The fact is, when you're 18-months-old, your brain cannot conceive of sharing. Another fact is, if you weigh 19 lbs, and your twin sister weighs 23 lbs., Miss 23 lbs. will always get what she wants. I have three solutions:
- Referee their playing time making sure Jo doesn't get bowled over by Millie, ignoring domestic chores and just about everything else
- Ignore their nearly constant quarreling and complete household tasks
- Buy two of absolutely everything.
None of these options are good, and there really isn't a compromise between household duties and refereeing their playtime because the second I put down my dishtowel or whatever to make sure they play fairly, I never get back to it. Today's solution? I cried for an hour, ignored them completely to start a project I've been dying to begin, and when I felt like I could look at them again, we read books for an hour, restoring balance and harmony. Somehow I don't think this will work everyday. Curse the cold. Curse the snow. Curse the hours indoors. Curse my tiredness. Curse 18-month-old inability to learn to wait and to share. Seriously, what am I supposed to do?
Well, in a few more weeks you can curse their baby sister and your sleep deprivation too.....
ReplyDeleteJust choose to be okay with things not being okay. Lower your expectations, everything actually is alright!
Yeah, but seriously, Jo will get a complex if I don't addresss the issue of her always getting her toys taken by Millie, and my definition of a clean house is pretty low. I don't feel like my expectations are too high!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how difficult this situation must be for you. You're really between the proverbial rock and a hard space!
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion (probably not the best) is take option 2 and ignore them. They'll work it out amongst themselves eventually. My mother literally had us play in a closet in her sewing room so she could hear us if we really started to cry but tune us out when we fought while she worked on her projects.
The girls will learn how to forgive quickly and move on. By the time we were about 2 we shared well and put our minds together to create mischief :) we'd cut the cat's whiskers, crimp/melt our barbie's hair, open cans of soda we stole from the top shelf in the fridge (it's easy when one boosts the other onto the counter), flush object down the toilet, eat sugar in the pantry, and by the time we were 4 or 5 we knew how to make Kraft Mac n Cheese by ourselves from start to finish.
Oh wait- I guess my mom should have been our police since we did all this while she was ignoring us! LOL
Being a twin is the BEST way to grow up!!!
Move to AZ!
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