Twins on a Plane

Travelling with twin toddlers. It's enough to challenge the toughest and strongest of mind and body. Quien es mas macho? Parents of twins, that's who.

We just returned from a long trip home, to Texas. It was a nice trip except for a few details which, in hindsight, make for a good story but, while you're living it, really bite. But every time we travel with Lola and Locke (and we've been doing it since they were four months old) we learn new tricks and survival techniques. I'll pass a few of those along now.

First of all, never travel to Texas in August. What were we thinking? The highs were in the 100s almost every day while we were there, which makes for a lovely time between the hours of 11pm and 7am. Which is precisely the hours we're all sleeping. We did, however, manage to have some fun in the wading pool in the morning and after dinner. The rest of the time was carefully calculated for climate control.

Next, always take the first flight out on a weekend morning. That's right, that 7am flight that requires you to wake up at an hour at which you've more often fallen asleep than woken up. It sounds crazy but the first flights are less likely to be delayed (trust me, you do not want to be delayed when travelling with toddlers) and aren't nearly as full so you can often get a whole row to yourself. Plus, when your toddler actually falls asleep in your lap on the flight, it's worth all the pain that you endured getting up and out the door. Of course that's if you're lucky enough to be holding a toddler like Lola. If you've got one like Locke, it's another story. Although he did extremely well except for one episode of the noodle when I tried to hold him in my lap for a short ride through a little turbulence.

And finally, always have a pediatrician lined up in case of emergency wherever you travel. Locke had several days of high fever, which turned out to be a virus that went away on its own but was very scary for a while. We were able to get in to see a doctor in our old pediatrician's office after trying another office that was closer to where we were staying, only to be met with the verbal equivalent of a slamming door in our faces. From now on, I find the name of a doctor ahead of time. And being that prepared will certainly increase our chances of never needing it.

Overall, it was actually a nice trip. Locke and Lola got to spend time with their grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousin, and we got to see several good friends, although we missed out on seeing others because of the heat and Locke's illness. Kelly and I even got to see a movie (if you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine, I highly recommend it -- however, since I've only seen three movies this whole year, my judgment could be a little lax). But we only ate enough Mexican food to stave off our cravings for a few months so we better plan another trip soon. Actually, I just found out my friend Stephanie is getting married in Texas next month so I may be going back sooner than expected. I don't think we're going to get to do another family trip, though. Even though it was a good trip, we'd be pressing our luck to take the twins on a plane two months in a row.

Career Paths

It seems that Locke and Lola have embarked on what could be (mis)construed as career paths. Oh, sure, it's early. But it's never too early to start honing a skill. Especially one that appears unprompted and unaffected by outside influences.

Now you might be thinking of the obvious toddler career labels like veterinarian, fireman (or fireperson), artist, or dancer. But these two have eschewed the under-5 career path traps and plunged into the roads less travelled.

For Locke, there was always a deep connection with the written word. From very early on, he would sit and look at books for way longer than I thought a baby's attention span would allow. But there was more to it than that. As if studying the books wasn't quite enough to satiate his hunger for knowledge, he began to chew on them. At first I thought he was just teething. That's why they make board books, right? But now that he's older and wiser, I've realized that he's not just chewing on them, he's editing them.

Locke takes a book that he knows frontwards and backwards, upside down and right side up, and, by ripping off parts of the pages with his teeth, attempts to improve up them. For instance, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" always seemed a bit long to Locke. He'd sometimes lose interest after Wednesday, when the caterpillar had eaten through 3 plums and was still hungry. So he strategically ate away Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday's pages, keeping the most interesting part -- Saturday, when the caterpillar eats not just sausage and a cupcake, but also salami, cherry pie, and an ice cream cone. Thanks to Locke's thoughtful editing, the book is really a much more manageable size now.

Lola is much more outgoing in her career pursuit. She has developed an avid interest in birds, so I can only assume a career in ornithology is her goal. And not only is she interested in birds, she's already focused on a specialization within the ornithological field. She studies ducks. Yes, just ducks.

I mentioned her duck labeling in a recent post but, at that time, I narrowmindedly assumed that "duck" was the only word she could say so she called everything duck. What I failed to realize was that there are hidden ducks everywhere and our budding ornithologist is very busy spotting them. In almost every book we read, there's a duck. In almost every Baby Einstein DVD we own, there's a duck. On their "discovery center" activity station, there are no less than three ducks! It's not that she's limited in her speech, it's that she's eagle-eyed in her duck spotting. That may not answer the chicken episode at the dairy farm, but maybe there was a duck I didn't see because I was too busy chasing Locke who was busy chasing chickens.

So it's nice to know that Locke and Lola are pursuing noble paths in life. Although I'm fairly certain their interests will change by next week, or tomorrow, or probably when they get up from their nap. But, whatever paths they finally choose, I will encourage them to do their very best and to be happy and proud knowing they've done just that.