Friday, December 4, 2009

Takin' things one twin at a time...

Danny and Jimmy, Thanksgiving Day

Lesson learned during week 1 of parenting twins:

Take care of the one who is crying loudest COMPLETELY before moving on to the next. Do not shortcut the feeding or swaddling, or you will soon have not one but two hungry and unwrapped babies howling.

And having two hands does not equal having the ability to care for two fussy babies at once!

As a chronic multi-tasker, my babies in general have always slowed me down and made me focus a bit more on the task at hand. That much more with these little guys.

And it's not just the babies that do best when they get their full 20 minutes of glorious individual attention, but also dad, big sisters, aunt, even me!

Take a few minutes for the task at hand, ignore the background fussing of all other demands, and I can do at least one thing well AND move on to the next. Multi-task, multiply the problems and the stress and leave possibly nothing done well...

It's a lesson I will be re-learning every day for a long time I think!

4 comments:

Jenn said...

They are so cute jo! :)

I can imagine twins are a handful sometimes, maybe two! You are a great mom for the job!

Dina said...

RIDICULOUS, I say!! So stinkin' cute!! You're sending them for a visit soon, right!?

ps. How was dinner? ;)

Don said...

You grow wise week by week, Grasshopper.

Loved this line: "Take a few minutes for the task at hand, ignore the background fussing of all other demands, and I can do at least one thing well AND move on to the next."

Torey Hayden, in her book, Just Another Kid, has a sentence that repeats: "And I regarded her."

That's the focus of meaningful care, interaction, and love.

(Cute pic too!)

Multi-tasking is in part: modern myth.I tell my self and my students: Sometimes the best way to speed up... is to slow down.

Elizabeth said...

SO CUTE! Congratulations! My twins just turned 2 today. It's an amazing adventure. Enjoy every bit of it. And I'm here, if you ever wanna swap twin stories. :)