When I realized I was having twins, many of my thoughts were about my older daughter. How would she handle all this? How would she handle the thought of TWO siblings? Watching her Mom deal with a twin pregnancy and have to slow way down? The arrival of TWO babies at once?
She was turning 7 years old at the time, and clearly she was old enough to understand more than a 2- or 3-year old, however, she had also been an only child for a long time. Being the bookwarm that I am, I immediately started searching for a book about becoming a big sister of twins. Basically, there was one -- ONE!! With the proliferation of twins lately, I was kind of shocked about this. (Note to self: Write children's books about twin siblings? :)
I'm Having Twins is written by Paris Morris, an actual big sister of twins, who was 3 when her siblings were born and "wrote" the book (and its sequels) with the help of her parents. The book is more expensive than most paperback children's books, but the book is a decent quality, with really bright, lively, color illustrations in it. Although it is about a much younger girl than my daughter, my daughter did really like it and it helped get her excited about her future siblings.
The book addresses everything about the arrival of a sibling or two -- fear about sharing rooms and toys, picking out names, Mom's baby shower. The best part for me, however, was preparing Big Girl for one side effect of twin pregnancy: bed rest. Luckily, I was not on a doctor-ordered bed rest, although I did just physically have to rest a lot at the end. We did exactly what Paris and her mother did in the book -- read, play puzzles, etc., while resting in bed or on the couch. I was happy that she could see from the book that this was "normal" while waiting for the twins to come.
And I like the fact that in the book, little Paris keeps referring to the babies as "my" twins. I wanted my daughter to feel that same way -- that these babies were not just Mommy's and Daddy's special gifts, but hers as well. I think I can say that two years later, we have accomplished this.
This book had four sequels, but I never purchased them. The next book,
My Twins are Coming Home, chronicles talks about dealing with the new babies staying in the hospital for a few weeks before coming home at different times -- a fact that many twin families often have to deal with more than singleton birth families. If we were in that situation, I was prepared to order that book! The other books are
My Twins' First Birthday, My Twins' First Halloween and
My Twins' First Christmas. The Halloween book is not available on Amazon.com.
Paris Morris, who also is the author of some "Paris" travel stories, also has
a very cute Website where you can order books and print out adorable coloring pages for your future big siblings of twins. The real Paris is a teenager now, but her books are still teaching many lessons to big brothers and big sisters.
These books would make a wonderful gift to a future sibling of twins at a baby shower. I am happy that we have this in our library, and it will likely be a wonderful keepsake and memory for Big Girl after she grows up.
You can find more reviews on books about twins on this blog at this link. If you have any favorite twin books, please leave a comment!
