Three Months
I had big plans to write my three month post on the actual day they hit the three month mark — what an impressive accomplishment that would have been! But then they were grumpy little trolls all day and I thought maybe I’d regret it if the post just said “Two babies for sale, cheap. Make an offer. Will be sold separately or as a set.”
Celebrating the twins’ three-month birthday after they’d finally gone to bed. That’s not water in Matt’s glass.
I think that was the right call, because really, month three was a considerable improvement on month two. While it was still exhausting, frustrating, and oftentimes boring as all get-out, there was less crying and more smiling by all members of the family than there was a month earlier. There was also a lot more sleeping by every member of the household, thanks to Julian’s regular 10-12 hour stints (yes, that’s with no wake ups) and Eloise’s own occasional flirtations with sleeping through the night.
During their awake time, it became markedly easier (though far from foolproof) to make and keep the babies happy, most reliably by taking their clothes off and letting them roll around naked in the crib or on the floor (a huge hit with both of them). Actually, I wonder whether there’s anything iffy about so often dealing with a fussy baby by stripping off its clothes. Are they going to learn that nudity is an appropriate way to cope with any unpleasantness? Will they be disrobing during math tests in school? After their Little League team loses? When someone turns them down for a date? Eesh. I’ll worry about that later. Right now, Naked Time buys us a few minutes to take showers or eat lunch, so it is a good thing.
They also can now be entertained by certain interactions with us, such as our squeezing their cheeks while sing-songing “cheeks!” or making very mature fart noises at them. When they’re in good moods, we can generally count on being rewarded with a smile. This early play is actually pretty fun and, I like to think, a great preview of things to come.
Month three featured some big firsts, including a first Chanukah, a first Christmas, a first (and second) trip to visit grandparents, a first (and second) overnight away from home (except for the hospital), and a first plane ride. In general, both twins exceeded our expectations for how they’d handle these experiences (granted, our expectations were rather ludicrously low), suggesting that they are starting to take interest in new places and faces (as long as no one except one of their parents dares to hold them). In fact, we are starting to see dramatic increases in their abilities to engage with us and the world.
Since I am actually writing this well into month four, I can report that this theme of interactivity will loom large in the next monthly recap. I’m going to try to write next month’s post on time, though, because the babies are getting better so quickly that it’s hard to write with enthusiasm about a previous phase when you know how much more fun they’ve become since.
