Yesterday our precious little Valentines Day twinnies turned 1. I had planned on reflecting back on all the high and lows of the first year of babyhood and motherhood, but instead all I can think about is the other young attendees to the birthday party, how naughty they were, and how much I LOVED IT.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t find it amusing when my own babies misbehave. But other peoples tots being mischievous to the mortification of their parents- hilarious and awesome. The other kiddos were older than the girls, it was mostly 2-4 yr olds and they were naughty as the day is long. It started right off the bat when only one kiddo had arrived, a gorgeous little creature with blond ringlets and big eyes who watched me unpack the Valentine making supplies on to the coffee table. I was concentrating so hard on the task at hand that I didn’t notice what was going on in front of me. I looked up and saw that all the supplies were gone! The little girl had spirited them away to a corner of the room and was stealthily packing them into her little pink backpack. Her mother was horrified, I was in stitches.
The next scene I remember is one very cute platinum haired boy walking around happily waving one of my paintbrushes that he’d found. I thought, aw that’s cute! The brush was seized by another boy, who’s father made him give it back. But the boy was not to be thwarted. He waiting until Pops was looking the other direction, grabbed the paintbrush back, opened the front door and chucked it outside! The poor blondie looked so confused and bewildered, and I probably should have comforted him, but instead I had to leave the room because I was doubled over in laughter.
The paintbrush chucker was soon involved in another naughty little escapade. As we opened the girls presents we could hear him trying to conspire with his parents ways of getting the presents and “taking them home.” Too cute! By the time we opened the gift from his parents, a cool stuffed spider on a spring which was given to Lulu to play with, it was all too much for him. He snatched the spider out of Lulu’s hands with considerable speed, snapping the the spring right off. Lulu was very surprised, but luckily the spring missed her face so no tears were shed, and once again I busted my gut laughing and trying to hide it behind my hand.
The whole party was full of funny kid antics, lots of jumping on the furniture, brawling over toys, parents running around desperately trying to get their kids to tow the line, and me secretly hoping they would fail because it was all so damn entertaining.
I was so proud of the girls. They behaved beautifully. It helps that they are not the least bit possessive about their toys. They certainly take toys from each other frequently, but there are never any tears shed. There are no items they associate as “mine.” They just assume everything must be shared because its all they’ve ever known. The kiddos at the party have a substantial challenge in the sharing department because they are all only children. Everything is “mine.” It must be difficult to have to share things in other peoples homes if you don’t have to share things in your own home.
After the party when the girls were in bed, Jungledad and I had some Valentines Day/Yippee we made it 1 year celebratory Champagne and talked about how grateful we are to have twins. This was partially fueled by Laura C’s most excellent post on HDYDI about the joys of being a Twin Mom, and partially due to the girls wonderful party behavior. It was such a great day and night, I couldn’t have asked for better.
