Thursday Is Twins Terrific Day!
A sharing day with our 3-year-old granddaughters
Three years ago in October, twin baby girls, Catherine Lily and Rosemary Ginger were born. Talk about double your pleasure!
Both girls are Lee’s granddaughters and they have grown into adorable three-year-old toddlers. Don’t let the word adorable fool you! These girls are serious about enjoying life and exploring the world on their terms.
Erikson, the well-known psychologist, asserts this stage of development is autonomy vs. shame and doubt. Part of the learning that takes place is like holding on and letting go.
It can be humorous, frustrating or simply wonderful to watch. If you want to learn something, watch a toddler in action. It’s kind of amazing.
Look around the playground. There are lots of places to hold on and let go.
Observe potty training. So many muscles are trained to hold on and let go.
Going to a scary, new place. Sometimes holding onto the parent’s hand or to each other. Sometimes letting go if they feel safe and want to assert their independence.
As grandparents, Lee and I can understand what’s going on for the girls. We find the girls both endearing and amusing and we can appreciate their actions much more than back in the dinosaur days when we were parents.
When Catherine refuses to play on any rides at the playground, we tell her that it’s okay that she does not want to play right now. We tell her she can sit with us and watch her sister have fun. That’s when she looks at us with a snort of indignation and promptly runs off to find her sister.
Often one twin will want to do something and the other twin will follow. It’s kind of like, “Monkey See, Monkey Do.” but with a positive twist most of the time. When one child likes something, the other child will like it, too.
It can work the other way, also but we try to sway the tide by praising them for their good choices. We try to help them learn about independence and autonomy in a positive manner. Of course, there are those exceptions.
It’s all part of growing up. We feel like we’ve got this! As Lee often says, “If we can’t outsmart a 3-year-old, then we must be doing something wrong.”
We enjoy our time with Catherine and Rosemary and their mother appreciates her respite. We are fairly certain that she might engage in a few chuckles at our expense. Why?
One of the little tricks that their Mom enjoys is dressing the twins alike.
The first time we were alone with the twins, Lee and I looked at each other and just shook our heads. It was quite a dilemma trying to figure out which twin was which.
We soon discovered other ways to get their attention instead of blurting out both names at the same time.
Sometimes I think calling them by the wrong name is still preferable to saying something like, “Hey, You! Let’s go!”
After a few harrowing experiences, we insisted that Mom dress the girls differently. Mom giggled and the next time she brought the girls, they were wearing different color shoes. That was a beginning… or so we thought.
Guess what one of the girl’s favorite acts of autonomy is? That’s right. They both remove their shoes as soon as we are home. Oh my! Back to square one!
Both girls try to find our cat, Bowie as soon as we get home. He is a new creature for the girls. At first, they would chase our poor kitty and he would hide under the bed. Now they are learning to ‘go easy’ with the cat. Bowie allows them a few moments of petting as long as they stay gentle.
The identity crisis begins all over again when we eat lunch at our kitchen table. Our beautiful young ladies will eat a lunch desired by many. Hot dogs and potato chips with a side of “Bread Pweez.” Who can resist those manners?
Both girls ask for ketchup and mustard so that’s no help with their identity. They both count the slices of hot dogs so no help there. And they both gobble down their hot dogs and ask, “More Pweez.”
We cannot turn them down with impeccable manners like that!
Safety tip. Most parents may know that hot dogs are the same diameter as an adult trachea but little mouths can choke because they inhale so quickly and sometimes forget to chew. This means the hot dogs must be sliced lengthwise or they can become a choking hazard.
It can be a challenge for us to identify each twin correctly but we would not trade a moment of time we spend with them. Do you know the best part of being a grandparent? We enjoy all the fun stuff and then when the girls get tired, they go home to their parents. It’s a win-win all around!
What kind of fun things do you enjoy with your grandchildren? Does anyone have hints on how to tell identical twins apart? Please! We need help!
A shout out to a few of my favorite writers: Donnette Anglin and Julia Freeman. There are so many! So difficult to choose!
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