Mad About Multiples!

Mirror Image Identical Twins (swimming video)

Tom and Nick are athletic 6.5-year-old boys who are mirror image identical twins. Their mom, a Gemini Crickets POM club member, tells Mad About Multiples that she discovered she was having twins - identical twins! - at her 12 week ultrasound. (The first ultrasound had shown only one heartbeat.) As her twins were monozygotic, she had follow up ultrasounds every four weeks to check for twin-to-twin-transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Her twins were very similar in size until around the last month when one appeared to be a bit larger than the other. When the twins were born at 36.9 weeks gestation, they shared a combined weight of 14 pounds and a slight case of TTTS.

Some fun facts about these mirror image twins:

Tom is a lefty; Nick is a righty.

Tom lost his front left tooth first; Nick lost his front right tooth first.

Tom's hair whorls to the right while Nick's hair whorls to the...you guessed it, left.

Tom favorite activities include sports and super hero play. Nick is into puzzles, Legos and tangrams.

Their mom had to laugh when she watched this video of her twins swimming in mirror image synchronicity.

We heart these mirror image twins! Go, boys, go!

Those Three Little Words

Yes, I know what you're thinking and it's not those three words. While my heart melted the first time my kids said "I love you", I'm talking about three different words....read on and you'll find out. We have done a fair amount of traveling with our 3 1/2 year old boys. They have logged over 70,000 air miles in 3 1/2 short years! We started them out early with our first trip to Tahoe at 8 weeks. This was to be our "test run" for our trip to Maui at 10 weeks. Test run did not go so well! High altitude, different beds and a strange setting resulted in an early departure! Maui actually turned out to be a piece of cake, but that's a different story all together.

Since Benjamin could speak, he has been very vocal about his love dislike for travel. On each trip we have taken since he could verbally express himself, it never fails that he blurts out my least favorite four-letter phrase: "I wanna go home!" This occurs without fail just as the plane is landing or if we are on our way to Tahoe right about Donner Lake. Not quite music to the ears of two very tired parents who have just lugged two kids and all their crap on a five hour plane trip or spent four plus hours in the car.

How (NOT) to sneak food into Gilroy Gardens, 3 days in a row

Having multiplies means twice as much fun, and twice as much whining when no one is having any fun, so I am always looking for ways to escape being at home (and maybe escape doing some of that never ending housework too!). 

Last week I set up a playdate with another twin mom at Gilroy Gardens on Wednesday. The kids rode the carousel, the strawberry ride, and enjoyed the water play area.  And I, being the frugal stay-at-home-mom, brought some of my own food in for the kids to eat.  The PB&J was carefully stashed in the bottom of the back pack, under all of the (clean) underwear and the string cheese along with an icepack were wrapped in the kids' swimsuits in the back storage area of the wagon. When you enter the park, the security guards always check the bags for illegal food entering the park - we all know how dangerous that can be! But my stash was not discovered.

Sun, Blue Sky and a Spring Picnic

A gorgeous day at Wildwood Park in Saratoga in May enticed a rather large number of Gemini Crickets families to come out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. The playground kept most children busy running off energy and for those that took a breather, party coordinator, Susan, set up a table with several arts and crafts projects. But truly, a most wonderful sight at any large gathering like this is the twinfants sprawled and/or crawling on the tree-shaded grass.

 

Barbie versus Transformers

My twin boys are pretty typical 4 1/2 year-olds - active, social and loving, and for a long time they were into animals, trucks, trains and cars.  We read and watched a lot of Curious George, Miss Spider, and Thomas.  We got lots of educational DK books on trains, cars, animals and trucks. 

This last year however, my boys' interests have begun to radically change and diverge.  One of them, let's call him.....Gun Boy, loves all things battle-related - Star Wars, Transformers, Pokemon, his 2 index fingers.  He knows all the names of the good guy Transformers and the bad guy Transformers, and he knows that Sheildon is a Rock-type Pokemon. (Don't get me started.)  He sleeps with his Buzz Lightyear blaster and he would sell his soul for a light saber.

My other one, loves loves loves.......Barbie (and Ariel, Belle, Aurora and Jasmine).   He has Barbie stickers,  Princess and Barbie books and DVDs, a Disney Princess sleeping bag, and his prize-possession -  a Sleeping Beauty doll.  He swooned when he met Belle at Disneyland.

Here is a typical exchange these days:

Me: What should we read/watch/play?

Gun Boy: Transformers!

Pink Boy: Barbie!

Me: How 'bout _________? (some other non-Battle or Barbie/Princess related item)

Them: (screams of agony)

I'm sure many of you already know the drill - I'm just late to the game.  It's hard to find anything that we can all enjoy.  I used to make them pick something that they both liked - but there is no middle ground anymore. So now we usually take turns, and it is a special privilege indeed, to be the one who gets to pick first!  Pink Boy will usually watch Star Wars or Speed Racer, but Gun Boy's own special version of Hell is to having to sit through "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus".  (Frankly, I feel the same way, but I am trying to model Barbie tolerance.)