And So It Begins

Just before Christmas, this happened:

And I took a picture of it, because I couldn't believe that they were actually playing together. Playing together! I planned to post this picture here with the caption 'It's a Christmas miracle!' because I was pretty sure it was never going to happen again. (I did a similar post in July and that did turn out to be a totally isolated incident).

But before I could post it, this happened:  

She voluntarily climbed up to join him in tooting out tunes on the auroscopes from their new toy medical kits - which they think are kazoos. Again, I ran for the camera thinking it was a one-off. 

But then - then - their medical kits also came with stethoscopes, and shortly after this picture was taken they started running up to each other and shouting 'chestandback! Chestandback!'  as a signal for the other twin to lift their shirt and submit to an examination.  And then they kept on doing it. Taking turns. And now, it suddenly seems that they get it. They have finally worked out that the other twin is a playmate, not just a competitor. We went to the park, and this is what happened: 

She's pushing him in one of the doll strollers....

Then she is kissing him. Yes, it's true, she's actually KISSING HIM... (okay, I prompted, but she did it)

Then he said 'Blue turn! Blue turn!' and they happily swapped places and he pushed her for a while. 

At first, I wondered if I was imagining it. Am I just perceiving things to be better due to the effects of the brain medicine? J says no, no, no - things are definitely changing, and his neurochemistry is unaltered so I guess his assessment is reliable. There is still a bit of squabbling, but that's not the only way they relate any more. This morning when Pink started yelling, I knew that she had probably fallen over before I even turned around. A few weeks ago I would have just assumed that Blue had bitten her.

It really seems like a corner has been turned. They sing together. They play together with their new teaset (Pink calls the teapot the pee-potty, cracking me up every single time), they cooperate to build towers.  It. Is. Absolutely. Incredible. 

Yeah, it is THIS good. 

This morning,  I had fed them their breakfast, then I decided to see if I could do the cleanup right away, without waiting for them to be asleep or otherwise restrained. It's never been a good idea, because if I left them alone they would attack each other, but I thought - no, I think they can do it! Today is a great day to try! and I decided to empty the dishwasher while they played with toys in the next room.  As I scraped and stacked and put away, I spent quite a long time just consciously dwelling on how happy this was making me. Mark the little things, right? It went a bit like this: 

This is probably the first time ever that they have really played together for this long... it's so great.... my life is so wonderful.... I can't believe how awesome my kids are...... it's fantastic that they can finally amuse themselves....I would never, ever have believed that they could turn this corner but they have.... hey, now I've finished the dishwasher and I can start on the sandwiches..... man, life is so good today.... I can't believe they aren't pulling my knees and whining.....oh, here they both come, peeping around the door to check in and say 'hello mummy' .... hello my honeys, mummy loves you!.... this is awesome, my children are so well behaved AND so well attached.... I wonder what they're doing over there, probably posting duplo people into the toybox.... it's so cute that they do that.... I love that their new affection for each other has opened so many new doors for them into creative and cooperative play.... maybe I should open a home daycare, I am clearly such an awesome mother....Oh, I can't resist, I have to go and see what my smart adorable children are up to: 

And then I found out the downside of the sudden appearance of Team Twin in our house: 

They were drawing on the walls, of course.