This is what I have always imagined it would be like to have twins. Or be a twin. Laughs and secret languages and a best friend always.
This is possibly because I do not have twins. The thought of two small babies or children at exactly the same time is rather overwhelming when you consider it in detail.
Thanks Kerri
Do you have twins? Are you a twin? What are the best and worst parts of it?
Comments
41 Comments so far
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I have twin girls and even though raising them is possibly the most difficult thing I’ve done in my already intense life, I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes, it’s draining early on as they take turns sleeping (and you get none) and the fighting… oh gods, the fighting. My girls wrestle like boys. Heck, they wrestle like Hulk Hogan and the Rock. They’re 2.5 but will leap off couches onto the other. And keeping track of them especially when you’re out – try it when they go in opposite directions.
But when they look out for each other your heart melts. They miss each other when they’re separated. They’re fraternal but also have their own language. I’m looking forward to the day they can play quietly with each other without Daddy (it will come right?) and it’s still exhausting but at the end of the day I have two little angels albeit with devilish mischief in them).
When they were 18 months old or so one was crying and I couldn’t stop it no matter what I tried. The other one toddled off and came back with the first one’s teddy and said “don’t cry” and gave her a hug. She stopped (though I almost started). That is priceless.
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I think he wants his sock!
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I have a 3 yr old and 12 month old fraternal twin gilrs. In fact they are all girls!
I absolutely love it even though it is really hectic.
Their older sis gets a bit jealous, but as she is the oldest grandbaby on both sides and spoilt absolutely rotten, I was really happy that they were twins so they could compete!!
The twins are fighting over toys and books already and it’s hilarious. They don’t ‘speak’ to each other as yet, but when I take them out for mama bubba ‘date’ without the other one, they are always asking for ‘bubba bubba??’ which is cute.
The best thing in the work was when they were about 8 weeks old and they really noticed their twin for the first time and the smiles to each other started and they held hands in the cot to sleep.
Twins are special.
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Im an identical twin- apparently my sis and i had our own language when we were kids- had to go to speech therapy to sort that one out lol. Bonus is we were never alone – first day of school/uni etc we had each other. Great starting point for conversations as well- people are so curious about us but its so normal for us! I couldn’t imagine anything different
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I have boy/girl twins who are almost 4 years old. When they were babies it was tough but now they are older, it is beautiful. I look at friends with a preschooler and a baby and think how lucky I am to have two children who are both over the baby stage and great friends.
Best things: they always have a buddy to play with, double the cuddles and kisses, listening to them talk and play together is amazing- two children exactly the same age, growing up in the same family.
Difficult things: surviving two newborns at once, never being able to feed or cuddle one child without the other also wanting attention and trying to compete, rarely being able to have “a break” as both my husband and I need to be helping with the two of them- especially when they were babies.
As tough as it has been though, wouldn’t change it for the world. I have two beautiful, intelligent and amazing little people!
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lol I wonder what they were talking about…
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My husband is an identical twin.
His Mum has always told the story that the boys used to have their own language and chat away together as babies/toddlers. Since they have no video of it though, this clip is the closest she has had to explaining what they were like!
Much like the video, she says the boys would chatter away, then crack up laughing, chatter then laugh….. to this day, if they are both in fits of laughter about something, one will mumble something unintelligible (to everyone else), and the other will mumble something equally impossible to understand, and both kill themselves laughing again.
Not quite as cute at 32yrs old, but equally funny
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I have twins – loved this clip. Mine are now five and they did have “words” (not quite a language) when they were little. Even now they sometimes revisit their toddler days by taking turns to babble to each other in similar syllables, only now they do it as a joke.
I honestly never minded any of the questions or comments I got from people when they were babies, it’s all out of well-meaning curiosity and kindness. I never even minded “double trouble” – because it was!! (though you can also answer “Twice as nice” if you get sick of hearing it)
Best part: having siblings who are so close and supportive of each other, and relate so well because they are at the same stage.
Worst part: having two babies / toddlers who needed the same thing at the same time, especially when both would be upset at once.
