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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Double "Trouble", Part II

It seems my brain has exited stage left (and missed the stairs at that). As such, I’ve only a short post in me today.

Having previously discussed the fact that the boys aren’t actually double trouble, I would like to focus on what they are doubly: EXPENSIVE! I suspect all parents of multiples experience the phenomena of Multiples Math, a.k.a. (in our case) Instant Doubling. This is especially common when seeking gifts. By way of example, here’s a conversation Amanda and I held when discussing the boys’ main second birthday present:

Amanda: So here are those bikes I was talking about.
Me: Oh man, those are awesome!
Amanda: Yeah, but they’re a bit spendy.
Me: Yeah…$160 is a lot given that we haven't seen them in person.

Note that each one was actually $80 (though we did end up finding them for a better price). The doubling was instant, something not even considered on any conscious level. We do this over just about everything (except food; we basically count them as one adult mouth in that respect). Toys are doubled. Plane tickets end up being multiplied by four. While money isn’t a huge issue for us—we pay our bills, save a little and want for nothing significant—it still seems like it just magically jumps out of our pockets and into the waiting coffers of anything near, always in pairs and without even so much as a cursory glance back to bid us adieu. Is it any wonder why I start hyperventilating when I think about 16 years from now when they head off to college? Breathe, Kevin, breathe. Don’t panic… not yet, at least.

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