Yes, we’re experiencing the benefits of having two children of the same age in that they have the same schedule and they fight with entertain each other. But there is also the tag-team approach they take to – shall we say – developmental milestones. As in, first Benjamin started in with the “DO IT BY SELF!” then a couple weeks later Jonah joined in. It’s one thing to have one kid telling you this all day long, but if every time you get in the car you hear a chorus of “NO! GET IN BY SELF!” complete with double-meltdowns if you even lightly touch them - you are sometimes tempted to actually let them go ahead and live their whole lives BY SELVES.

A few months ago Jonah began crying every time he woke up. This new habit was annoying in the afternoon after his nap, but reeeeally annoying to be awakened by first thing in the morning. I mean, what are we doing here, regressing two years?

It took a couple months of work to nix that habit and now he’s usually happy – or at least not loudly-sad – upon awakening. But now Benjamin is in throes of it. He doesn’t wake up crying, per se, but wakes up very cranky. Wanting Jonah’s milk and not his own. Wanting to get out of his crib, then wanting to get back in. And wanting the blinds to be kept closed because it’s “so bright.” This goes on after naps, too.

So instead of a couple weeks or months of an annoying stage, it ends up being double that. And sometimes overlapping. And toward the end you think, “If I EVER have to train another kid not to throw his food off his tray, I will need to be committed.”

Oh yes, the (birth control) beat goes on...

[Note: I’ve found this entertaining and informative blog written by a group of Moms of multiples called (appropriately): How Do You Do It? Their recent post “Ask The Moms Part 12” sparked the idea for this post.]