We are five-no jive!

It is true. Adam and Royce, referred to for many years as the “babies,” are now five. It is a shock but maybe only for us, the parents. Adam and Royce both look and act a lot like big kids these days. Both lost two baby teeth as 4 year olds (which is very early in the continuum of teeth loss), prompting Tori to call them the Super Twins of Teeth. Both learned how to ride a bicycle with no training wheels as 4 year olds. Not so surprising except that they live in Hong Kong where there is only about 10 feet to practice bike riding, and that is a densely populated 10 feet. They recently finished preschool and are on to the next thing but not before we feted them medieval style.

We had a big medieval, knights and princesses, party, with crowns and shields and jousting with pool noodles. We rescued princesses, fought dragons, kissed frogs and ate much too much cake. The whole thing was fun, maybe too fun. Phil and I were exhausted and felt that things got a little chaotic. At one point, I saw Royce and another princess sitting on the floor eating cake, while knights literally jumped over them. We are thinking next year’s party will be two separate parties, if only to manage noise levels more effectively.

Separate but equal seems to be the trend lately. Royce has voiced a desire to have her own bedroom, after sharing with Tori for two years. Since we have the room, we are now trying to make a mermaid room for her out of our former toy room. And next year at kindergarten, Royce and Adam will be in separate classrooms per the school’s policy on multiples. Our school here is actually very nicely designed for twins. The kids will be in the same “cluster,” a group of three classrooms that come together for recess, field trips and a couple of other shared study units.

With all these changes just around the corner, the little kid moments seem more poignant to me these days. Like Adam doing his fast dance, feet, arms and tongue flying, around the apartment in his underwear. Royce, of course in her underwear, writing “I love Mom and Dad” all over her body with colored markers. They are big. They are five. But there is still a little baby in there or so I tell myself.