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i have an identical twin sister.
i think the two the hardest things are always being compared and people not bothering to learn how to tell you apart.
some people would actually be shocked that we don’t answer to each other’s names. when you’d say “do you answer to your sister’s name?” they say “no, but i’m not a twin” like that somehow makes sense.
we have a younger sister and mum said to us once how hard school was for her because she was always compared to us and we didn’t know how hard that was. We couldn’t believe she was serious. we’ve been compared from day one and it’s still going and we’re 36 this year.
we do have a good relationship. if we ever argue it gets resolved quickly.
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Aww sorry, I think one of the annoying things about being an identical twin is the precedent other twins set for you. For example I am guilty of answering to my sister’s name. I just do it because more often it is easier to answer to her name, say “hi” or whatever than have to deal with all the guffaws and twin questions, “omg I never realised she was a twin” etc. I find it super annoying when people ask me if I can feel her pain and when I say no they go on to tell me that another twin said she did or they saw it on a documentary, those twins really annoy me, attention seekers!
My sister said the most annoying thing was when she was at uni and my friends would come to her and kiss her and hug her and say “Hi darling!” She said I have the most pretentious friends ever and it was annoying having to put up with them! I think it is quite funny because I guess I am more pretentious (well she is too but in a different way!) and she is the more “earthy” one, wearing home knit sweaters etc while I have been described as an “Eastern suburbs princess” so it is quite funny to think of my friends air kissing her and her coming home grumpy and claiming she had been accosted all day by my air kissing friends.
Personally I don’t really care if people haven’t bothered to tell us apart, I prefer it to people asking to see our different “markings,” they always forget which one is which anyway. It did annoy me that my mum would always call me my sister’s name and when we got annoyed her remedy was to call us both “girl!”
What I found annoying were the people who treated us as if we are interchangeable. Like guys asking one of us out and if they were rejected asking the other out, or being dumped and then asking the other twin out! Especially if they declare how unique and special you are only to move along to your twin!
I really hated being a twin when I was a kid, all the stupid twin questions, being constantly compared, having to share everything and because my mum played favourites. I actually felt I was closer to my brother who is one year older than I was to my twin, we were always fighting so much. We get along quite well now and I’m not so annoyed by the twin stuff anymore, perhaps because I’ve come to realise that we are quite similar.
Being a twin is pretty cool in that it is experiencing first hand a social experiment. You find out about how much is nature versus nurture, so it is like your own personal science experiment and you can change the variables yourself and play around with it.
The best thing about being identical is that if she ever achieves anything I can say “well… I could have done that!”
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i’m not a twin and i get called by all my sisters names and even “hey your brenden’s sister right??” In fact my older sister and i have names that are seemingly interchangeable and evn if people haven’t met her i will still get called by her name. I guess it’s the joys of not being an only child
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I completely agree M! I too have a twin sister & used to hate it when people would combine our names because they were too lazy to learn how to tell us apart… That said, I love having a twin sister
we share shoes, clothes, gossip & a life long bond 
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I love that one of them only has one sock. N’aww.
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I have twin brothers, they were close like this until they finished high school – always in the same class, same sports team etc etc – even invited as a team to other kids b’day parties (they are 35 yrs old, twins were a novelty back then!) It all fell apart though when one of them found a girlfriend (another identical twin!!) the other one was so destabilised. Despite both now being married they have never really recovered their relationship to the extent that they have not spoken since 2004. It is incredible when I remember how close they were when they were little. This video made me want to cry.
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My brother and sister are twins. They had twin language. I used to feel left out! (I’m 18 months older).
My mum is also a twin.
I would love to have twins one day. My mum said it was great as they always have a buddy and do stuff together.
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We can be twins. I also have sisters 18 months younger who are identical twins. This video really reminds me of them – one more dominant and insistent and the other more laid back! I don’t remember them when we were younger but it would be interesting to know if they were similar
I would hate to have twins though. There are such huge risks – eg mental or physical problems (particularly as they are often premmie), plus the problems they can develop from being compared constantly and the struggle to create a separate identity. My sisters seem to have turned out OK but I know it hasn’t always been easy
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Yeah I think identical twins would be hard. But a boy and a girl twins (like my bro and sis) – awesome! My boyfriend also has girl/boy twins in his family.
