twinteraction

Their car seats sit side by side in our twinivan.  There are a few chuckles in the back seat nearly every car ride.   As soon as I can, I turn around to see Nolan sneakily putting his hand on Carter's seat just below the armrest.  He reaches and taps Carter's leg. Carter pulls his leg away and they both laugh and laugh!

Mommy says, "hold your brother's hand!"  They stop what they are doing and get that hand like it is their life's mission.  Once they start walking, they sometimes lose the grip then one becomes more dedicated to the hand holding while the other is over it.  It is funny but definitely helps me! It distracts them from running off because they get so focused on getting a good grip of brother's hand.

They are also learning twempathy. When one is upset, the other always comes to see what's up and often pats his head or tries hug him or something. It is so sweet, but the tantrum-throwing child often wants none of it!

When it comes to toys, they still try to take each other's toys but it has gotten better than it was. Often there is a tug-of-war. I never know what to do. I either twignore it (to a degree), give the toy back to the child that had it or if I don't know who had it, I sometimes just take it away completely (while they both scream at me). We repeatedly say, "do not take toys!" and they definitely end up in time-out if they can't listen!

They don't really hit that much anymore but there is a little shoving going on here and there. Sometimes it is just mean! Sometimes it is to hurry the other one along or to get him out of the way. Regardless, it is no good! See my take on twicipline in a later post.

Okay, let's get back to the good stuff.

They sit in their high chairs across from each other and wave and laugh about it.  They also twave bye bye to the pool, the store, the toy, etc.  Anything we have to put down or leave, we say, "all done, bye bye thing."  I'm not kidding I really think it helps avoid a possible tantrum!

Just recently, the boys started smiling on command. Mostly Carter right now but Nolan definitely likes to share the cheese. "Show your teeth! Smile!  See mommy smile? See dada smile?"  From carter, we get a little shoulder lift, eye blink and smile. 

My favorite: They give hugs and kisses! Both of them make the sound, "mmmm-maaahh" and lean in for the smooch from mommy.