Any twins on this board? I am one but have questions!

[paigevz]

I've taught a lot of twins, and can't answer your question, but kind of wonder myself if there's an easy way...............

..........we have girls right now between my class and another. I had them both in Pre-K. They look exactly alike, but there is a weight difference. The difference isn't that slight, really, but slight enough that we often mistake them when in a crowd of children or when they are talking to us and we are just looking at their faces. We mentioned this to their mother, and she said she also confuses them at times, in person and in pictures. She said the dr. said he couldn't tell when they were born if they were identical or fraternal. I taught them together in Pre-kindergarten, and had little trouble then, as one's face was fuller, but by Kindergarten, they regularly switched classes at breaks and lunch, and were usually caught at some point due to their skills being at far different levels. They stopped that when they got in pretty big trouble for it. Now, the faces aren't different at all that I can tell, but one has a bigger belly. Oh, and one is a righty and one a lefty.

I often teach twins. I have had at least one set every single year I've taught. Last year another teacher and I each had a child of three sets. I have never had a pair that were classified as identical. They've either been obviously fraternal.........or only two girl sets (this one and another) that really do look alike but the parents say the dr. didn't know.

Just edited to say, these twins, too, have their own language, which they rarely engage in, but I have heard them do it. They have also been to speech when younger. But, in my experience, this is really common in the twins I've taught.........because they tend to emulate each others' mistakes, they often need speech therapy when very young, and sometimes their "twinspeak" evolves from that, too (at least that's what our speech pathologist has explained to us).

 

[anewvance]

My twin sister is also my best friend. We hang out a number of times a week, we live about a 5 minute drive from each other. We went to college together too. The year I moved to Denver with my new husband was the worst, couldn't stand being away from my family, most importantly my sister.

I've been told we used to have our own language too.... we used to play the best pranks when we were young!

My big sister (she's older by 2 minutes) used to show her love for me by sharing her poopy diaper with me! LoL. She had been known to visit the ER a number of times with diaper up her nose. That was after she shared with me and we decorated the wall with it.

I have a birth mark on my nose, have had it all my life but it's gotten lighter as the years go by. The joke is that my sister kicked me in the nose trying to get out of my mom!

As per our doctors advise, when we started pre school, we were put in 2 different classes. Apparently I did not handle this well... we caught a frog in our yard and brought it in for show and tell. When they wanted me to put the frog on the counter for the day I guess I refused and started begging for my sister (hey, i was 3!). I kept begging for my sister and saying no until they dragged me to the principals office. I ended up getting kinda kicked outta the school! But my grandparents weren't going to have any of it, they were peeved I was getting in SO much trouble for being a 3 year old saying no who was begging to see her sister. They grabbed me and pulled out my sister and we left there quick. Ended up at a preschool in the same class that we loved. We went to a private Catholic school that was tiny, only 12 in our class most years, so we were in the same class. I think the other kids were always a little threatened by us because we always had each other no matter what or who was in the class so we had friends but were in no way popular and left out of alot of things. Did this from K-8th grade.

Went to the same public high school and were involved in the same things, chorus and tennis. Went to the same collage in Orlando, came home to finish collage at the same time. Besides the year in Denver, we've been together ever since.

 

[paigevz]

Does anybody think it's odd that I PRAYED for twins when I was pregnant with DS?

I thought that though it was highly unlikely we'd ever have twins, having twins would be kind of cool. DH's grandfather is a twin (had a twin sister) as well as DH's grandfather's older brother/sister.

Somebody told me twin-ism comes from the mother's side of the family, but how likely is it that somebody with no twins in the family on the maternal side will have twins? Anybody know?

TOV

Lots of people do that. I prayed for a singleton last time. I was on Clomid, which increased our chances of twins, and I didn't know how we'd afford daycare for two! We would've figured it out though. I just got one BIG boy! 9 lbs 5 oz! He's now 3 1/2, 42 inches tall and 60 lbs. He's a gemini, and we joke (not in front of him) that he must've EATEN his twin!