Yes lets me twins me and you.
Blug blug blug…. gowl gowl? Blug blurg blug… hehehe.
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that is so funny. What I really want to know is what happend to he little guy (on the right hand side of the video) to his sock?
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I have no idea why we have such a complex language. Clearly all we need is one syllable ‘da’ and it can ALL be explained! So expressive
I imagine that it would be moments like this that make it all worthwhile having twins. There are twins all over the place in our family, and I was always more than happy to disappoint everyone by having one single baby at a time. To all mothers of multiples, I take my hat off to you!
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my daughter is about this age and when i was watching it she ran up and started joining in the conversation, laughing in the right places – im sure she understood them. it was so very beautiful and funny.
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my daughter did too
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That is hilarious. My 4 year old twin boys heard the computer and ran over to watch it. They are convinced it is them. And it so easily could be.
Apparently twins start speaking later than singletons because they often communicate with each other using thier own special language and have less need to communicate with others. It was true in our house and I think I was bi-lingual for awhile – English and Twinglish.
In addition, people often speak to twins as a group and not as two individuals, with decreased eye contact etc. This also influences their speech.
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One of my nephews had to go to speech therapy for a while. His brother used to talk for both of them. Partly why my sis split them for big school.
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Two of my sisters are mothers to twins one has two girls( not identical) and one has a boy and a girl. Only one set has required speech help but i haven’t noticed them being spoken to as a collective i must look out for it x
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I have two boys 15 months apart. Some days it feels like twins….
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Twins are everywhere in my family. Cousins who are a bit older than me are identical twins, my brother and sister are twins, and my sister has twin boys!
I don’t really know if any of them had their own language when they were little (bro and sis are only 2 years younger than me. GO MUM), but we did have fun making up names for the boys when my sis was preggo. She used to sign off with her and her husband’s names, and add stuff like “and Randy and Sandy” or “Sherry and Terry”.
A little bit of my brain is still convinced there’s two in me, such is the proliferation in the fam.
Good things are that they are really close (bro and sis, and nephews), always got someone to play with, they stick up for each other.
Although going on her and my bro’s experience, my sis split her boys for big school, because she was always the one remembering things like notes and stuff, and one of hers would talk for the other one. Shopping for them was a bit fraught because we didn’t want them to be in matching clothes, but that became easier when they got into the Wiggles and one was obsessed with Anfny and the other with Muwy. So blue and red gear was (and still is) the go. Their footy teams are even based on this!
And I’d have a bit of cash if I got paid every time someone asked me “Oh what is it like having twins in the family?” and after they find out my brother and sister are twins “Are they identical?”…
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I’ve got twin boys who are nearly three. They had their first play date apart today and coped ok at the time but the one who’d gone out had a bit of a meltdown when he got home. I think the comfort zone was pushed a little too far. Felt weird for us at home without him I must say.
I love the automatic playmate, the huge differences in personality and how they look out for each other. First six months were harder than a singleton, but really only one and a half times as hard, not doubly. Now they are such good mates and I’m so glad we’ve got our kids over and done with (we’ve also got a 9month old daughter) and can look forward to them growing up.
Negatives, well I’m not looking forward to school fees or teaching them to drive!
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A: What are you doing around the fridge mate!?
B: I lost my socks, I can’t find it!
A: What! You lost your socks! Don’t tell mum and dad though, we’ll just pretend nothing happens!
B: (Chuckle)
A: But without my socks, mum’s gonna notice!
B: Just tap dance! Divert their attention.
A: (Laughs)
B: Are you laughing at my tap….. WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING AT MY TAP!
A: There is NO WAY I am doing the tap!
B: Fine Fine FIne… I’ll think of something else….
(Can you tell that I am not bored at all…..!?)
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I have seven-year-old twins and they were exactly like this, except while chatting and laughing they would also be upending a rubbish bin into the bath, smearing vaseline inside their shoes or squirting tomato sauce on their beds (all true)!
