twins – Groningen Rain

30 November 2021

Happy Birthday Twins

I am so so SO thankful you’re turning four because we have NOT done much for your birthday – unlike your older brother’s birthday back in October – it’s just been a LOT.

First of all, there’s Thanksgiving – which will always be at some point at the end of November, just before your birthday.

And then we’ve got Sinterklaas – which will always be 05 December.

Now that we live back in the States, we’ll probably always celebrate Thanksgiving and hopefully always observe Sinterklaas and it means your birthdays are, well, inconvenient.

Not to say that YOU’RE inconvenient – I absolutely love getting up anytime between three and five when you’ve decided you’ve had enough sleep and I totally do not mind changing your diapers because it’s just easier for you to use a diaper than a toilet.

This year, cause of moving across the pond and Thanksgiving and Sinterklaas and receiving our stuff and a plethora of other brilliant and logical excuses, I have completely dropped the ball on your birthday.

Mostly.

I ordered quite a few presents and threw them into a closet somewhere around here – they just need to be wrapped. And we know that you each want your own mini birthday cake because you told us so when we saw them at the local grocery story. And I know balloons will need to be acquired because you went nuts over First Minion’s balloons for his birthday.

While, yes, today is technically your birthday, we’ll celebrate this Saturday.

Cause Sunday is Sinterklaas.

And, yeah, I really do hope this doesn’t cause irreparable damage to your little developing psychologies and you forgive us all the chaos of this year.

Including this.

28 September 2021

Dear Past Self

[Dutch Lock Down Day Five Hundred Fifty Seven]

Go the fuck to sleep.

Boy Twin is going to wake you up at five fifty tomorrow morning. And he won’t go back to sleep. And you won’t go back to sleep. And, as a matter of fact, he’ll wake up Girl Twin.

It’ll be a regular party in Leanderland.

You will hate yourself for those hours and hours of videos.

Reading the rest of Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Latchkey is totally worth it.

But the rest of the doom scrolling and video watching and mindless gaming is so not worth it.

Trust me.

All the best,
xoxo,
Present Self

9 June 2021

Moving Back to the States: English

[Dutch Lock Down Day Four Hundred Forty Seven]

In case you hadn’t heard, we’re moving back to the States.

And.

The twins speak ONLY Dutch.

The other night as I was tucking them in, it occurred to me that I should push the English thing a bit more – hilarity ensued.

But first the news:

Me: “Are you excited to move to America?”

Twins: “JAAAAA!! !” [yes, in Dutch]

Me: “In America you need to speak English, yeah?”

Twins: “JAAAA!! !”

9 April 2021

“Can It Be For One Minute Please?”

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty Six]

Every night around eight p.m. local time, we tell First Minion it’s time for bed and ever since I can remember since time immemorial he’s replied with a request for just one more minute.

Of course, he must’ve learned that at some point because I’m sure he wasn’t saying it with ‘please’ or nearly as many words when he was, say, two years old, but it’s been YEARS.

And when he asks for that one more minute, the condition of said minute is that he gets undressed for bed and then he gets about another five minutes of screen time.

Therefore, I’ve started telling him it’s bedtime at… ten BEFORE eight.

Which isn’t true.

And I feel absolutely NO guilt.

Because it will only work for so long before something shifts and nights are a new and wonderful puzzle to be solved.

But first the news:

The sun is staying up longer. And coming up earlier. And the twins are getting older. And so is First Minion. And it’s about time for everyone’s bedtimes to shift to later because they’re getting older, not because the nights are getting shorter. But it’s going to upset the delicate balance that currently exists only in my mind.

And?

The upstairs room is renovated. The construction is done. The bed is fixed. And made. The house is ready for Papa and I to move upstairs into our own floor, move First Minion into his own room, and the twins to have their own room.

It’s going to be absolute chaos.

I need one more minute.

One more day.

One more week before we throw the house into chaos, move everyone around, shift everyone’s bedtime and no one sleeps through the night.

I’m not ready.

Can I have one more week, please?

Maybe two?

5 April 2021

If You Can Dream It?

[Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty Two]

Girl Twin and I went for a walk – she rode her balance bike while I walked.

Sometimes she would shoot ahead, letting her legs and the wheels take her faster than my walking gait.

“You must run, Mama.”

And sometimes I did.

But first the news:

But then the wind gusts blew and the light snow fell and suddenly, she couldn’t go fast anymore.

She was cold.

“If you go faster, you’ll get home quicker. Out of the cold.”

But she didn’t listen – she went slower.

The more I tried to get her to move it move it, she slower she went.

Until she stopped.