “Higher!” I’d say, “Is this high enough? Do you want to go even higher than this? Or is this too high?”

Whether something is ‘high enough,’ ‘too high’ or needs to be ‘higher’ are all subtleties in our language that young children can absorb. It’s a little like the ‘Pink Tower of Language.’ You have high on one end, low on the other end, and everything else in between. 

This point is especially important for children of bilingual parents. Children will likely pick up these subtleties in normal everyday interactions at some point, but when there is only one person speaking that language to the child, then they need to absorb all those subtleties from one person. If you are that person for your child, you need to vary your speech enough so that they have the chance to hear all those differences. 

I dropped the children off at camp this morning. As we are getting closer to school, B comments, “We’re not far now!” 10 seconds later, she adds, “We’re almost there!” As we pull up in front of her building, she says, “Now the school is right in front of us!” I love living with the magic of the Absorbent Mind. You give the child language, before you know it, they’ve absorbed it and it’s all coming out.