Oh, and people with no twin history have twins. Maternal age is a factor, I know.

 

[marybet]

I did a term paper on twins, mostly nature vs nurture. Most of the data I used was from the Minnesota twin study of twins raised apart but I did find some old books that had pictures of twins and the criteria they used to decide if they were faternal or identical. It has been about 15 years so don't remember everything but do remember that some of the identical twins did not look that much alike. So it is possible to be identical twins and not really look identical. Now with DNA testing it is easy. I have twin sisters and we aren't really sure what they are. When they were young you really couldn't tell them apart, I always could. As they got older they look less alike but other people still confuse them. I wish they would have a test done, but they don't really seem to care.

There is a twin festival in Twinsburg, Ohio every year, I went a couple of times, and they did testing for free to determine identical or faternal. It was a very interesting festival, kept seeing double .

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Does anybody think it's odd that I PRAYED for twins when I was pregnant with DS?

LOL, I myself never in my wildest dreams either expected or wanted twins. But - I can tell you I've met tons of people who said they always wanted twins. It just never entered my mind, I wasn't a baby person. (p.s. now I could not imagine my life without them.)

Somebody told me twin-ism comes from the mother's side of the family, but how likely is it that somebody with no twins in the family on the maternal side will have twins? Anybody know?

I will take a stab at it, but I am by no means an expert.

My understanding is that the reason it runs on the maternal side is because those women have a tendency to ovulate two eggs at once on a more regular basis, which would lead to fraternal twins if both fertilize. Sometimes you hear about families with more than one set of twins. OTOH, supposedly with identical twins this is not the case, since only one egg is fertilized - it just happens to split in two. In my twin books I remember reading this is a "fluke of nature" and not something that runs in families, but I don't know if the thinking has changed, and over the years I've met families who have more than one set of identical twins, so maybe the experts aren't even sure.

I often teach twins. I have had at least one set every single year I've taught. Last year another teacher and I each had a child of three sets.

Thank you, Paige. Now this is what I don't understand. My children's teacher has been teaching for at least 20 years (I know because a friend had her when she was in school). Yet she says my twins are the first she's ever had together in her classroom. At conference she says she's been enjoying watching their unique, loving relationship. I mentioned separating them next year and to my surprise she said "Oh no, don't do that, they're wonderful together!" LOL. I guess we're lucky they get along well in school and are independent of one another. But I agree with what anewvance says, it is so nice that no matter what happens in school, they have eachother.

Golfgal, my twins are similar, blond and brunette, and the boy got the blond hair!

 

[winniedapooh]

My sister was a fraternal twin. They were born at 24 weeks and her twin, my brother, lived for 1 day. He was under a pound. My sister went down to 1 1/2 pounds and that was back in 1971. She is next to the shortest out of 8, 5' 4" tall. She hates clothing and has poor eyesight, they said this was due to the incubator lights. Oh yeah, she has funny taste buds, they never developed right and she eats stuff that none of us will touch and won't touch stuff we eat. Twins run in my Mother's family, both my aunt and her had a set as well as in her Mother's, my grandmother's, family. Out of 15 of us cousins in this generation, 1 of us got pregnant with twins but she lost them at 18 weeks. I too prayed for twins... My aunt's twin girls- 1 is 5' 4" and blonde with hazel eyes and the other is 5' *'' and brunette with huge brown eyes. When people find out they are twins they ask if they are identical...

 

[llp479]

I'm the mother of twin girls who will be 12 next week. For the first 7 years of their life I told people they were fraternal, because that's what I was told after they were born. The basis for this was there were two placentas, sacks, etc.

They were always the same size and looked so much alike that even DH and I would confuse them at times. So at 7 years of age I ordered a DNA kit and had them tested. They are identical, not fraternal.

