New Developments

With our new developmental surge has come a greater sense of independence from me. This has resulted in two very welcome developments. First, the boys are perfectly fine with engaging in activities that involve being under someone else's watch. I'm never far away, but I may be out of sight for a period of time. For example, I've brought them to the Kid's Club at the gym, where they play while I work out. The shocking part isn't that they are okay with this arrangement, but that I actually am choosing to work out. If you know me, you know that this is not a usual part of my routine. But anyway, back to the boys. They are fine with me leaving and play beautifully with the supervisor and the other kids. In addition, we visit the Playhouse Cafe weekly, where the kids play in a supervised play area, while I get to read or chat with other moms in the cafe area. The boys can see me, but play on their own. I love it there. And finally, the boys will sometimes play on their own during the Mommy and Me class while I am at discussion. They are great at communicating their needs to other adults and play so nicely with other kids. I'm so proud of them.

The other result of this new independence is even better. They are really starting to look to each other as playmates rather than looking to me all the time. This is so great, as it allows me to actually check my email once in a while and go to the bathroom without an audience. But the really exciting thing about this is to see them becoming buddies. They are still so very different, but they are finding common ground and really seem to enjoy being together. I really must credit Hot Wheels with bringing them together. They share an intense love of these little cars. They can spend all day collecting them from all over the house, putting them in some sort of recepticle, carrying them to another part of the house, and lining them up in the longest line they can manage. Then they pack them up again and move to another spot. And repeat. For hours. There is some "vrooming" every once in a while, but really, it is about the packing, unpacking and the lining up. It is a total riot to watch their deep concentration on this task. In fact, they do treat it as work. Whatever they choose to carry their cars in, be it a case, a bucket or a cereal box, is referred to as their "soupcase." They mean "suitcase," but how can you correct such a cute mistake? Anyway, they pack up their cars in their soupcase and tell me that they are heading off to work. I don't know how well lining up little cars pays, but I'm happy to support them as long as they are following their passion.

So they have found this common interest, and they have really developed a bond that is evident in every part of their life. They love talking to each other, sharing food with each other, playing games together, and just generally consider how they can share their enjoyment with the other. They even roughhouse together, which thrills me to no end. Seriously, Lucas has always been so sensitive and required so much space that I thought they might never enjoy physical play with each other. However, now they love to wrestle, tickle each other, dump water on each other, and just generally do dumb things to each other that are destined to end badly. I could care less, as the sound of their laughter together just warms my heart. It's just one of those times that nothing beats having twins.

P.S. I loaded the Spring 2008 pictures up on the smugmug site. noahheldman.smugmug.com. Password is lucasethan3306.