This week my twins turned five. To them they were now a small five ,this is reference to their friends at Montessori preschool who are bigger fives and utterly cute how they explain the complexities in how you become a big five, as far as I can tell it has something to do with your height plus the amount of ice-cream you are allowed to have and how late you are allowed to stay up! To me ,this age has affected me somewhat more then other birthdays and I’ll tell you why.
Five is the general age most kids start school and they head themselves this September . I’ve the uniforms ordered, the school books and school shoes are in the spare room hidden until the end of the Summer because I cannot understand how we have arrived here, how my babies, because in my head sometimes that is what they still are, my babies. Anyone with small children and anyone with twins will understand when I say the early weeks,months,years are literally a blur. You are caught up in your little bubble of feeds and raising two babies at the same time that it’s a miracle you get to venture outside the front door some days. But you do and it does get easier, there are different challenges of course but it does get easier as they grow up. And grow up they do ,all too fast, naturally you are proud they’ve grown up in one piece but with multiples alot of parents will admit to feeling this blurriness of the early years. So when the uniforms arrived for big school I will admit I was not ready for the trip down memory lane on how we are now at this stage. But we are and they are excited, nervous but happy to be growing up and I am too for them but that is not to say on the official start date I will not be a blubbering mess at the school gates. I will of course try to contain it until they are well out of range!
The age four to five, that year, that growth has been in my opinion similar to the newborn to one years old growth phase. In the last year they’ve had better social lives than myself and the other half. Weekends are now taken up with their friends birthday parties and play dates.Friendships are everything to them with a new best friend announced every few weeks, when they meet at playcentres, the level of excitement as the kids hug each other like they haven’t seen one another in weeks , despite being at montessori all week together, would warm the coldest heart. They are living their best lives as the saying goes. Four to five has seen night training happen on the eve of four.I did rejoice when the realisation hit that we were fully a nappy free house!They’ve given up their dodees ,a day we thought would never happen and after a few nights of unease they were ok, they were more excited to visit the local toy shop as a reward for being so grown up. We were hurdling towards the status “kid” and when these milestones happened it smacked us right in the heart.
It saw their first real Christmas where they really understood the role of Santa. The excitement for Christmas at four was tenfold the excitement at three. They had memories from the previous year and last Christmas’ countdown started shortly after their fourth birthday which is in the Summer, so you can understand when we were finally in December the relief was palpable. It was the Christmas you cannot wait for as a parent, the one where their eyes and high pitched voices convey excitement as only a child can when they see all the presents laid out by the Christmas tree . They deserved the best Christmas ever and we had a lovely quiet Christmas at home just the four of us. Sadly a few weeks after their fourth birthday they lost their beloved nana and have had their own journey with grief in the last year and witnessed me ,their Mammy battle through my grief. Their strength, kindness to me and love for their nana saw them truly feel pain and hurt and I wish I could take that away from them, but in such a confusing time for them they’ve come to understand what real love is and how much in turn they are loved .
Their bodies are stretching, in fact every morning I could swear they grown another inch, their features have shed the last bits of baby, the cheeks are less pinchable but will always be kissable.
They can colour in-between the lines, this is a big thing apparently in the world of Montessori,(how cute) they love to write their own names on their friends birthday cards and can read a few words , thankfully their love for books continues, they inhale books which could only be the case since their mother and nana are the same.
They don’t need me to push them on swings anymore now, their feet can touch the ground , their bodies are stronger to push them in the air, and long graduated to the big swings in the playground, although they do still want and love when I swing them higher. It seems like they have both grown feet overnight! The stabilisers are off their bikes now, although they still cycle tentatively but there’s no going back, their bravery and drive to do more spurs them forward.
Their personalities have grown leaps and solidified their strengths, she’s a beautiful singer and shows artistic promise and himself has a fantastic creative and analytical mind and will crack you up with his own jokes . They have learnt new skills, have no fear and want to try everything, it’s refreshing as an adult to witness this and we could all do with lessons on remembering our own sense of adventure and willingness to have fun when we were young.
They are are two little people now and not babies, they have officially entered the kid zone in the last year .
It’s funny sitting at the dinner table having proper conversations ,don’t get me wrong whinging does occur, but today is a day for focusing on the positives . I’m still not ready for the thousand of questions that are about every topic you can imagine under the sun, from how cogs in machines work to how its always sunny in Spain and raining in Ireland, I think we all ask ourselves that question! They make me feel at times like I need to go back to school myself after a rabbit hole of questions ends up leaving me scratching my head for an answer. I get daily updates on how their brain sends messages to them and how it makes their body works, I love the simplicity and fun of their explanations as I get a lecture in how their brain tells them tomatoes are yuck and not to eat them but ice-cream solves all problems. Smart kids…..
As my own mam always said to me, no matter how old I get I was always her baby, the same applies to my children. When the day is coming to a close they still climb up on my lap , which will always find room for two , they shift and move until they find their slot in my embrace, the three of us still fit together perfectly and always will. Bedtime isn’t complete without further cuddles and bedtime stories.Although these days they like to trap me in their hugs, but to be honest if it takes me a little longer to escape from their hugs I’ll let them think they are stronger than their Mammy, for as long as I can because it’s in their little embraces my heart belongs.
Happy birthday B &A xxx
DodeestoDaquiris 
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