If the egg splits prior to day 4, you will get two of everything, so using that as a determination of twin type isn't accurate, but prior to DNA testing it was the only indication they had. MD's didn't think an egg could split prior to day 4, until it happened in an IVF lab. Based on your age, I'm guessing that's why they told your mom you were fraternal. I still think the Olsen's are identical, not fraternal.

 

[paigevz]

Thank you, Paige. Now this is what I don't understand. My children's teacher has been teaching for at least 20 years (I know because a friend had her when she was in school). Yet she says my twins are the first she's ever had together in her classroom. At conference she says she's been enjoying watching their unique, loving relationship. I mentioned separating them next year and to my surprise she said "Oh no, don't do that, they're wonderful together!" LOL. I guess we're lucky they get along well in school and are independent of one another. But I agree with what anewvance says, it is so nice that no matter what happens in school, they have eachother.

That's because the general rule is that they ALWAYS separate siblings, multiples or not, if there are enough classes to separate them into. Because I was the only Pre-K teacher for many years, and parents didn't want one in the morning class and one in the afternoon, I was able to see that having twins in class together, really isn't a problem. I never had a pair that I thought NEEDED to be separated. Now, the bilingual Pre-K teacher had a set of girl/girl twins and their 9 months older sister in one class. She said she couldn't handle them all together, so they did switch one twin to me. She said she sent me "the worst one" and I had no trouble at all with her (the whole thing was wrong, actually, in that if the child was to be in a bilingual class, she should not have been switched to an ESL class like that). But, I never had a set of twins that had trouble. Some stuck together, some separated immediately upon arrival each day, never to be seen together until going home. Some had clear leaders and followers, but they always seemed to be able to acclimate if I asked them to sit at separate tables for a task, or go to separate centers. There was always a fierce loyalty, and one would always come to the aid of the other if they got into an altercation with another kid or in trouble with me, but I don't consider that trouble........I've had good friends do the same.

I was always told to separate them into different kindergartens. Occasionally I did, more often I didn't. It became rather difficult for the parents to deal with two different discipline plans, homework expectations, and so on. Even trying to get to two classes on parent nights.

Since I've been in second grade, I've only had "halves". The other twin always goes into another class. Some of these I taught before in Pre-K together, but they separate them now.

Just edited to add: we now use a modified Joplin plan and separate our children into skill levels for reading and spelling. Our little twin girls are now in the same reading/spelling groups. We had a lot of resistance from one teacher about that, but she didn't have a leg to stand on as that was the skill level for both. Now, we are implementing a new program for science/social studies and separating the kids into groups based on how well they work together. Those two ended up on the same list. This teacher (who doesn't teach either one of them!) threw an absolute fit and INSISTED they should not be in the same group. The other twin's homeroom teacher and I insisted that they work well together, and there wasn't another group either one fit into as well. They stayed in that group, and we implement Monday. I am just wondering if she'll start "reporting" problems with the two. I have no idea what her issue is with them being together.

 

[canwegosoon]

I thought they were also identifying a 3rd type of twin...I think it is Polar Twin...where the egg splits before it is fertlized(having 2 different sperm)..which would account for 1/2 of the same DNA...I thought I read that MaryKate and Ashley were this. Also if you are the same sex(g/g,B/B and even if there are 2 placentas there is still a 33% that you are still identical). My boys are Left/Right same height, same eye color, hair color and texture, and birth marks on oppsite sides of the body. Their dentist says they have matching weak sides on the oppisite side of the mouth. So I think my twins are mirror identical, but my DH thinks they are faternal. One day I will get the DNA test...but it has not driven me crazy yet.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This teacher (who doesn't teach either one of them!) threw an absolute fit and INSISTED they should not be in the same group. The other twin's homeroom teacher and I insisted that they work well together, and there wasn't another group either one fit into as well. They stayed in that group, and we implement Monday. I am just wondering if she'll start "reporting" problems with the two. I have no idea what her issue is with them being together.

