After months of waiting and wondering, it has finally happened. Evan and James have discovered each other and become best friends. When the boys were little newborns I remember asking other parents of twins when their babies became aware of their counterparts. Answers ranged from four to seven months, and I heard heart-warming stories of babies holding hands, sleeping arm in arm, cooing and smiling into each other’s faces. I couldn’t wait to see Evan and James bonding in these ways. Even though I’ve tried not to push it, I’ve always hoped our boys would become the best of friends. But after months and months of waiting, until last week, there was no sign that either baby cared about his brother in the slightest. Of course there was the odd smile and giggle, and Evan did cry from time to time when James grabbed a toy from his hand, but I couldn’t see any evidence of a special bond. In fact I was pretty depressed one day when I met a mother of twin boys the same age as Evan and James in the doctor’s office and heard about how her boys slept together every night and how they adored being together above anything else. Our boys can barely sleep on the same floor! I started to wonder if I’d made a mistake in treating them so individually. When they were little babies I vowed to treat them as individuals as much as possible, so that they would be their own selves first and twins second. Had I made a mistake? Since I’m not a twin myself, maybe I was missing something?

 

One afternoon last week my worries were answered. Spontaneously, Evan began chasing James around the room. And, one week later, he literally hasn’t stopped. Now the boys spend most days chasing, hugging, and kissing each other, even sharing toys and copying activities. It’s so fun to see! If Evan takes some time to look out the dining room window, James is over there at his side within seconds. If James sits down to play with his prized cups (some stacking cups we picked up at Ikea for about $3 have become the favourite toy at our house), Evan will be over to share half the cups as soon as he can get there. It’s adorable to see them playing peek-a-book behind the curtains, laughing hysterically as if they were the only two people in the world. Of course they do gang up on me from time to time - I’ve had to block the path to various plants and electrical outlets and we’ve installed a third (yes, third!) gate on the main floor because it’s much harder to stop TWO babies from doing something dangerous than one, but I don’t really mind. I hope this new connection between the boys lasts a long time - forever, in fact.