Twin Trouble????? I think yes....

Does every parent of twins have such difficulty telling them apart when they are babies? I know this isn't something a father of six month old babies should be admitting publicly, but it takes 30 seconds of detailed studying before I am able to correctly name a baby, and that is only if they are side by side. If I don't have the boys side by side, I might as well just flip a coin because I literally have no idea. Even with them side by side, I would only ever say that I am about 70% sure I am correct. Mrs. B acts much more confident when naming which Twin-kie is which, but you can also see a fraction of doubt in her eyes if you question her.



Maybe I am just too close to the situation, because within 15 seconds of meeting the boys for the first time, a friend was able to say which one was which and point out the differences, predictably all of Mrs. B's friends think they can obviously tell the differences, and yet they also still have about as much success as I do when it comes to naming the babies.

Does all of this mean that the Twin-kies are identical....the answer to that remains as clear as the actual identities of each of the babies. Apparently today's pediatricians don't care if twins are identical or fraternal. The only thing we know is that there has not been any indication, as of yet that they are fraternal (such as different blood types, different colored eyes, etc),but there has also been nothing to definitively identify them as identical.

Mrs. B and I worry about the hilarity that is going to ensue within our little group of guys. Lets take a cinematic look back at what kinds of trouble identical twins get themselves into: I would like to start with the Disney classic, "The Parent Trap" (not the Lindsey Lohan version.....Lord knows we don't want that kind of trouble) starring Haley Mills. Couple of cute girls find out they are identical twins play mean tricks on their step parent to get their real parents together.

Example two (a more contemporary example): The Scavo twins on Desperate Housewives....
....these two boys are constantly switching identities to allow the other twin to get away with some kind of mischief, since even their parents have a difficult time telling them apart...does that sound familiar?

Example three: Quite possibly my favorite example, but as a parent the scariest example. The Weasley Twins from Harry Potter;
Fred and George spend nearly every moment of their existence thinking up pranks and ways of causing all kinds of mischief. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Fred and George have always been my favorite characters in the book. Mainly because even though they get into trouble all of the time, deep down they are have a heart for others and a passion for life.

With my tendency for getting into trouble and having a love of a good prank, it is entirely possible our boys have a genetic disposition that will lead them down a path similar to that of the Weasley twins. The two things that all of these characters have in common is their tendency to cause trouble, but also, and more importantly, they all have big hearts. I will work hard as a parent to ensure that my boys develop the big caring heart, and I am pretty sure the trouble making will take care of itself.