Twins Become Terrible Two’s
Grandma’s Perspective
Well, we made it…all of us…together…Spencer and Miriam Factor made it to two years old. Two years old and amazing! They had their birthday party in the same place they had it last year, but it was not the same. Not for them. This year they danced, and ran, and jumped—unassisted. In fact, they were so fast, no one could catch them.
All children are miracles, but these two are miracles squared. First, it’s a miracle that they were born at all…conceived and carried to a viable birth. Then, it’s a miracle that their mother survived all that along with them. And last, but not least, it’s miraculous how they are thriving…adorable, intelligent, active, disobedient two year olds. What a marvel!
They loved, and took part in, everything about their party this year. They were, and continue you to be, a joy to watch.
My Perspective
“No, I don’t want to” is now the most popular statement in my house. At this time two years ago these babies were barely five pounds and had just learned to regulate their body temperatures enough to move out of their incubators.
But now that time seems so long ago, so far in the past. And when I look at them it’s hard to remember them looking like that or being that small. They are now smart, funny, stubborn, lovable, exciting, ever-changing, challenging two year olds and every minute their awake – and even sometimes when they’re sleeping – they’re reminding me.
For their second birthday, we decided to have it at their favorite indoor gym – we practically live there. It also happens to be where we had their party last year, but the differences between their first birthday and their second were glaring. This year they could throw, run, jump, scream, paint, sing and dance. This year they could communicate what they liked and didn’t like, what they wanted and didn’t want. This year they were children, last year they were babies.
I cried the day before. The day of their party also happened to be their actual birthday and the fact that they were no longer going to be babies, that that part of their life was over, that we had actually survived infancy was a lot to take in.
Turing two meant that they were officially not preemies anymore. They had ticked every box to move away from their premature status. They were smart, developmentally equal if not advanced and physically strong. In fact, when we went for their two year checkup we learned that Miriam was fiftieth percentile for height and twenty-fifth for weight and Spencer was twenty-fifth for height and fiftieth for weight for their chronological age!
They’re miracles.
It brought emotions of what could have happened, what does happen to so many and how fortunate and blessed we are to have come through it.
Whenever I tell them to clean-up their toys or finish their vegetables and they respond, “no, I don’t want to,” I try to remember how lucky I am to have come through that tumultuous time virtually unscathed. Although the 45th time you hear that phrase in the span of an hour (remember I have two so that’s only 22.5 times each which is NOT an exaggeration) it is certainly difficult.