Identical and yet so different.

When I found out the twins were identical, I was over the moon!

I always found it so adorable seeing identical twins dress alike and do everything together. Too cute! The amount of reading I did about identical twins ehn, I could write a whole thesis. So many twin mums kept talking about how different their babies were and I couldn’t wait to see how mine would turn out. So far, we have noticed several differences and I must say, they are quite interesting. Who would have thought that one sperm plus one egg, and then divided into two, can produce two totally different human beings? Isn’t God amazing?

In the womb, the one closest to the cervix is the leading twin because it’s believed he or she would come out first. Thankfully for me, they didn’t change their positions till I delivered so I could tell who was who and how they were right from my tummy. PJ was fiesty, always moving about when we had the scans. MJ was the calm one, always in his corner. PJ could kick so hard towards my down there ehn, it was so painful! Because of this, I knew what I was in for, one calm child, the other fiesty like his sister… or so i thought.

Just to help you understand better, PJ is one minute older than MJ.

Feeding

When they were babies, MJ took longer to eat, especially with the bottle and needed extra cuddling and coaxing before he would finish his food. No wonder PJ was bigger from birth, he was probably cheating MJ because he was slacking. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Now, they both eat well well! No one needs coaxing anymore. I don’t have to sing and do aeroplane and butterfly and open your mouth ah ah ah to get either of them to eat. Well… we are not out of the woods 100% because sometimes, they want to flex their muscles (pronounced muskels). The joy of a mother to see her children clear their bowls is the most fulfilling thing ever. I feel so accomplished when that happens. Now, when they refuse the food, then your whole world comes crushing! Their once favorite food, banku and okro stew, has become like neem tree water in their mouth. I don’t know what skills to do again. I changed banku to eba, and then to semo, then I now made the stew thicker, less thick, like soup, but stiiiiiilllll, these boys have just refused. Can someone explain why that happens? One day you like something, tomorrow you don’t. Like why! Plantain and beans has been deserted like it was stones. Good thing is, I repurposed beans to make waakye for them and we are on track. Anyway, at least they like their fufu and palmut or groundnut soup so, I no bore. We meuve!

Milestones

All things being equal, you would think the older one would be first in everything, well not really, but you get what I mean right? Or maybe we shouldn’t have thought that way because they are just a minute apart right? So, they are kind of like the same person, or? Anyway! MJ seemed to be first and quicker at everything. It made me start to wonder if I was having a Jacob and Essau type of twins. MJ rolled from his back to his tummy first before PJ did. When they were learning how to sit, PJ sat for longer periods than MJ did. MJ’s teeth came out first before PJ’s. MJ crawled first, stood first and could stand unassisted for longer periods than PJ. However, here is the shocking thing. Although it seems MJ was first at almost everything, when PJ caught up, he would do it better than MJ. Ironic isn’t it? It was weird. That is why my mum named MJ ‘Odeneho‘ and PJ ‘Onimdieoye.’ Simply put, MJ was hard and a risk taker and PJ would take his time and make calculated risks but wasn’t one to be ignored because he was aware of his every move and what he wanted to do. You get? Good.

They aren’t talking talking yet but they’re talking. We can make conversation and we will all understand each other. MJ seems to make more sounds and can give you a run down of everything that went on at home while you weren’t there but PJ makes more sense with his talking than MJ. MJ is very forceful in his talking, as if he is fighting with you, but PJ is more soft spoken. It’s just weird. Just know that when you hear “errr go”, it means you must wear your slippers, wear theirs and go outside.

Behaviour

Here I was thinking because PJ was fiesty in my womb, he would be the same when he came out. However, Mr. MJ rather became the fiesty one and PJ was calm. I was like, ah, what happened? MJ would move a lot, cry and fuss a lot and PJ would just be calm and quiet. There were some days when they would switch personalities. In the beginning it was hard to tell how they really were, however, now dierrr, everything is clear! They both have very distinctive and powerful and bold personalities. Their grandfather calls them ‘tiger and lion.’ They are both wild! They are both mischievous and naughty in their own way. I can’t say one is calmer than the other. While this one is climbing here, the other is pulling something down there. Before you catch one and stop him from almost killing himself, get to the other to also stop him from doing the same thing, the first one you left to attend to the second one would have moved on to another deadly mischievious thing. Such a rolllercoaster. It never ends!

We are still figuring them out after two years and everyday we discover something. Their new thing is to hit their sister and run around the whole house while chasing each other, like the game we used to play when we were kids: for the last. It is difficult to tell who the ring leader of the chaos they engage in is because, two peas in a pod, literally!