I cannot believe how big Thing 1 and Thing 2 are getting. They’re 19 months old and getting older every day. I feel like I can literally see them growing up right before my eyes. It’s exhilarating and amazing and bittersweet.
One of the things I am learning about myself as a parent is I sometimes laugh in…inappropriate situations. When I’m holding my kid down while they get their immunizations at the doctor’s office. (I REALLY am just trying not to cry, because I HATE holding them down while they get shots. Sometimes it comes out sounding like a laugh. Bad, I know.) When they do something bad and I start coming to put them in timeout and they say, “No no no no no!”
When I go to get them up from nap time, only to find Thing 1 has taken off his poopy diaper and is sitting in his crib, butt naked.
I knew this was coming. When the twins wake up from their nap, I let them play in their cribs until they start crying for me to get them out. Sometimes this is five minutes, sometimes it’s nearly an hour. But if I get them out before they are ready, they get very angry with me. They’ve even been known to refuse to let me lift them out of their cribs or slam the door in my face. They LOVE their alone time together. They just jabber at each other, jump up and down in their cribs like little monkeys, and generally have a good time.
Back to the poop. The boys had been jabbering for awhile, and then Thing 1 started crying so I went in the nursery to get them up. And that’s when I found both boys. Naked. Now this in and of itself wasn’t so unusual. It’s a rare day when they don’t undress themselves during nap time.
What I noticed was Thing 1 sitting in his crib instead of standing. His back was to me…also odd. He heard the door open, and whipped around to stare at me with wide, scared eyes.
And that’s when I noticed the diaper sitting beside him. “Thing 1!” I exclaimed. Only, you know, I said his real name. He immediately covered his privates and started to cry. He knew he’d done something bad. He knew he was in trouble.
Only he wasn’t. Because all I could do was laugh. I quickly went over to his crib while Thing 2 looked on with wide eyes. As soon as I started for Thing 1 he reached for me to grab him. I plucked him out of his crib, holding him away from my body so as to not encounter any stray poop and letting him know he wasn’t in trouble. He still tried to lay his head on my shoulder, despite me holding him far away, and was very happy to have a fresh diaper put on him.
Thankfully, all poop was contained in the diaper. Thing 1 had obviously just taken it off, realized he’d done something wrong, and started crying for me to solve the problem. Afterward, we had a discussion about how if he has a stinky bum he should tell mommy and I would take care of it, and he should not attempt to change himself. I told Thing 2 the same went for him. If they’re ready for changing their own diapers, they’re ready for potty training. And they so aren’t just yet.
Luckily the instances of the twins removing their own diapers have been few and far between since this first instance. But I have a roll of duct tape in the top drawer of the changing table just in case.
TWIN MOM TIP: There are a lot of twin mom instances where you can either laugh or cry. In the words of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”
Ohmygoodness.<br /><br />I don't know if my Mother has told you this story yet or not, but we used to do the same thing with my twin brothers. They don't remember this, but we would not only duct tape their diapers, but also their pajamas, so that they couldn't "paint" each other, once they figured out how to do so. Ahh, the glamour of motherhood. I am so excited. 🙂 🙂
haha! I will keep the duct tape on the pj's in mind if mine ever start painting. They are in separate cribs so I am more worried of them throwing it at each other. My mom's cousin's twins did that.