Those of you who have followed my blogs likely know a few things about me: I homeschool, I am an ardent advocate for breastfeeding, and I have twinfants. Twins are, as I’ve said before, exponentially harder than having one at a time. And in our house, it has just gotten even harder. We have jumped the gap between twinfanthood and now we’re into twoddlerhood!
It all started when our cute, cuddly, didn’t-roll-anywhere babies started to get the idea that they could see better if they rolled over. This was fine. . .until they figured out that they could roll off. . .of anything really.
We are quick learners, my husband and I, and so we quickly got over the fact that they could roll and we were ready for and onto the next thing. Our girls didn’t skip a beat–they were off to sitting, crawling, and now. . .walking.
Having toddling twins presents challenges that I had never thought of before. I always had visions of the girls getting into things separately. I was always thinking of one girl at the refrigerator with the other balancing precariously on the couch. Don’t get me wrong–that happens too. But now that they can walk, they have demonstrated a whole new dimension for which I was not prepared. They can pull each other down. And they can walk on each other. They can push each other out of the way.
Understand, they’re not being mean to each other. Quite the contrary, we find them playing and giggling together all the time. But they still are egocentrical little beings and if I have something they both want, it’s survival of the fittest. Thankfully, they are both about the same size.
Try too, taking each in one hand and walking with them. I forgot somehow, that toddlers don’t walk in a straight line. But I can only describe walking with twins as perhaps a new type of Twister game. Right arm across your chest. Left arm across your knees. Use your foot to help one on the right (who was previously on the left) to avoid the uneven sidewalk.
Such is the life with twins. When you think you have something down pat, finally lay back and take a rest, they surprise you with something new! I will now have to baby proof my house and put the older children on rotating “twin duty” so I can get things done! What a busy life!
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