The babies have made me a part of the neighborhood. Taking them out for a walk means smiles and thumbs up from strangers, meeting women young and old, waving at kids, petting dogs, conversations of all sorts.
For the two years I lived here before the twins’ arrival I had developed a hello relationship with the two couples downstairs and with one neighbor. Since the babies arrived I have met Carmen and Nilsin next door, their teenage daughter and her friend, their father, and on the other side Ted and Helen, Dorothy, and many of Helen’s lady friends from the neighborhood who gather in her front yard on pleasant evenings. I’ve met Wally down the block and his two bull terriers, Luna and Patchy. And I at least smile at the man on the corner with the long white ponytail, who never gave me the time of day before.
My mother in law, who managed to raise my husband in a rough patch of Yonkers, New York, often gives me advice about how to stay safe in a neighborhood. “You have to go out so people see you,” she says. “Then they know you belong there, and if something happens to you they look out for you.” With these babies, people see me.
Sunset Park is a beautiful mix of Chinese, Mexican, Puerto Rican, young urban professionals, Hasidic Jews and everything in between. As I walk down the street there are exclamations of “Twins?” “Oh, so cute, twins!” “A boy and a girl?” “God bless!” “God bless them!” “Congratulations.” A teen girl crossing the street with a group of friends: “OH MY GOD TWINS!!” An elderly lady carrying two huge bags of cans holds up two fingers and beams, “TWO?!” She then continues to speak to me in Chinese, the both of us smiling the while. A little girl runs up and strokes M’s face and runs off before I can say anything.
Yesterday my neighbor on the left was outside as I arrived home from a walk. “Oh the twins!” she said, “Let me come see how big they are.” “Can I help you up the stairs?” her husband offered, edging down his own stoop. After she’d admired them and was turning toward home she said smiling, “You live in the baby house.” (Our downstairs neighbors also have babies. We are also the only rental building on a block of owners.) “It’s great,” she said, “They bring joy to the block.”
Space Monkey Twins 
I LOVE going out with my kids! When the girls were a couple months old and I needed a break I could pack them up in the stroller and go out. Between the attention my two year old son would get from his cool outfits to the two baby girls in the stroller I was always stopped by people and I LOVED it! Now we moved and I don’t get that anymore and I definitely miss it.
Yeah, it’s pretty fun! I should enjoy it while it lasts. It also makes me feel better about living in Brooklyn, in spite of the difficulties. Thanks for commenting!
Yeah, with mine once they aren’t babies anymore no one will know they are twins so I am trying to eat it up while I can LOL hey being a twin mama is tough so we should enjoy the perks 🙂
Right you are. And it must be extra challenging for you with an older kid, too! I’m impressed.
Ha ha! you should see me out with him, twins in the double stroller and my two dogs tied to me out for our walk…but I love every minute of it.
Dogs too! That is awesome. What a picture. You go.
This is a beautiful posting. It really is true that we often connect the most to neighbors via our kids, particularly when they are adorable twins.
Kids do seem to be the social glue. I didn’t realize the extent of this before!
In the early days I sometimes found the attension a bit much especially on no sleep, but most of the time it was lovely. When I visited an elderly relative in her care home a resident stopped us on the way out to chat to our babies and hold their hands, she said they had made her day. I love it that my twins bring joy to so many people not just their family. Less people realise they are twins now they are slightly different heights and you can clearly see one is a girl and one is a boy. They will always be special to me though 🙂
The attention was definitely the most when they were babies. I think we’d probably get more attention now if we dressed them identically, but we’re not so in to that (and get mostly hand-me-down clothes not in pairs, anyway 🙂 ). Thanks for your comment!