Harry's Blog

Being the parents of twin toddlers certainly has its ups and downs. Watching them play together, chatting in what little English they posses, is just adorable. If you don't have twins I think you really miss out on this part of your baby's life - there's something very special about the interaction of twinnies.

But it's damn hard too. Especially when your beloved daughter turns into a snatch monster. Kitty has been on the step twice this morning for snatching toys from Pat. Meanwhile Pat has been a whiney little so and so for a week, understandable when his cold was in full flow, less so now. Right now he seems to want to whine and cry at the least little thing and it is driving us a bit potty.

Lift him up, give him a good talking to about how awful his behaviour is, he will stop for an hour or so. Eventually the whiney hypersensitive child will return. One hopes this isn't how things are going to be from now on. If he's like this when he's four then he's going to end up spending a lot of time in his room.

Yet for all the hassle of having two children clearly within "the terrible twos" there are amazing compensations and thrilling happy times. One of these, bizarrely, is packing away the grocery shopping.

On the days where Jo does a bit Tesco or Waitrose shop we usually end up with five or six bags coming in from the car. Once they are in the kitchen the twins love to help us pack away all the groceries. I'll stand by the fridge, Jo by the cupboards and the twins will take items out of the bags and bring them to us. They really seem to enjoy this and they will try to say the names of the items when we tell them what they are.

It is funny just how much fun this is. And it's very funny watching our tiny little daughter carrying two litres of milk with a look of such determination on her face.

There are many wonderful things about being a parent, so many joys you can share as a family. But oddly, right now, the most fun we all have together is that time we pack away food shoping. Funny isn't it?