Potty Training Thus Far

For those of you who have absolutely no interest in the bodily functions of my children, please go read something else.

Still with me? Hey, thanks! I know, it's gross to some people, but if you're in the potty training stage or not looking forward to the potty training stage, or so glad that you're done with the potty training stage that you can laugh at me, then you can relate.

When I returned from my trip to Austin with my sister, in addition to bringing home many soothing kid-free memories of massages and margaritas by the pool, I also brought home a bunch of hand-me-downs. Some of those hand-me-downs were in the form of Thomas the Train underwear. (Editor's Note: Please delete this entry when boys are old enough to read so that they never know how excited they were to wear their cousins hand-me-down underwear.)

When Milo and Huck caught sight of the underwear they decided that they were ready to wear them. It was 7 A.M. and I was exhausted from the weekend, rushing around the house trying to get a load of laundry in and convince Annabella to get dressed and brush all the things that needed to be brushed and wash all the things that needed to be washed. My guard was down, so I said "yes."

Two weeks later, I haven't regretted my decision. We've had some accidents, especially when one of them is waiting for the other one to go (the joys of twins!). I keep remembering what Clay from the Dad Labs said on our podcast - "It's only pee." Of course, sometimes it's not only pee, which is a little more difficult to deal with, but certainly not as difficult as carrying and then giving birth to two 7.5 lb. babies and then nursing them. (That is, by the way, my way of coping with anything difficult.)

I should mention that the boys have been using the toilet before bed and naps for several months, but they never asked to use it and their diapers were frequently wet throughout the day. At the beginning I asked them every 10 minutes if they had to use the bathroom and then took them every 15 minutes whether they had to go or not. As the weeks have wore on, I ask more infrequently now they even tell me that they have to use the toilet...sometimes.   

No Naps: A Play in 7 Acts

Last month I made the cocky assertion that Milo and Huck were going to stay in their cribs until they went to college.

I think they heard me.

On Sunday, September 2nd the unthinkable happened. It was naptime and the boys were quiet in their cribs. We assumed that this meant that they were sleeping, but what they were really doing was plotting.

We heard the door open with it's signature creak, a very different creak than the sound of Annabella's door. Then we heard little boy voices, conspiring voices. A few seconds later we saw Milo and Huck walking down the stairs. My heart sank into my stomach. Goodbye hours between 1pm and 3pm. Goodbye naptime.

Rather than bore you with all the specifics, I wrote this little play. Enjoy!

MONDAY - CONSEQUENCES

Me: I am going to take your trains away if you climb out of your cribs one more time.

Them: Here are my trains!

TUESDAY - BRIBERY

Me: If you stay in your crib we'll go to the pool and go swimming after naptime.

Them: I don't want to go swimming.

WEDNESDAY - NONCHALANCE

Me: If you get out of your crib I am not going to talk to you or look at you. I am just going to put you back in your crib and leave the room.

Them: Mommy, I'm out of my bed! Don't look at me!

THURSDAY - TRICKERY (AKA "QUIET TIME")

Me: You don't have to sleep. You just have to play quietly in your cribs.

Them: OK. (Five minutes of laughing and shouting later.) Hi Mom. We're done playing quietly in our cribs.

FRIDAY - LATER NAP

Me: Stay in your cribs. Stay in your cribs. Stay in your cribs. Please, stay in your cribs.

Them: No! No! No!

They finally fall asleep at 4:30 and when they're still sleeping at 6 pm I wake them up. They don't fall asleep until 9pm that night.

SATURDAY - NO NAP

Us: :(

Them: :(

SUNDAY - BABY GATE ON THEIR DOOR

Us: You can play quietly in your rooms and take a nap if you feel like it.

Them: (After an hour of play.) Mom! Dad! We're ready for you to let us out of our cage!

