Good advice was given to me before we even brought The Littles home. Mothers of identical twins advised me to have some sort of code in how I dress the girls. This has been beneficial for two reasons. 1) It is helpful to have a consistent code to look back on in pictures because (gasp) I can’t always tell who is who in older pictures and 2) Other people will have an easier time telling them apart.
We followed this advice and received many coordinating outfits, usually one pink, one green/blue. Since Little J’s name sounds like a color of green, it was obvious to me that she wear the green/blue outfits. However, as time has gone on, this has translated to Little A always in the more feminine of the outfits, hair accessories, etc. For example, if we get coordinating outfits, one purple, one brown, Little A gets the purple outfit because it is more girlie.
This shouldn’t be a problem, but I have noticed that Little J is actually my girlie one! She wants to wear necklaces, carry purses, spin in puffy dresses and always checks in with daddy to hear she is beautiful. She has started to show preference towards pink and frills, but today was the most obvious manifest of her preference.
Today’s outfits were pink (with Disney princesses) and blue (with Winnie the Pooh). The Littles have never watched anything princess or Pooh related.
As I go to get them dressed, Little J kept asking for the “pretties”, which translates into her word for princess. She was so sweet about it, not crying, just insisting that she wanted the pink one. I appeased her by talking about how cute Winnie the Pooh was and she wore the blue outfit, a bit sadly, and we went on with our day.
This didn’t stop her from cozying up to the princesses at every opportunity.
Our day moved on and when it was time to swim, I took off their clothes and the first thing Little J did was grab Little A’s pink tank top with the princesses and just enjoy it, talk to the princesses, touch them, etc.
(Doesn’t Little J look so tall in this picture?)
After swimming, when it was time to dress them again, I put Little J in the pink because she wanted it so bad and Little A could care less (plus she likes Pooh).
When Jon got home from work, it took him about a minute of interaction to realize that he had The Littles confused because the system is so consistent.
So, what do I do? My system has worked great for me and really helps others identify the girls. Because Little J’s name sounds like green, it is easy to remember. Should I completely reverse my system?
Any other solutions?
8 comments:
Just the fun of girls growing up! : ) My girls have done much of the same. They've gotten bigger, starting having their own preferences and likes. There are many a day we're getting dressed and they are in switched outfits because it's what they wanted as we got dressed that day. I"ve just summed it up to "it was a fabulous system while it worked. : ) " It still will work great many times . . ..and when they are switched from their usual clothes, if we aren't thinking or looking, we'll often call them the other at quick glance because we're so used to one girl always wearing one outfit.
So I say pick the times you really care (like church maybe) when there are a lot of people more dependent on the "system." Then let more flexibility during the week with the girls' preferences. But the girls' opinions about clothes will only increase : )
Oh - I was going to say that sometimes when the girls are different from their usual outfits (or matching) we'll be intent in making sure their hair is different as a way to tell people how to tell them apart at quick glance somewhere.
What about using just a different hair barett, band, bow, hat, etc.? Then they could wear the same outift, but Little J could always have a green one and Little A could have pink/purple one or whatever color they choose (as long as it's not the same one!) =)
I'm not a mama of twins, but I would have to vote that it's time to change it up. Maybe like Kelly said you can do something with their hair to help identify them. I have just learned that the more you can roll with them as they grow and change, the happier everyone will be.
This is a HARD one!!
Hmmm...I have to put myself in Little J's shoes. Being a lover of pink and frills myself, it would be hard if my sister got to wear "my style" while I was stuck in the more "masculine" colors. Considering Little A doesn't seem to care, I would switch your policy. Be sure to mark in their baby books when you switched for picture's sake :)
Keep us updated on what you decide! SUCH a cute post!
I enjoyed reading this post. To this day I do not wear blue shirts and Ben does not wear red shirts because it confuse everyone in the family. Mom used this color code until we were in school.
I laughed at the suggestions about using a difference in hair to identify them, I have for the past several years grown side burn so folks at church have a chance at identifying us. It only takes a subtle difference for those that know the twins well. For those that don't know the twins as individuals you cannot do anything to help.
As for point 1 about having a difference so you can identify them in pictures. Its simple, just ask the Littles (you may have to wait until they get a little older). If they are like Ben and I, we have always been able to identify who is who in a picture when nobody else (including Mom) can.
This post and these comments are fun. I really don't have a solution except I think I'd let little J wear pink if she'd like to and the rest of us will have to figure it out. :)
Very cute and I am so with you. I was just looking through old photos yesterday, and Maya & Sofia ask, "which one am I, Mom". One thing we had for quit awhile was different colored earrings, that way even "bathtub" photos we could tell apart. LOL That was my favorite way to keep them apart in photos but Maya wanted to quit wearing them.....so I let her.
Post a Comment