Saturday, January 10, 2009

The shirt wars

Lately, they give me no choice.
I prefer to dress Matthew and Jonathan differently, but not because I worry about some identity crisis. I do it for my own selfish reasons: I find it easier to tell them apart. I'd rather look at their shirts as they run squealing away than wait until I catch up with them, turn them around and look hard into their faces.
But they are rebelling.
Within minutes of dressing the boys each the morning, one twin begins pawing at the other's shirt.
He wants it.
That's the only shirt he wants and he is obsessed. He won't leave his poor twin alone until he get it. And his twin can only run for so long.
The solution is simple if the shirt has an identical twin as well, but we don't have a lot of identical shirts. So, I do the next best thing. I open the shirt drawer and let him choose another favorite.
But as soon as that twin changes his shirt, the other twin begins pawing him. Then he starts stamping his feet and screaming and crying and trying to take his own shirt off and pointing at the shirt drawer saying, "Shirt! Shirt! Shirt!"
What can I do?
I open it and he grabs another.
Peace lasts for about 30 seconds.
Soon the victimized twin begins coveting his brother's shirt.
And so it goes.
The cycle repeats and repeats and repeats itself until finally, they end up in matching shirts.
And they are happy.
For a while.
Until one twin spills half his lunch on his shirt and has to change ...

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Tops and Toys

Neither twin is walking yet, but they have each found a new skill to perfect.
Jonathan recently learned that he can take off his shirts.
Matthew discovered that it is a waste of time to take toys out of baskets. Now, he simply clears himself a spot and hops right in.
If he's lucky, Jonathan will toss his shirt in the basket so Matthew can play peek-a-boo.

Labels: , ,