One of the things that made Janne and I laugh (a lot) - because it happened so frequently just after they were born - was the number of people who would ask us, after we had told them we had one-of-each-boy-and-girl twins, whether they were identical (as opposed to fraternal) twins. Now, I can understand - if we had two boys or two girls - how someone might be prompted to ask this question, but I'm pretty sure the differences in a boy and a girl are distinct enough that, while going through what you're going to ask next of the new parent of twins, you'd think it wise to suppress the urge to ask the 'identical or fraternal' question. Nope.
As a matter of fact, we actually had a nurse in a doctor's office ask. Yes, after she was told that they were boy-and-girl twins. A nurse.
We don't go to that doctor anymore.Did she skip a few anatomy classes, I'm wondering?
In the right setting (and sometimes the wrong setting, out of frustration with the stupidity of the question, and my mischief level at that moment), when someone would blurt out, "Are they identical?" I'd often reply, "No. One of them has a penis." Some were taken aback, some thought me rude. Others were just embarrassed. Still others showed a blank stare, making me wonder if they might simply be taking a second to reflect on what it would be like to either have - or not have - one themselves, depending on the sex of the person who just asked the question.
Okay...In an effort to provide the benefit of the doubt (although I have a really hard time doing that for someone in the medical profession, so this applies to everyone except the aforesaid nurse...Sorry.) I think, in many cases, it's one of those, "How are you?" questions - where the person, struggling to keep the conversation going (or in some cases, just to seem interested), blurts out what they surmise to be the next logical thing.
At work, you see someone in the hallway, they say, "Hi", you say, "How are you?" Next time you see them in the hallway that day, you might again say a variable of that very same thing. By the time you see them for the third time that day in the same hallway, you're looking the other way because your brain simply can't cope with starting a conversation with "How are you?" that you're never going to finish. Jerry Seinfeld has already written about this, but maybe you haven't read him. So, where "how are you" is the knee-jerk follow-up to the "hi" salutation, "are they identical?" may simply be a person (who's not really paying attention)'s follow-up to the word 'twins'.
At a week from their 22-month mark, these fraternals of ours have LOTS of differences besides their naturally-provided anatomical ones.
For instance, here's how they each respond to the opportunity to take over possession of Daddy's hat.
Morgan knows she looks cute in it.
Liam just sees it as another object to throw over the baby gate.
Here's how they each responded to the new responsibility - introduced by "Mumma" this weekend - to using their own untensil, and feeding themselves.
Morgan went for it immediately...
Liam took a lot of coaxing...
...and in the end, finally moved away from the 'caveman approach'.One thing they do approach identically, however, is using Daddy as a tunnel.
That game went on for a while, actually, as I crawled across the floor to the kitchen. I think the added bonus of Daddy's stretched shirt acting as a bit of a blind added some fun (this particular shirt has been stretched to a ridiculous dimension by the two of them pulling it over their heads at the same time when I sit between and feed them breakfast in the morning, so they can simultaneously play peek-a-boo from beneath it) kept the tunnel game going a little longer.
Oh, and by the way - Happy Autumn. Sunny and 24c where we are.
My favourite season.
