Twins. Ah, yes, twins. They are an entertainment industry onto themselves. As a Friday treat, I thought I’d give you a peek into life in the Kingdom Queendom of Twin.

At baseball practice earlier this week, I found out that there are two other twin moms, one with twin boys on the team, the other with her older son on the team and her twin five-year old daughters playing on the sidelines. We immediately bonded and spent most of practice chatting about life with twins. As Jules clung to me and Mae struck up a friendship with one of the older twin girls, we talked about twin toddlerhood, elementary classroom placement (the together or separate question), and having twins plus other kids, or not. It was nice to talk to people who understood, without explaination, how incredibly cool and stressful it is to raise twins. So often, I feel like we’re on display. People are nice and they are curious - I understand and I’m never rude, but when someone stops me and wants to know what it’s like, a part of me wants to stand to the side next to them and say, “Yeah, how does she do it? What is it like?” And of course, “Damn, she has her hands full!” That last one always makes me laugh when I am out alone with the girls. I can’t resist telling the person that there are two more kids in my brood. (And if I had a dollar for every time they followed up with “Oh, and are they twins too?” I’d have enough to buy me some real fine earplugs.) Yeah. It was nice to not have to be the twin expert in the crowd for once.

Yesterday, I went to W**Mart with the girls to buy pull-ups, stuff for our summer trips, and a couple of birthday presents for Davey. Usually Jules and Mae are quite content to sit in their side-by-side stroller while I shop. This is key because while I am pushing their stroller with one hand, I am pulling a shopping cart with the other. Well, about 10 minutes inside the door, Jules decided that there would be no sitting for her. I offered snacks, drinks, her Care Bear book, a ride in the cart’s seat, a ride in the cart’s basket, a walk alongside the stroller. VETO. She had to be carried. So there I was, pulling the fullish and getting fuller cart and pushing the stroller with a toddler tucked into the crook of my arm. I eventually started parking my cart strategically and making side excursions down aisles with Jules in my arms and Mae in the stroller. Eventually (forty-five painful minutes later), Jules decided that the seat in the cart would suit her fine. Of course, the price of her compliance was the almost empty bag of Teddy Grahams that Mae was happily snacking upon. (Sorry, sweetie!) We managed to get everything we needed, and then some. But my arm is still sore this morning.