Tuesdays in Twinland: What Do Twins Think of Themselves?

My sister has an adorable little boy who is just six months older than the twins. M, Thing 1, and Thing 2 have so much fun together and are such cute little friends.

My sister happens to be adopted. I only mention this because she is micronesian, and therefore very brown. Photographers really hate it when we have family pictures taken. I am extremely fair skinned, as are my two children. My sister is very brown skinned, as are her two children. It is nearly impossible to find a lighting setting that compliments us both. I’m either too blown out or she’s too dark…you get the picture.

Anyway, last week my sister and her two kids (M and new baby) were down visiting. We decided to take all the littles to the park for some good fun, and my mom and grandmother came along for the ride.

They (the littles–M, Thing 1, and Thing 2) adored the park. They had a blast. But that’s not the point of the story. As the littles were playing, two bigger kids came over and started to play on the same equipment as them. They looked to be about 7, and they looked an awful lot alike. Identical twin alike.

“Hey, are you boys twins?” my mom asked them.

One of the kids nodded. “Yup,” he said.

“How cool!” my mom said. She gestured to the three littles playing at the feet of the big kids. “They’re twins too.”

The boy’s eyes grew wide, and he said, “All three of them are twins?”

Insert awkward pause here. “Um…no,” my mom said eventually. “Just the white ones.”

“Oh.” The kid shrugged and walked away like either response–yes or no–would’ve been acceptable to him.

I’d never really wondered, until that moment, at what point a twin understands just what a twin is. I guess not at seven. At seven, “twin” can apparently refer to two white toddlers and a brown one.

TWIN MOM TIP: Unless your twins are a lot calmer than mine, don’t attempt a visit to the park unless you have at least one adult for each child. Just trust me on this one.