Breaking News! Woman Breastfeeds 2 Year Old Twins!

I seriously feel like I needed some kind of banner or something today.  I had to run two errands directly relating to my breasts and breastfeeding today.  And both people I interacted with made incorrect assumptions about me and my children.

First, I've developed thrush again.  I recognized the symptoms and was lucky enough to get a refill on my prescription for nipple ointment.  So I went to the compounding pharmacy where it's made, both boys in tow.  I would normally try to do this errand without them, but today wasn't a normal day and I needed the ointment before the long weekend.

Jack was clinging to me like a little monkey, whiny and sad.  Gus was walking around the waiting room, touching everything.  He wasn't bothering anything, nor destroying it.  Just touching things.  The woman behind the counter exited my good graces when she told him to not touch the business cards.  The ones set up in fun little mortar-and-pestal holders on the coffee table.  Irresistibly interesting and fun.  I would have stopped him if he'd been throwing them around or something, but he was just sliding his fingers over them.  As I was attempting to pay for my prescription Gus decided to go exploring.  I was signing the receipt, chasing after Gus, holding Jack, and trying to answer the woman's questions.

"Are they twins?"  Yes.
"Are they fraternal?" Yes.
"How old are they?" Two.
"You must have your hands full!"  Yes.
"And with another little one at home?  My goodness."  Um... what?

By the time I fully comprehended this last question, we were thankfully on our way out the door.  The woman behind the counter  assumed I had thrush and needed the nipple ointment because I was nursing an infant.

Nope.  I nurse my two year old twins.  And I happen to get thrush every now and again.  I seriously debated going back to tell her this, but realized how silly that would be.  I had told the boys we were heading to the park, and going anywhere BUT the park would have been crazy at that point.

My second errand today was buying new nursing bras.  I buy relatively cheap ones at J C Pen.ney so they wear out quickly but are easily replaceable.  They were out of my size, so I ordered some to be shipped to the store.  I was sans children, but tired from the day and not really wanting to chat with the woman behind the counter.

"When is the baby due?"  Oh, they're already here.
"They?  Twins?  Boy and girl?  Identical or fraternal?"  Yes.  Yes.  Two boys.  Fraternal.
"How old are they?"  Two.
"Oh, how precious!  I remember those days!  Two months is such a precious time."  Um... what?

I said two, not two months.  Sigh.  I took the easy way out, didn't correct her, and went upstairs to see if there were any good kids' clearance items.  Size 24 months, of course.

I started to feel bad about not educating those two older women about the normalcy of natural duration nursing.  But then I realized I was doing pretty well by setting an example for other mothers I know, and my family.  Until I get that banner made, it will have to do.

Breaking News!  Woman Nurses Twin Toddlers!

Glasses

There will be a new pair of glasses in my house soon.  But they're not mine... they're Jack's.  He has an astigmatism in both eyes.  It's gotten progressively worse in the past year, so he's been fitted for glasses.

This makes me a little sad.  I'm not sad that he'll be the adorable kid in glasses, I'm upset to think Jack experiences the world in a less-than-optimum way.  The doctor explained that astigmatisms cause distortion.  Some of the light enters the eye and lands where it's supposed to, but some lands short.  So Jack could be seeing some things double, or he might not be seeing some things at all.  The doctor also explained that young children with astigmatisms or other vision needs are sometimes clingy, unsure in new situations, or scared a lot.  They also tend to fall down.

Well, shoot.  Jack is clingy and high needs.  I attributed this to his personality and parented accordingly.  I'm sure that most of it IS just the way he's wired.  But not seeing well would definitely exacerbate his feelings of insecurity.  Also, he falls down quite a bit.  He tends to land on his mouth.  The poor baby has had more bloody lips in his two years than some five year olds I know.  I just thought it was because he was impulsive and impish and tended to leap before he looked.  Right, mama.  But if he can't SEE where he's leaping or what he's leaping over, then it makes sense he'd be the twin that falls down more.

The eye doctor suggested glasses when Jack was 18 months old, but I didn't feel he would be ready or willing to wear them with any regularity.  So we've spent the last six months making my glasses a hot commodity.  Both boys love getting them and bringing them to me in the morning.  They often ask to put them on.  They giggle and touch the lenses saying "Mama eye in there!"  Jack and I have been talking about his new glasses.  I'll ask where they are and he'll touch the bridge of his nose questioningly.  Then we talk about how they're at the lab, but he can wear them soon, just like Mama!

I'm afraid the most difficult part of Jack having glasses will be Gus NOT having some; his eyes are fine.  We actually started going to the eye doctor when the boys were just under one year old because I was worried about Gus' eyes!  I noticed some crossing of his left eye in pictures.  I never caught it in real life, but it was enough to get us in to see the eye doctor.  I'm so glad... because it turns out one of my babies needs glasses.

Note: The boys' first eye exam was through InfantSee.  It's a phenomenal program that offers free eye exams to infants under 1.  Check them out, and get your baby's eyes checked!