A Very Brief History in Pictures

I'm having trouble getting more than a few pictures posted so,
here are a few select pics of Lola...













And now Locke...

Gonzo Playgroup

The other day I took Lola and Locke to their first playgroup. It was organized by the Mothers of Twins club and the location was a shopping mall play area. Lola and Locke are a little young for that type of thing since they don't walk yet but that didn't stop them from having as much fun as any of the other kids there. And speaking of other kids, there must have been 50 kids playing in this walled off area. And, although it's bigger than many Manhattan apartments, it's still small enough to fit in the middle of the food court. It was a madhouse, as my dad would say.

Lola and I found a spot on the outside edge of a tunnel and she spent most of her time practicing standing. She's getting very confident. She'll pull herself up to a stand and then let go. She used to either nestea plunge backward or double over onto her head (with me there to catch her, of course) but now she's gaining much more control. She can actually balance for a few seconds -- long enough to be able to say truthfully that she is "balancing." Or at least long enough to say "Look! She's balancing!" From time to time she'd take an interest in a toddler or my handbag, and on occasion she'd stand and give a little happy yell as a declaration of her accomplishment.

Locke gave us a sweet glance and then crawled over to the opposite side of the tunnel to check out the situation. I realize now that Locke thinks he's 9 years old instead of 9 months. He took off for the most popular structure as soon as he spotted the activity, crawling as fast as most of the toddlers could run. He crawled through the tunnel, stood up and peered over the wall at a toddler who, when he saw Locke, yelled, "Look at the baby! Look at the baby!" Locke began to look around for the baby too. An adorable 5-year-old girl was also amused by "the baby" Locke. But Locke just thought she was flirting and started waving at her. My favorite, though, was a little boy (3ish? I'm so bad with ages!) who came over to Locke, smiled at him, and patted him on the head. He then started gently rubbing his head. (I don't blame him -- I know from experience how good it feels to rub his head.) After a minute of that he bent down behind Locke, gave him a tender hug, and then darted off. Locke then continued his exploration.

I kept thinking Locke would lose track of Lola and me and get nervous. But he never did. In fact, the few times I walked over near him to make sure he knew I was still watching him, he gave me a quick glance and then continued doing whatever he was doing. Was that my glimpse into the future? In that brief instant I'm driving him to school and, when he sees his friends walk by, he ducks down in the car seat so they don't see him with Mommy. Nah, that will never happen.

Late Start

For all the twin mom and/or dad bloggers who began their blogs on or before delivering their babies, BRAVO! I thought a lot about it throughout the process -- because you've got a lot on your mind when you've never had a baby before and all of the sudden you have TWO -- and sorting it out on any type of forum would have been helpful. But I couldn't have written a coherent sentence for at least 3 months after Locke and Lola were born.

So, better late than never, we're up and running. Actually Lola and Locke have been up and running for the better part of their 9 months, but now we're all ready to share our experiences with you.

Sunday marked their nine month birthday, which was followed with a pediatrician appointment Monday. I have a real love/hate relationship with these appointments. I love them because you finally get to unroll your scroll of questions for the doctor that you've been saving up for 3 months because you thought they were too trivial to warrant a phone call. Plus, you get to find out more accurately their heights and weights and head circumferences (this one's always intrigued me). I say more accurately because, for slightly competitive people like my husband Kelly and I, we've been doing bathroom scale and metal tape measure (try a head circumference check with THAT next time) measurements all along. But not to worry about the competitiveness. We're both very aware and determined not to let that creep into our parenting. Unless there's a medal at stake.

I hate these appointments because as soon as you walk into the reception area you hear the blood-curdling screams of just-vaccinated infants and toddlers and you remember why you hate these appointments.

But this one was different. First of all, I met another mother of 9-month-old twins as we were waiting to go in. Whenever this happens, it's like a sped up version of a vacation love affair but without the love and the affair parts. Just in the intensity and the need to connect and find out as much as possible about this person in the little time you have. You know right away how much you have in common and how many of the same experiences you've been going through and you want so much to share it and empathisize and pat each other on the back. But you also don't want to be too forward. It's for this reason I've never tried to get phone numbers during these encounters. But that's about to change.

We had, in the span of 5 minutes, already gotten through the subjects of bedrest, living away from families, and alternate names for the babies when she left. I thought I had her talked into going to the twin club meeting that night but she didn't show. She slipped right through my fingers.

I'm going to take my husband's advice and get business cards made up. Mother of twins is certainly a position that merits a business card and I am determined not to let another possible friend, confidante, running partner, whatever, slip away.

Another reason this appointment was different was that Locke, being the flirt that he is, was so busy trying to charm the nurse that he never even felt his shot. No crying. Not even a look of surprise or confusion. And, although Locke is a daredevil and an acrobatic genious, he's no brave soldier. He's the first one to cry when I drop a plastic cup on the floor or when I sneeze while he's nursing. He'll break out the boo hoos at the drop of a loud hat but I guess now that he's discovered women, that's about to change.

All in all, it was a banner appointment. Lola is now 18 lbs. 5 oz. and is 27 1/2" tall. Locke weighs 21 lbs. 4 oz. That's almost exactly how much Kelly said he weighed after a bathroom scale check (weighing himself with and without Locke). And he's 28 1/2" tall, which is exactly how tall I guessed based on my barstool measurement. Locke is exactly as tall as the bottom of the barstool seat. In another few weeks he won't be able to stand under it without ducking slightly.

Possibly the best thing about doctor visits is how well they sleep the night after them. After several weeks of Lola waking up at midnight or 2am, it was a nice, long, peaceful night.

Locke and Lola - born April 22, 2005