The Twins Turn Four!

The twins turn 4 today! And what time these four years have been for us! It seems ages ago, and yet not too long ago when I delivered my Twin 1 (Asher) and Twin 2 (Shawna) at the hospital via C-section... (The Twins' Birth Story). With my sister-in-law pregnant, the twins are only starting to really understand what it means for them to have been in my tummy, before they were born. These past few months leading up to their birthday, they, Shawna especially, have been asking me repeatedly, questions about them being in my tummy. By now, they even know their respective positions in my tummy: Shawna on my right, and Asher on my left. Asher was head down and came out first, whereas Shawna was breech. They know that Isaac kor kor had more room in mummy's tummy as he was there alone, but that they were together in my tummy at the same time...

Looking back at these two blog posts - Twins Pregnancy Update  and Progress of the Twins - I must say, I really did almost forget what had happened then, including the pain and discomfort of carrying twins and all. But I do remember the joy and elation that was when we realised we were having twins. They have truly been a Godsend to us, all three of our kids are. We do recall how trying the first year was though, especially the time when we all fell sick and the twins were hospitalised. I think most of our friends could see how tiring it was for us in the first couple of years too... So much so, that nowadays, when we meet up with friends and family whom we haven't seen in awhile, they inevitably say this while looking at the kids "Wah... now easier already lah hor?" Hahaha... yes, indeed.

Asher & Shawna @ 4 years old!

Hubbs and I have always enjoyed observing the kids, studying their behaviour is a fascinating endeavour that we take great joy in: what they do and say, how they learn, their personalities etc. Being a first child shaped Isaac in certain ways that first/only child tend to behave. Asher & Shawna's behaviour on particular,  provides many opportunities to study the age old question of Nurture Vs Nature. Being twins, it can be said that their Nurture would be almost exactly the same, and that they only differ in Nature. Yet, Asher & Shawna are as different as can be, from when they were born...

You know what they say about boys being physically more advanced, while girls mature quicker linguistically? Totally the opposite for this pair of mine. Asher has always been a little more clumsy and physically slower, and not as agile. He is the kind to trip on nothing, and the one who inevitably falls or gets hurt somewhere somehow. Shawna, on the other hand, is physically faster in picking up crawling, walking, jumping, climbing, everything physical. She is very agile and nimble, and she is the kind who can instantly right herself if she finds herself off-balanced and prevent a bad fall - if at all! Asher is however, linguistically very talented in that his diction is very clear. He could talk earlier than Shawna did, and when he speaks, his diction is very clear and he could imitate what he hears very well, from an early age. Even now at 4, Shawna's diction is still not very clear at times and her pronunciation of certain letters is not correct. 

Asher, from a very young age, is able to play on his own very well. Of the three kids, he is the one who appreciates my horde of action figures the best, as he is able to play with them and form his own stories and animate the figures himself, narrating his own little dramas. Isaac only recently started to do this, and we suspect that he learned this from Asher - in fact, he can only play like that if he is with Asher. On his own, Isaac is not inclined to do that. Shawna too, isn't really one to play on her own, and hardly ever touches her dolls. She craves company. She wants me to read to her, or play a game with her.

We do not allow the kids to watch tv at home, but on rare occasions where both hubbs and I need to get some work done, we will let them watch some kids dvds. Other than that, the kids' tv time is at their grandparents' place. Asher, loves tv. He is the sort who could spend hours glued to the tv, if you allowed him to be. Shawna on the other hand, can watch tv, but is not as enamoured of it as her brothers are. Again, she would rather I play a board game with her, or read to her, rather than watch tv. Even if she watches tv, she wants one of us to watch with her. 

Asher & Shawna - Do you know who is older? :)

Shawna is a very independent girl, who wants to do everything by herself. She taught herself to stand at 10 months - she didn't want us to hold her at all! She taught herself to skate-scoot at 2 years old, and is now an expert on her balance bike. She prefers to feed herself, wear her own socks and shoes, button up her own uniform, carry her own bag... the list goes on. Asher waited quite awhile before deciding to learn how to walk, scoot and get on his balance bike. He prefers to be fed even though he is perfectly able to feed himself. Similarly, he would rather you wear his socks and shoes for him, and claims not to know how to button himself up. 

Asher loves chocolate, and ice cream, and doesn't really take sweets/jellies, nor snacks like potato chips or crackers. Shawna, enjoys a little bit of chocolate and ice cream, but is fine to do without. But she really enjoys chips and crackers and tidbits like that. She loves fried food of any kind, and chicken wings done in any way. She enjoys eating and is quite game to try most foods. She eats raw salmon sashimi, chicken feet, chicken/duck/pig skin, pig intestines etc. Asher doesn't eat all this, and is not very adventurous with food. He does love spaghetti though and can easily down a full adults serving of it, and more!

They even show their love in different ways.

Shawna is very nurturing and it is her nature to take care of her brothers. She would take water bottle for Asher, carry his bag for him, help him place his things where they should be. In childcare, she would quickly feed herself and then start to feed him because he wasn't done yet. Put his mattress cover on for him before nap time... The last two things she only stopped doing when her teachers told her that Asher needed to learn how to do those things himself. When I was taking a bath, but Asher was looking for me so that he could lie down on my lap to drink milk - Shawna offered to let him lie down on her lap to drink milk...

Asher is very sweet and caring. He is the one who will ask you where your hurts are, and attempt to kiss it away. He is fiercely loyal to Shawna and Isaac and would be very affected if either one of them were upset, hurt or scolded. He is by nature, a bit more laid back, and is happy to be waited upon, and very accepting of Shawna's and Isaac's help in this aspect.

The twins at birth. Can you guess which baby is who? :)

Despite being very different, Asher & Shawna both have a positive disposition and are quite cheerful and bring joy to all they meet. We pray and hope they would continue to be a blessing to everyone in their lives! :) Happy 4th Birthday, my little twin stars! May you two be blessed with peace, love, happiness, success and good health for all eternity! :)