Twins playtime

Typically babies will play alongside each other, not together.

My boys seem to converse during dinner and appear to interact during play. :friends: Is this a "twin thing" outside of the regular child development research?

I think multiples are so interesting...maybe the rules don't always apply.

 

I've never had other children to compare it to, but mine definitely interacted from a very young age. I'd say as soon as they became aware of anything outside of themselves that sister was one of the first things. I think they became aware of their sister at the same time they became aware of mommy.

 

My SIL has b/g twins that will be a year old next week and they do not interact at all. Sometimes the boy will pull on the girl's hair, but they don't play. My girls play tug of war with toys, squeeze each other's faces, and shriek at each other and laugh. I think it just depends on the babies!

 

At 3 months my girls have just figured out the other exists. We try to have them face to face during play and to have them touch eat other. They will make eye contact and smile, its quite cute. I can't wait until they start interacting more.

 

My girls are almost 4 months old and just recently started noticing each other. A couple of weeks ago when I put them in their crib for bed both were wide awake and looked over at each other and smiled and babbled. That was pretty darn cool! They now smile and look at each other when we put them face to face. When we put them on the activity mat side by side they intermittently lock arms or put their hands in the other one's face/mouth but this seems pretty accidental. I look forward to more interaction as they get older!

 

I think there's a difference between babies interacting with each other and what is termed playing together.
In child development terms when they talk about children "playing together" they mean making up games together; ie taking part in the same role play game of house with one being the mum and one the dad, using small world toys and both contributing ideas about what is happening with the people/animals and making them have conversations, or working together in a sandpit to build a castle, things like that. There has to be give and take of ideas and a sharing of imagined worlds. It's possible that twins will reach this stage sooner than single children, because they alway have a playmate available, but it's not (from a child development point of veiw) what they're doing when they interact with each other at this age.

It is really sweet the when twins become aware of each other and enjoy talking and interacting during play. I think the interaction comes from just always having each other around. I can tell you that Eleanor and Ethan also chat to each other and interact. She is always fetching him things to play with or look at and he will follow her around a room, and they get just as excited to see each other as my twins ever did.

 

My two definitely interacted younger than my other kids did with other babies when they were little. I think it comes from just being so familiar, comfortable, and just a huge part of each others lives!

 

Mine have recently really started interacting. DS gets so excited when he sees his sister that just a smile from her can start his big belly laugh. They talk to each other and the only time we ever get her to laugh out loud is when she is with her brother. They also seem really interested in grabbing at each other. Time will tell if they will actually play with each other but they definitely seem to communicate!