The Calblog husband had an early meeting this morning so I was charged with the task of getting the Calblog twins to school. While I am generally pretty good at this parenting thing, morning is a time when I like to think and write. First things first though and there were these girls.
They say that twins develop their own language. My twins just dispose of it altogether. About 20 minutes before it was time to leave, a noise arose from the kitchen. It can only be described as keening and caterwauling. It took several requests, delivered in a variety of tones ranging from pleading to ordering to exasperation, to have the noise translated into words that the uninitiated could understand.
As it turns out, my daughters, who are not allowed to take soda to school (by fiat of the school), were wailing loudly and wordlessly over who could take the last can of orange soda to school. Apparently, school rules are taken with a grain of salt. I tried reason. They reverted to age 3 when "share" meant "she gives me hers." Then it was back to the keening and caterwauling.
After futile attempts at reason, I did what any self-respecting mother who only wanted peace and quiet would do. I found another can of soda. This was easy because, despite the pressing need to have cans of soda, my children seem to have little need for drinking soda. I have not figured that one out. I do know that I rarely, if ever, find an empty can of soda, and most that I dispose of are nearly full. I don't care if we throw out a dozen full cans of soda a week. It doesn't cost less if they drink it and weaken their bones.
Finding a second can of soda was as simple as recalling what recent activity required the packing of food and the obligatory cans of orange soda into a backpack. A perusal of said backpack did indeed find an unopened (yet essential to have packed and carried) can of orange soda.
I then issued punishments. One child was banned from the Internet for two days. The other child was not punished (she was the lesser offender) but I am certain that by afternoon, the unpunished child will feel sorry for her twin and will be pleading with me to please let her sister off. Two punishments for the price of one. It works so well that I'm sure it's banned by the Mothers' Version of the Geneva Convention.
Good thing the Calblog husband doesn't have too many early morning meetings.
Posted by Justene Adamec at February 25, 2003 09:04 AM