My sister and sister in law had told me about the twin phenom of 'flip-flopping,' where twins regularly swap behaviors. For example, the one who was the aggressive one suddenly becomes the passive one while the once passive one becomes aggressive. There are endless combination of flip-flopping.
When Asher and Soren were the tiniest of tiny, we called Soren the '
chilled out entertainer' because he was extremely patient and mellow. Asher was known as '
Mr. Academy' for his drama skills. It didn't take long before these rolls were swapped and now we are back to their original monikers.
Currently I am experiencing a swapping of sleep traits. Historically Asher was the easy sleeper--he'd lay down in his crib to happily chew on his taggy and fall asleep effortlessly. Once asleep, he'd be out for a good 11 or 12 hours. Additionally, he could sleep through hours of Soren's cries.
Soren, on the other hand, needed a lot more
help to fall asleep. He liked to be held and usually needed a drink or two before finally settling into bed on his own. Typically Soren woke up once or twice a night and the difficulty of getting him to sleep again would range from cinchy to nearly impossible.
Not so much these days. Asher is not content to just fall asleep with his taggy. He wants to be held like a 'baby' (his word, I love it) and needs about five drinks of water before his final protest at being left to sleep on his own. When he wakes up at night, which happens every other night or so, he screams, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!' and will cry even harder if Jamie goes into the room to investigate the situation. I'll hold him for a bit, offer a drink, then encourage him to settle down next to his sleeping brother and get some rest. This process can take hours.
Soren now goes to bed easily and sleeps all night, even through Asher's attempts to win the Academy award for best baby dramatical performance.
I wonder what flip-flop will be next? Twins are such a trip--and I LOVE that trip.
