Life with Twins

Sometime back in the fall, they realized they could climb out of their cribs. We experienced one casualty, for which the boys requested ice. 

I thought maybe our lives were over and we were going to have to make the transition to big boy beds, but it seems the combination of the fall and our telling them that they weren't allowed to climb out served to keep them in a little longer. For the most part, they really stayed in their cribs for the next couple of months, but starting in January they began to climb out regularly (and have gotten quite skilled at it). Then after naps or in the morning, we would regularly find them in one crib together. It's funny to me that they didn't try to come out of their room, they would climb out and then climb back into one crib together and play in the crib (though they could have been playing in their room or venturing into the rest of the house). 

This is how I found them one afternoon and how we started to find them most mornings, though usually they were both standing and bouncing around. And this (below) is how Don found them one night when he went to check on them. Sweet boys. 

So now they're in big boy beds and can get out whenever they want... we have had a few middle of the night visitors but mostly they go right to sleep without doing too much playing or bouncing. One time after reading to the boys about Jonah, Josiah woke up sometime in the middle of the night and told us, "I not want there to be sharks in my bed." I'm not sure if it was the result of Jonah or just a random bad dream, but now we're more careful with bedtime stories! Just last night, Jacob woke up and when Don went to put him back in bed, he informed him that a ladybug had stung him. Hmmm... 

In other news, they are potty-trained! I never thought we'd survive, but we did and they're doing great. We started between Thanksgiving and Christmas but because of the holidays we didn't get really serious about it until January. We certainly had our share of accidents (times two) and I felt like I was constantly doing laundry. Not to mention, the ridiculous battles over who got to sit on the big potty (or the little potty depending on the day). We'd have the occasional thief who would sneak in and flush his brother's pee, thus robbing him of the most exciting part of the whole deal. Tears would ensue and I'd have to promise future opportunities to flush and to watch the pee go down. Training twins is no joke and the three of us spent more time huddled in the 2x3 corner of our bathroom than I care to remember. You see with twins, when one has to go, the other does too (whether they have to or not). Just madness, I tell you. But they're trained and I'm thankful!

I generally don't like potty humor (blame it on my mother who wouldn't even let us use the F word, and by that I mean FART- I feel guilty and a little dirty even typing it), but here are some of my favorite lines from our bathroom escapades. 

-  At the beginning, they wanted to point out what each thing in the toilet was, including toots. On a couple of occasions, they 'd point to an empty toilet and announce, "Hey, my toot is in there"

- When one goes "poo" he usually calls his brother in (if he's not in there already) and says "Look!" and the other one usually says "Cool!" 

- Since they used to crowd each other (and me!) all the time, I started saying, "Give him a little space." and now they'll say, "Mommy, you give me a little space." which is fine by me since I've already clocked lots of hours sitting on the tub "watching" them go.

- One time I asked Don if he could get one of the boys started after he had announced he had to use the bathroom and now they'll ask each other to help get them started. Josiah will say, "Jacob, you get me started." which really means he wants Jacob to come and sit on the tub and wait for him. 

The whole potty training experience was exhausting and exasperating and also quite hilarious. 

Most recently, they've learned to ride bikes. At 2 years, 9 months. Two wheels, no training wheels. They've had their balance bikes for about a year and were doing really good on them, so we thought we'd try them on bikes. We picked one up on craigslist and borrowed a neighbor's and after two days of teaching them how to pedal, they had it down. 

They really are the best of friends and (sometimes) the worst of enemies. And they'd be lost without each other. In fact, one night when we were staying at my mom's house, Jacob woke up early in the morning and couldn't find Josiah and ran up the stairs crying and calling for him. He wasn't calling for Mommy or Daddy, he was yelling, "Siah, where's Siah??" through tears.  

We love our little twins- they always keep life interesting and fun!