Us:

It's Funny Because it's True

Got twins? Then you can relate to this post from DoubleDad of the DadLabs:

Taking the Twins to a Kegger

Twin Motherhood Explained: Matching Clothing

Most people are of the opinion that moms of twins who dress their kids alike deserve to be ridiculed. To some people, it is a sin right up there with giving them names that rhyme.

Up to this point I haven't made a habit of dressing Milo and Huck alike because most of our clothes are hand-me-downs and even when I do have two of the same outfit, the chances that they are both clean at the same time are as slim as my waistline in 1991. My boys are lucky that their own shirts match their own pants. Let's face it, they're lucky if they get to wear pants.

That said, Milo and Huck are now in a stage when they want exactly what their brother has and if they don't get it, there is hell to pay. Clothes are no exception. So, today I dressed them in the same shirt and I might do it again. If you want to ridicule me, I invite you to come over to my house when I'm getting them dressed in the morning and endure the tantrums that ensue if one of them gets to wear the blue shirt with the train on it and they don't.

New scientific discoveries in the twin world

First let me say that I love my twin boys. I cannot imagine life without them. What I can imagine is an alternative universe where I was able to have them 2 or even (gasp) 3 years apart.

Having twins was unexpected. I found out when I was six weeks pregnant (which was only a week after I'd found out I was pregnant at all, since that too was unexpected.) Here's the scene at the ultrasound.

Midwife: Um, there are two in there.

Me: Two what?

As soon as I got in the car I called Marco, whose mother is a twin, to share the good news.

Me: (only half jokingly) This is all your fault.

That's the point at which he explained to me that fraternal twins are a result of two eggs and identical twins are the result of the egg splitting, neither of which had anything to do with him.

Now his so-called "science" is being called into question. We have no idea if our boys are identical or fraternal and according to news@nature, there's a very small possibility that they could be a little bit of both.

Diversionary Tactics

Notice how Huck gives me a big smile to distract my attention from what Milo is about to do.

If Clara Had Twin Brothers

You know the sweet Nutcracker story? Herr Drosselmeyer gives Clara a Nutcracker and her brother Fritz is so jealous that he breaks it. The same thing happened at our house when Milo broke Annabella's wooden Nutcracker. Like Drosselmeyer, I mended it and I thought I'd done a pretty good job, until this morning when the Huck broke it in two pieces and then stabbed Milo in the cheek with it.

Exponential Mischief

Twins are a blessing. A random splitting of the egg and now I have two little boys with different smiles, different ways of maneuvering themselves into my lap for a story, and arms that flail in different patterns as they run like excited penguins into my arms.

And because there are two of them they are able to increase their amount of mischief exponentially.

I'm not just talking about the cliched image you see of twins, one boosting the other up onto the counter Butch and Sundance style to steal from the cookie jar. Although I have certainly watched as one of my boys climbed up on a chair and the other pushed him to the kitchen sink where they thought they spied some unattended knives that would be fun to play with.

No, I'm talking about something a little more subtle. Having already had one child I thought I had a pretty good idea about what kind of mischeif the toddler brain could think up, and it was definitely a finite amount. The twins have taught me that with two toddler brains, mischeif is limitless.

For example, on his own Milo might have thought it would be a good idea to empty all the tupperware out of the bottom drawer and fling each piece around the room. But once the drawer was empty it was Huck who realized that they could now both climb inside the drawer and jump up and down in it until it broke. And although Huck might be the one who found his sister's safety scissors, he might have given them back until Milo showed him what fun it was to run around the room with them.

And perhaps Milo's toddler brain might never thought about rubbing peanut butter in his hair, but once he saw how good it looked in his brother's hair, he couldn't resist. Huck taught Milo the thrill of throwing things in the toilet, but Milo taught Huck the joy of throwing things down the storm grate. It was defitely Milo who pulled the eyes off of Annabella's bunny, but it was Huck's idea to eat them.

Yes, twins are a blessing. A double blessing. I am just wondering why when that egg split to create my two little boys, why didn't my eyes split and form two extras on the back of my head?