I applaud you for being sensitive to the issues of siblings and parents in your classroom. I know exactly what you are talking about as far as some teachers insisting on separating. I have a good friend who is a teacher who thinks this way as well. I feel fortunate the teachers at our school are open minded about it.

I think it's important to look at the individual children and the needs of the parents. For instance, one of the reasons we chose to keep our kids together was because of the health issues I was having at the time they were in kindergarten and first grade. Not only did they provide emotional security for eachother during what was a very difficult time for our family, it was logistically easier to arrange rides and such. My kids' teachers were more than understanding and accomodating. I suspect that their current teacher didn't like the idea at first (not knowing my reasoning), however she seems to have come around which I give her credit for. I've told her that if there are any issues that come up where one would be better off with a particular teacher next year, or there are issues where one is not performing in school as well as the other, etc, to let us know. But as you've stated with the twins you know, they seem to be around the same level, and in areas they're not they seem to help and motivate each other to get up to speed.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Thanks for the info. If we decide to have another one (we don't know yet), I may have to go on fertility drugs to get pregnant, which I know increases the chance of having multiples.

I just always thought (esp after hearing about DH's grandfather and his twin sister as well as the older brother/sister who were twins) that having twins would be kind of cool.

However, if I had same sex twins I'd be kind of afraid to mix them up. It'd be like that ep of Full House where Jesse mixes up the booties on Alex and Nicky.

TOV

 

[Keli]

My twin sister and I are polar twins. We were identified as identical twins by our doctor all of our childhood (because of the single placenta) but we really don't look very much alike. Our younger sister looks much more like my twin sister than I do. It was something of a mystery for years, lol.

 

[Daisy Duck 5]

My twin sister and I are polar twins. We were identified as identical twins by our doctor all of our childhood (because of the single placenta) but we really don't look very much alike. Our younger sister looks much more like my twin sister than I do. It was something of a mystery for years, lol.

How did you find out you were polar twins?

 

[JuneChickie]

Hummm,,

I can tell you apart pretty good. While you do look like sisters , not sure about the identical thing. I did look thru your album of pics and there are several pics of the
both of you,, and in those you two definately look different to me too. But like
everyone else has said ,,,, I'd get the test since its always been on your minds ,, that way for the future ,, u'll know for sure.

And yes I'm one of those who had twin kids ... boy / girl and we kept them
in the same class untill they got out of fifth grade. But the school gave me
a hard time about that thru those years. Mostly it was the teachers who
thought they knew my children better than their father and I did. For our
twins,, it was one of the best decisions we made for them. They are now
24 and 33 very well adjusted adults with lives and families of their own. They also
went to the Univerisity of MN. every year for 2 weeks of fun they thought , but it
was for twins testing of everything from reading levels , to who had better cordination,,o their favorite foods , and some days they were separated for certain tests.
All of the twins there just thought is was a fun day camp . On any given day
there were at least 200 sets of twins. Both identical and fraternal too.
Having twins was fun , ,, I miss all of them alot ,,,, I had 2 sets ,,,,, both
boy / girl ....... and 2 single births ,, ,,

 

[KrnB]

For the first two weeks of their lives, I thought my twin boys were fraternal because twins run on both sides of my family (although I too have read that the mother's side is the one that counts) and because they had two separate sacks from what we could see in the ultrasounds. Then my doctor called to tell me that the placenta analysis determined that they are actually identical; the inner sacks were separate, but the outer one was shared. And I believe the placentas was fused together. If we didn't have such concrete results, I probably would have tried the DNA test, since I know it can be very useful to know if they are genetically identical.

Funny that with all that family history, I ended up with a random set of identical twins. I guess it was in my destiny to have twins no matter what ! As a kid, I always dreamt that I had a long lost twin (I'm an only child), but I never imagined having a set myself (hence the utter shock at finding out at 20 weeks that I was going to).

