HK Twins Enter Five

Re-visiting the Fours was to be expected but double the energy and double the fun. With each year comes new journeys and new challenges. The twins turned 5 in October and Lochlan and Margot were excited about every moment about their birthday. From another party and even being able to do more like riding bikes and be able to watch more grown up movies. They’re well underway in their third year preschool and they have blossomed socially and slowly building up their academic brains. Their relationship has grown with us as parents but most of all with their older sister. 

Growing up with siblings is always a challenge and joy wrapped into a ball. The twins relationship with their older sister has gone into different directions over the last year. With Lochlan, his brotherly love has chimed with his sisters, along with his great love for reading. His love of books was just curiosity at first but now, he loves grabbing a book and just sitting down and ready. His eagerness to learn has even shown in his speech therapy sessions. While we focus on the basics with letter and word identification. His growth in rooting out his lisp which has been making strides in the last year.

Strength is always a factor when it comes to Lochlan. In past two years of school, he’s struggled to control his strength and velocity when it comes to play at home, on the school playground and at the park. Over the past year his ability to control that strength has become more and more evident. Along with his focus on his strength is his learning to control his body more. This awareness has grown into his care for his friends and their wellness. He still has strong emotions but in time of crisis, concern or pain, he’s aware of others feelings and wellbeing. The amount of love pouring out of him amazing. 

With the his 5th year well underway, he’s still curious about learning but sports is now a huge door that has opened up. This Fall I finally got off my rear and got the two of them into soccer. Why did I wait so long? Honestly schedules are the challenge. My realization stems from inability to say no to volunteering. I am slowly working on getting myself away from the bind to give the kids more time. Back to soccer, the kids glowed on the field, the amount of excitement and interest they had for the game is amazing. Now, mind you were are just talking about soccer classes and not actual soccer practices and games. That bridge will have to be crossed in the next two years when they move on to rec. While Lochlan loved soccer the most, his sister Margot was not that far behind. The one thing she doesn't share the same love is basketball. I’ve watched many times at school, Lochlan playing basketball with all his buddies at school. He loves the sport and we even considered a basketball hoop for Christmas but opted for bikes.

One sport that Margot truly blossomed with this year was swimming. As I like to say, she definitely my kid. Last summer she started doing laps out of nowhere. Her freestyle is at a basic level but her thirst to learn new strokes is just crying out. Swimming aside she has also continued to nurture all of friendships she’s created over the last 3 years in preschool. She’s also starting to show interest in learning more and drawing more. She loves the art portion of her school day but maintaining that interest in the alphabet and her math has shown a decline.

When Paley was in her last year of  preschool I saw the same pattern that Margot is heading down. I had chopped it up to lack of push from the classroom but now, I think it’s just the kids themselves loosing interest. Like Paley, I’ll have to ramp up both of their flashcards and games to learn all the basics. Its crazy to think in just 8 months time, these two littles will be heading into Kinder classrooms. We are excited for this next year in their lives. Learning is a big stride in this coming year but also comes the social milestones. 

Margot has never had issue with making friends but she’s gotten all the regular doses of learning to maneuver friendships that come with girls early on. Sadly we have witnessed in other parents experiences that boys are very much behind in social hurdles, compared to girls. We are ready. We learned a lot in the last year as parents, especially achieving new levels of patience with the kids. As for lessons learned. The only one that seems to smack us in the face now and then, is be careful what you say do around your kids. We use play smack or pinch the booty in our house and now we are working to get Lochlan from smacking certain peoples behinds. Child rearing (no pun intended) is a lot of work, a rewarding challenge especially in those moments they shine.