I slipped and called my duo ‘babies’ at a wedding the other night. But my twins really aren’t that little anymore and I can’t believe it. My giant 8-year-old babies are starting school again in a few hours and I’m totally going to miss them.
Apparently this year my guys will be in different classes for the first time. They’re both like “It’s no big deal” but I’m freaking out just a little bit. I totally support the idea of them cultivating their own identities but suddenly I’m face to face with the days when my twin boys were actual babies and I had to make important decisions like who would be fed first, or picked up first or who had to sit tight and wait. It’s going to take a bit of coordination for pick up and drop off and I’m realizing that I’ve been a bit babied myself because they’ve done so much together that I haven’t had to ever think about what to do when they’re apart. The only time they’ve really been separated is the odd sick day at school or when we do separate errands at home or when one of them came home from the NICU before the other in a world that seems eons ago. (OH how my way-younger self would have felt a ton better knowing where we are today and seeing how far we’ve come!) It’s crazy how quickly babies grow into independent little people and I know they’ll deal with this adjustment with way more grace and ease than I will.
So tonight I’m still up planning a fun breakfast, trying to figure out what my guys and I will wear and I’m filling the holidays on my calendar with fabulous escapes that we can look forward to when things get cold and busy and next summer looks too far away.
And I’m going to look back at all the pictures from summer and savor them for a while.
Are you or your kids going back to school this year? How are you dealing with the end of summer??!!!
(PS. I just signed up for Book of the Month Club thanks to Andrea from Born and Read in Chicago because she has an amazing coupon on her blog and she always has good book pics. Hopefully this will help keep my brain busy and out of trouble while the kids are in school too!)
(PPS. I’d love to hear if you have twins too-are they in different classes or are they in the same?)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Bernadette & Charlotte have *always* been in separate classes. Well, the 2nd year in preschool, we had no choice as there was just one room for the 5s. B can be pushy and Queen of Everything until … in a new situation, at which point C shines and takes over. In a gentle and loving way. B loves being right and being first, which led to a lot of “C, what is 2 plus 2?” “B: it’s four! C, it’s four, four four!” “C: what sissy said.”
The hard part about separate rooms is it is crazy difficult on the mom. First off, two teachers, two styles, two sets of homework. Two sets of classmates and learning corresponding parent names. Some parents may think that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer as they’ll gush and say “Oh, my son loves your daughter!” and then I’ll say “which daughter?” and then they say “Mrs. Ormiston’s class!!” and then I have this mental maze of Mrs. Ormiston’s first name is Margaret, which is the middle name of Bernadette, who is in her class. “Oh! Bernadette, then.” Once I explain I have twins, it lets me off the hook, but I have to think hard.
If you haven’t read it yet, I can’t sing the praises enough of A Man Called Ove. I finished over the weekend and I miss them all, they grew on me like a weird family.
Thanks so much for sharing Tracey! It’s amazing how far the “babies” have come:). I totally will check out A Man Called Ove. You always have great book selections too! Happy Back to School!
Awh! Thanks for the s/o!! Also, I can’t imagine having both my kiddos in the same class – so that has to be weird for you, but the kids are always the resilient ones – while we sit on the sidelines with tissues 😉 our principal has twins, boy and girl and this year is the first time they will be in separate classes as well. Apparently the girl was helping do everything for the boy, so she said yes time to separate them! Haha!
I’m so excited for my first book of the month to arrive so THANK YOU! And you are so right. I think my guys are way more resilient than me. Good luck with the school year too!
Wow Terumi your backyard is gorgeous and your twins are so cute! How fun :: ! I’m back at school too teaching and tired already lol !
Xo valerie
I hope the morning went smoothly and that you’re handling the change OK!
Aww thanks for sharing! This is an exciting time for them.
Oh friend, I know exactly how you feel! This is our first year going splitsies with our boys too. They were totally fine with it. They’ve grown up so fast!
Let’s cheer ourselves up with a coffee/shopping date now that they’re back in school 😉
Ah you’re so sweet! I’m excited for my girl’s to start school again – they love learning so much that it’s pretty magical to see them beaming when I pick them up! But trust me…I get it 🙂