Twins: My babies are toddlers

Yes… I realise I am probably a little late to the party on this one, seeing as my twins are nearly three years old and have been “toddling” for over a year now!

The thing is, the twins have suffered a developmental delay from birth, due to my HELLP Syndrome in pregnancy, which caused them to stop growing at 32 weeks and be born with a low birth weight. I never expected them to be advanced, I knew they’d be a few months behind and I was never worried. They reach each of their milestones in their own time. They are my little babies and I’m certainly in no hurry for them to grow up too fast.

But lately it feels like they are!

For the last year, they’ve been walking toddling as though they’ve only just learnt. Wobbly, uncertain. The way they ran was hilarious. But recently, they’ve gained more confidence and steadiness on their feet.

Until a few weeks ago, speaking meant shouting “doggy” at anything with four legs. Now the twins are stringing two to four words together to make sentences. They are telling me what they want and having mini conversations. They are even bargaining with me. For example, when it’s time to leave the park, they will only come when I offer a snack or lunch, yet they will demand “hot dinner peez Mummy”, because lunch alone is not enough for my little gannets. They eat more than their big sister and nearly always demand more. “More” is actually their favourite word. After we got off the boat to Belfast, they shouted “MORE BOAT”. When we left Grannies house, they asked for “more Granny”. At Alton Towers, “more ride”. The most popular request though, is “More Peppa”, as they are complete Peppa fanatics.

They have also recently learnt to say “[insert nickname] did it!”, which has hilarious consequences, because if the action in question was a good one and they want a reward, they each say they did it themself. If it is something bad (like the time they smashed the TV), they both say the other one did it.

The heart melting moments though, are the “I love you” moments. The twins randomly say “Lovely Mummy”, or “Lovely too Mummy”, because they can’t quite say “you”.

They are thoroughly getting the hang of the “terrible twos” lately, testing limits and boundaries, pushing their luck, concocting plans and seeing what they can and can’t get away with. We never had the terrible two’s with Bunny, she was an angelic two year old. All those irritating comments people make about “double trouble”… well at the moment they are. They pour shampoo down the loo, squeeze glue onto the carpet, throw food, put remotes in the fridge, load other peoples shopping trolleys with broccoli (that’s a story for another day), hit mummy over the head with things, pinch each other, refuse to share, climb on everything, shout, squeal and roll on the floor if you say “no”. They also like to shout “Mummy did poo” in restaurants when we return from the nappy change room. I was so embarrassed the other day, that I very nearly shouted, “NO, MUMMY DID NOT POO”, but I was giggling too much to speak.

You see the double trouble doesn’t matter, because there’s double the giggles and double the love and these far outweigh the naughtiness. Cheeky is their middle name. I have recently adopted a far more relaxed approach to parenting, where I choose my battles carefully. If they aren’t going to get hurt, hurt anybody else or damage anything expensive, then why worry about it? I have even become one of those mum’s that unwraps and dispenses biscuits in the supermarket to feed them in the trolley. If you’ve ever tried to go food shopping with toddler twins and a 7 year old, you’d probably do the same! I get two lots of cuddles, two lots of kisses and two of everything. That’s easily worth the odd frown from a passer by.

They are heavy. They are no longer at an age where people tell me that they are feeling broody or want a cuddle. We still refer to them as babies though. They are still tiny babies to me… even though they are huge, leggy toddlers in age 3-4 clothing. They are energetic bundles of fun and I am so very blessed to have them.