3 Year Old Twins: Josie and Margo's 3 Year Summary

3 year old twins

Josie and Margo are 3! I think we are officially out of both the baby and toddler phases! How crazy is that? Parenting toddler twins has been a delightful challenge (YES, it has been both delightful and challenging!), and I am so excited to watch my little girls personalities develop as they become full-fledged kids.

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Schedule for 3 Year Old Twins

7:30: Wake up, eat breakfast
8:10: Leave to take Theo to school. If we are coming home after, they will sometimes stay in their pajamas
8:25: Activity with mommy (music, art, imaginative play, etc)
9:00: Independent play time
10:30: Independent play time is over, clean up rooms
11:10: Pick up Theo from school; when we get home we all read together
12:00: Lunchtime
1:00: Naptime
4:00: Sibling play time or T.V. time
5:30/6ish: Dinner
7:00: Clean up toys and bedtime routine
7:30: Bedtime

This is the basic routine of our day. Sometimes we run errands or have playdates while Theo is in school. Sometimes bedtime is late. When it’s not frigid, we get outside as much as possible, when it IS frigid, we have more T.V. than usual.

Sleep for 3 Year Old Twins

Bedtime is at 7:30 and they nap 1-4. Josie typically needs less sleep than Margo. It’s really tricky when you have twins (or children in general) who share a room and have different sleep needs. For the most part, it’s fine. They stay busy enough during the day, and Josie is content to rest in her crib when she isn’t sleeping.

There are moments when Josie gets a little crazy. She’ll leap into Margo’s crib, wake her up, steal her stuffed animals, etc. When she acts up during sleep time, we put her into a pack n play in the guest room for discipline. She hates being separated from her sister, but we can’t let her stay in their room when her behaviour is disruptive to her sister’s sleep!

Cribs: Yes, they are still in cribs. Yes, their cribs are pointless because they can get in and out of them as effortlessly as beds. I do plan to switch them to beds, but I honestly, my mental load has been at capacity, and I just haven’t had it in me to plan their big girl rooms.

3 Year Old Twins Development

Josie and Margo hit pretty much every milestone at the same time. Their speech and social skills are right where they need to be. They understand colors, sizes, excel in imaginative play, are fantastic climbers (I wouldn’t mind if they were delayed a bit on this one, just saying!), can kick a ball and run like pros, and have a good grasp on emotions.

They can count to 10, but can only identify a few letters or numbers. I’m not concerned about this at all, as we have only worked on it briefly.

They both wear glasses, and have actually been pretty good about wearing them! I’d say they wear them about 90% of the time they’re awake, which is a HUGE improvement from last year. They both chose purple and they are absolutely adorable on them. I sometimes take them off for pictures so that I have some pictures where we can see their faces better.

We have to patch their (opposite) eyes, and that is going terribly. They rip them off if we aren’t holding them down, and obviously, we can’t just walk around all day forcing them to keep their patch on. For that reason, their doctor actually prescribed them a drop that goes into their strong eye and blurs it, acting as a patch. I was really nervous about it (aka freaking out), but it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.

Potty Training Three Year Old Twins

… or not. We have tried, very unsuccessfully to potty train them. We started out with the 3-day boot camp method that worked amazingly well for Theo, and it was a huge fail. Since then we have been doing a slow, casual method, and they are fighting us to the max. I am a big believer in delayed potty training, but even I am starting to get anxious. I know, I know, they won’t go to college in diapers, but I am SO READY to be done. You would think that twin boys would be harder than twin girls, but I am not so sure about that!

3 Year Old Twin Bond

They fight like cats and dogs and are best friends. I think it’s pretty typical twin behaviour! I love catching them in conversation with each other. They love to conversate and pretend to fight. They will literally shout back and forth at each other “YES!” “NO!” “YES!” “NO!” “Ok, switch! Now I’m yes and you’re no!” It is ridiculously hysterical.

Here’s how we have handled the terrible twos with twins.

Personalities

Our little girls have drastically different personalities, probably, in part because they are mirror image twins. I am fairly certain that Margo is left-handed and Josie is right handed and they suck opposite thumbs when they are sleeping.

Look at them with their lollies and stuffed animals in opposite hands… total mirrors of each other and it is so adorable. We did NOT pose them like that, I swear!!

josie

Josephine is our little spitfire. She is audacious, social, and outgoing. She is INCREDIBLY stubborn, doesn’t stop moving, and lets you know her opinion… sometimes very loudly. She is spunky, hilarious, and wants to keep up with her older brother and all of his friends. Basically, she is her mommy.

She loves wearing pink dresses and all things girly, as well as trains, vehicles, and coloring. She loves to sing and dance, as well as jump up high. Her favorite animals are cats and giraffes.

margo

Margo is quieter and more reserved. She is on the sensitive side and very sweet and caring, and our little mama. She is incredibly polite, always with her please and thank yous. If one of her siblings gets hurt, she is the first to run over and offer some help. She is compassionate, loving, and empathetic. Basically, she is her daddy.

She has her own little style, and randomly found a green teething ring and started wearing it as a ‘watch.’ She wears it almost every day… but loses it quite frequently. Whenever she finds it, she exclaims My watch! I missed it!” I gave her a flamingo watch for Christmas to take the place of her green one, but now she just wears both of them.

She LOVES to read and her favorite gifts she received at Christmas were books. Her favorite animals are flamingos, elephants, and owls.

Eat

Josie and Margo are still fairly open to eating most of the foods we give them. I know this could end soon because Theo became pretty picky around the age of 3. They do have some strong preferences, which I find adorable. Josie prefers milk and Margo prefers water. Josie’s favorite breakfast is oatmeal, while Margo’s is waffles.

Overall, Josie and Margo are such a joy to our family. We delight in them, and they delight in us. They each have a special relationship with their brother, and parents, which is so sweet. I was afraid that they would be really close and Theo would feel left out, but that isn’t the case at all. The three of them all have a truly special bond.

I hope you’ve enjoyed their update and what to expect with 3 year old twins!

P.S. Follow our twin adventures over on Instagram!