Twins in the Morning

Having twins is quite an adventure. Am I just finding that out? No, my boy/girl twins will be two this month, so I've been adventuring with them for a while.

But still, after having three kids, I'd figured I pretty much knew how things would go with babies and toddlers. However, twins are a little different.

Mostly different in a good way. For one thing, at the age they are now they play with each other --when they're not fighting-- and pretty much keep each other occupied.

For example, this morning I overslept a little. (It's Saturday, and I was sick all day yesterday ...wait a minute, why am I making excuses here? I was TIRED okay? I have five kids! Sheesh.)

The twins will usually be content to stay in their beds for a little bit in the morning, talking to each other in the babbling way they have, which I don't understand any of except a word here or there. So this morning they were doing that, and the other kids were occupied, and I was sleeping.

When I got up and checked on the twins, they were happy to see me and ready to get up. Baby Boy was running laps in his crib, as usual, and Baby Girl was sitting up with her stuffed animals around her. Both of them began doing their "Pick Me! Pick Me!" dance that they've been perfecting since birth. (Even as newborns, they would wriggle and raise their arms when I bent over their shared bed, always trying to be the Chosen Twin.)

Baby Boy was nearest to the door, so I got him first. He gave his sister his usual triumphant look, and she gave her usual protesting whine. While I changed his diaper and dressed him, Baby Boy gave me a long narrative in Twin-Babble, with Baby Girl adding frequent comments from her crib. I didn't understand any of this, except "Ba-ba" (meaning he wanted his milk) and "Uh-oh! Poo-poo!" (which I think is self explanatory.)

After I'd dressed him I deposited him over the safety gate into the living room to play. Then I returned for Baby Girl. She was struggling to lift all three (large) stuffed animals and her blanket all at once, in order to bring absolutley EVERYTHING out of her crib with her. She managed, but just barely.

While I was changing her, I noticed she had something brown in her mouth, sitting in the middle of her tongue. As she protested mightily, I extracted it for closer examination. It was three brown fragments of something, hopefully a dried leaf. (It could also have been pieces of an insect carpace, so you see why I'm hoping it was a leaf.)

With Baby Girl finally dressed and de-leafed, I returned to the living room, to find that in my brief absence Baby Boy had been busy. The good news was, he'd found the sippy cup that had been missing for three days. The bad news was, he'd obviously tried to drink the milk left inside. Ewwwwwww....

So I finally got both of them into their booster chairs for breakfast: Cheerios, raisins, and (fresh) milk. And so begins a day with the twins!

And now we'll add to this Saturday morning two more kids, since one spent the night at a friend's house last night and is therefore officially Someone Else's Problem. Boo came out wearing a creation of her her own-- purple floral shirt and green plaid shorts. (I am not making that up; that is her actual oufit. I'd take her picture but it would hurt my eyes.) I said mildly, "That doesn't really match," and she replied blithely, "I know."

Neighbor Girl knocked on the door --on her second pass, apparently having been turned away while I was still asleep-- and she and Boo switched on the TV and began playing exuberantly with the twins. After awhile, ET, aged 13, emerged from her room, complaining about the noise and promptly taking over the TV remote and best chair, prepared to park there for the rest of the morning.

And that's how my day began today. As I said, it's an adventure. But at least it's never dull!

Now to set Baby Boy on a mission to find the OTHER missing sippy cup...