The Perks

I won't say that having twins has not been a challenge, but now that we are beyond the days of tag-team baby care it is a lot easier to see that there are great benefits too!  They really are the best of friends and will play together well most of the time.  They seem to really enjoy having someone to play with these days now that their games of pretend and art projects are even more involved.  In fact, they get quite upset if the other is looking for a little alone time and doesn't want to play with them.  They even share kindle time a lot when we usually have two available - they like to figure it out together.

They put their heads together for "evil" too.  Last night we were patting ourselves on the back because bedtime seemed to go so smoothly and it was very quiet after one last bathroom trip.  Well, that self praise didn't last long since when we went up to bed at 11:00 we found them playing "school" with all of their stuffed animals.  While Tyler was giving us a play by play of his bathroom break (yelling down the stairs) - Katie was apparently stealthily moving animals and books into the playroom for them to play with while he was distracting us.  Then they schemed to close the door as if they were going in their room (they insist that they have to go to the bathroom together when it is dark) while standing on the other side of the door so they could escape into the playroom unnoticed.  It definitely worked, we had no clue that they were not yet asleep because we assumed that when we heard the door shut they had gone into their room, and we didn't hear the usual pitter-patter of feet and getting in and out of bed from their room because they were in the playroom and obviously trying really hard to be quiet.  Lesson learned - go up to check on them if all seems quiet a bit too early!

We took Tyler to the doctor today since Katie had an ear infection last week and he has been complaining of ear pain.  Plus, he has developed this habit of making a gulping noise while sniffling (still constant, still Spring) and we were afraid he was having trouble breathing again.  All was fine, but they were the cutest things this morning.  Katie gave Tyler a big hug and told him that she hoped he felt better, and at the doctor Tyler went through all of the stickers to pick out the best one for Katie (he chose Belle because she is her favorite).  When I took Tyler back to school there was another hug and Katie squealed in excitement over his sticker choice.  There are so many moments like that where you just marvel at their special relationship.  I know that things will change as they get older and make new friends and separate some in their interests and activities, but I think they are so lucky to have each other at this point and surprisingly I think they realize it, too.  

Luckily for us, they haven't yet figured out that you don't tattle on your brother or sister, :).  Tyler is still struggling with behavior at school - he has had quite a few "cloudy days."  They are either on sunny, cloudy or stormy based on how well they listen, if they are acting out, etc.  Tyler is resistant to telling me exactly what happened, but Katie can still be counted on to give me a play by play!  Yesterday Tyler was on cloudy,  so I asked him what happened.  He told me that he got in trouble for not listening to his teacher but didn't recall the details.  Katie told me that they were supposed to be matching spoons (?), and Tyler matched his and then was playing with them and when he was asked to stop playing with them he wouldn't.  It is good to have those details because it is easier to explain to him what he needs to do to behave better when I can give my literal, stubborn boy concrete examples of what he should have done differently in the situation.

Discipline is one area that I think is more difficult with twins.  Not only do they team up to cause more mischief, or get into squabbles that just wouldn't happen with age separated siblings, but they also respond to different discipline techniques and are at the age where they think everything should be equal and fair.  Twins definitely present some other unique challenges, too.  I have to think that bedtime wouldn't be such a debacle if they didn't have each other to entertain and coerce, not to mention devise sneaky plots with.  We probably wouldn't have taken a second trip to the doctor because Tyler wouldn't have suffered from "me too" syndrome.  We would have much more manageable trips to the grocery store, have an easier time getting out the door in the mornings, and could certainly enjoy reading a book without it turning into a competition of who gets to sound out the words or turn the pages.  But, there is so much we would have missed out on that is truly awesome, and we wouldn't wish it to be any other way!