It's a Hard Knock Life

A friend of mine who just had twin boys a month ago was telling me how frustrating it was for her sometimes when she would finish nursing one boy and need to nurse the second; boy number 1 might still be fussy and typically would be consoled by Mommy a little bit longer--but in the twin world, you just have to fuss sometimes while your twin takes precedence.

Today, I got to witness that yet again in my own little family and mentally sang with Annie, "It's a hard knock life...." Here's what occurs: all three kids have recently finished lunch and are out of high chairs, cleaned up, and entertaining themselves. Twin A is getting a bit fussy, so I read a book to him. Still fussy... I figured it was naptime-related (it was the usual time) and scooped him up to head upstairs. With that AMAZING skill I have acquired through much trial and error these past months, I realized in the nick of time that Twin A was going to lose his lunch and swiftly held him over the wood floor. Only a tiny bit landed on the carpet and yours truly. Well, once the spasms had passed, Twin A got put on the floor, out of the mess, and stripped of his soiled clothing. He's screaming and my toddler is shrieking/screaming (she always gets a little freaked out at forceful vomiting). Do I, as Mommy dearest, pick up either of these weeping little ones to comfort and console them? No. It's a hard knock life. Instead, I grabbed towels and dustpan as fast as I could and began to clean up the mess. Why? Because Twin B is rapidly crawling over to see what all the fuss is about. Tyranny of the urgent often reigns supreme in our house. In this case, a crawling 1 year old carrying vomit to the far corners of the house won the prize. I prevented that scenario while verbally trying to comfort the other two. Thankfully, the toddler was mollified, and soon I was able to tend to Twin A--the one most in need of comfort, eh?