So far we can only see really subtle differences (they are 7 weeks old); the easiest is their hairline is different. Alex has a widow's peak with the hair coming straight down his head, and Zach's hair curves off to his right. And, at least for now, Zach has an outtie belly button, and Alex has an innie. I really hope it stays that way so that we always have a way to tell them apart. I have heard, though, that some parents of identicals will tatoo a little colored dot on each baby's feet to identify them too. Wierd thought, but I'm scared of getting the boys mixed up, so we're kind of thinking about it.

 

[llp479]

For the first two weeks of their lives, I thought my twin boys were fraternal because twins run on both sides of my family (although I too have read that the mother's side is the one that counts) and because they had two separate sacks from what we could see in the ultrasounds. Then my doctor called to tell me that the placenta analysis determined that they are actually identical; the inner sacks were separate, but the outer one was shared. And I believe the placentas was fused together. If we didn't have such concrete results, I probably would have tried the DNA test, since I know it can be very useful to know if they are genetically identical.

Funny that with all that family history, I ended up with a random set of identical twins. I guess it was in my destiny to have twins no matter what ! As a kid, I always dreamt that I had a long lost twin (I'm an only child), but I never imagined having a set myself (hence the utter shock at finding out at 20 weeks that I was going to).

So far we can only see really subtle differences (they are 7 weeks old); the easiest is their hairline is different. Alex has a widow's peak with the hair coming straight down his head, and Zach's hair curves off to his right. And, at least for now, Zach has an outtie belly button, and Alex has an innie. I really hope it stays that way so that we always have a way to tell them apart. I have heard, though, that some parents of identicals will tatoo a little colored dot on each baby's feet to identify them too. Wierd thought, but I'm scared of getting the boys mixed up, so we're kind of thinking about it.

Finger nail polish on one toe nail will do the job, if you're that worried. Their personalities will start developing soon, and you'll know which one is which. I mix my girls up more now that they're older, than I did when they were babies. I have neighbors who still can't tell them apart, and we've been here 10 years!

 

[SueM in MN]

I thought they were also identifying a 3rd type of twin...I think it is Polar Twin...where the egg splits before it is fertlized(having 2 different sperm)..which would account for 1/2 of the same DNA...I thought I read that MaryKate and Ashley were this. Also if you are the same sex(g/g,B/B and even if there are 2 placentas there is still a 33% that you are still identical).

I had read that someone was speculating that MaryKate and Ashley were polar twins because they are so identical looking to be fraternal twins. I also have read that their parents were told they were fraternal twins because there were 2 placentas. I think they are mirror image twins; one is left handed, the other is right handed and they have some other things about them that seem to be mirrored.
As for looking exactly alike of not, the Dionne Quintuplets (born in Canada in 1934) were identical. Even though they look very similar and would have been easy to get mixed up, they each had individual differences.

As adults, their differences in appearance were even greater
picture at age 20.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Interesting thoughts about the Dionne quintuplets, Sue. They really must have been quite a sensation back then. I didn't know they were thought to be identical.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Finger nail polish on one toe nail will do the job, if you're that worried. Their personalities will start developing soon, and you'll know which one is which. I mix my girls up more now that they're older, than I did when they were babies. I have neighbors who still can't tell them apart, and we've been here 10 years!

That is exactly how my aunt handled her twin girls. They are fraternal twins but when they were babies they looked identical. To be able to tell them apart she would put nail polish on their big toes. As they got a little older it was much easier to tell them apart. One has blonde hair, one has brown and they look nothing alike. Also their personalities differ greatly.

 

[SueM in MN]

Interesting thoughts about the Dionne quintuplets, Sue. They really must have been quite a sensation back then. I didn't know they were thought to be identical.

I remeber reading a lot about them when I was little. My mom had some books that belonged to her mother about them when they were born.
There was something in a book about them that even talked about how the egg split. I can remember exactly who was from what split, but the egg actually split in 3 first as I recall. 2 of the three split again, one of those splits created a set of mirror image babies/