If you’ve ever done this or are guilty of doing it I will state up front that I forgive you. While I realize not all MOMs (mothers of multiples) are like me, I belong to a few forums for twin mommies and I have to tell you that the majority of us. . .well, we are. Especially those of us who are watching twins and other children at the same time. As shocking as it may seem, we don’t love all the attention that comes with taking the twins out in public. In fact, when moms of multiples see each other out and about, often we simply give the slight nod and may simply acknowledge, “Oh I have twins, they’re so many months old.”
But there’s something about twins that simply attracts attention. People love to talk to twins, and twin moms. I can’t speak for others (although I’m sure every mom feels this way) but mine are especially cute walking around Manhattan waving at everyone and everything. My twins even cracked a smile out of the meter maid by waving emphatically and calling out “Hellooooooooo!” (If you knew the meter maid, you would know what a feat this is–I think frowning is a requirement of her uniform.)
However, you must know that we twin moms don’t like being stopped that much. We especially don’t like talking about ovulating, explaining the difference between fraternal and identical twins (which for me, inevitably leads to an argument over whether or not mine are or are not). We also don’t love it when people ask about the aggressive and the shy one–they are not nor must they be exact opposites.
The twins do not love having their cheeks pinched and in fact, I must warn you that if you see us and feel the urge–Emily in particular might bite. Ordinarily this would not be acceptable behavior, but I can hardly blame Emily when the ‘bited’ didn’t take the hint as she was quickly backing away. Ordinarily I would’ve felt embarrassed at such a display of poor people skills, but really all I could say was, “Yep–looks like you found the aggressive one!”
I leave you with one final thought: Do unto others’ twins as you would have others do unto your child!