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I’m a twin. 16 years old now and me and my brother are… um, well, it’s interesting. When we are getting along at all, we make each other laugh until it physically hurts, do tag-team put-downs of the parents and sometimes think of the same sarcastic comment at the same time, but when we’re not getting along… man your battlestations. I want to kill him.
I think we had our own language when we were this little, and we had names too, I was Dig and he was Dog or something like that. And we did get up to no good. Dad once lovingly handmade us a cardboard cubby out of computer boxes (named the Apple House for obvious brand-related reasons) and he came out in the morning a few weeks later to discover that we’d torn it down completely. I maintain to this day that it was Adam’s idea, mainly because I still feel bad.
Twin brothers – can’t live ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Maybe that’s why I cried in Twelfth Night.
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I have twins.
They were like this. However, their mum will soon discover that the listener is actually the “leader of the pack”
My best: Milestones at the same time, clothes, heaps easy to buy clothes for (just pick up 2 of everything in their size), always having a playmate/confidant) My tiwns are now 8 years old they are always there for each other for their 1st of everything.
Worst: No handme downs – but I overcame that by having a 3rd when my twins were 13 months old. So he always looked clean (we once went to a wedding, where the baby threw up between the ceremony and the reception, but was in the same outfit for both as he had ‘spares”)
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I’m a twin and I posted this on my Facebook wall yesterday. People then went into discussions about my and my twin sister. I can’t wait to show this to my parents to ask them if we actually had our own conversations like this as kids!
I don’t mind being a twin, though it does come with its downsides. People are constantly comparing the two of you at every stage of education and work. It’s worked out pretty well that my sister and I have completely different interests. Mine are more based around media and humanities, and hers around maths and science.
One thing I never understand though, is when people ask me, ‘So what’s it like being a twin?’ That’s like me asking, ‘What’s it like not being a twin?’ We don’t know what it’s like to NOT be. Seems like a strange question to ask.
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i’m a twin too and being asked “what’s it like being a twin” is most certainly a strange question. i actually think it’s kind of stupid. you’ve never not been a twin so how do you compare?
when i get asked that now, i just don’t answer and give them a bit of a “huh?” look. the person will usually say “guess that’s a stupid question”
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I have twins! But, you know, I may have said that once or twice before. But it’s such a blessing. You can’t help but tell everyone.
People used to say – in front of them – oh, I’m glad it’s you and not me.
And Mum taught me to say, very slowly: Yes. Me, too.
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I have a 13m old and due in two weeks with number 3…I get the same comments…rather you than me/you’ll have your hands full… I’ve started replying back “well it’s better than them being empty!”
My hands are “full” just with my daughter, and more so than they ever were with her brother!
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WOW! That is fantastic, made my day
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I just LOVE the hand movements with the conversation, shows “they’ know what they are saying.
As a mother of twin 6 1/2 yr old boys, my little ones didnt develop thwew own language, but they were early talkers, so probably no need. I have a friend whose twins did develop their own language and this delayed their proper speech.
BEST BITS: Whilst a lot of work when they are young, I think it is best that they were always at the same stage, ie feeding, toilet training, now schooling, so is easier than seperate ages I would think (or so I tell myself).
BEST #2: Always a playmate/defender/pacifier. I had no anxiety about school, preschool, babysitting etc as I knew they alwasy had each other. (no considertion for their anxt, just mine…lol)
WORST: when they tag team the tantrums, but i guess this can happen with kids of different ages,
Worst#2: NO HAND ME DOWNS…everything is new and doesnt get full use most of the time, but friends and family have greatly benefited.
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This is just adorable, I can see the talker and the listener already!
My husband is a twin and HATES it. He loves having a brother but wishes he was just his sibling and not his twin.
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That’s interesting, MO5! Why does he hate being a twin? Is he always being compared to his brother/vice versa?
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I am sure that over the years growing up there were plenty of comparisons (there is a nasty pic of matching safari suits) But interestingly, my husband was raised by his grandmother and the other twin by mum and dad, so given that they actually didn’t spend each and every day together until 14,(lots of holidays and weekends visits though) it can’t soley be that.
If you ask him, he will just say that he hates the twin thing and wishes his twin was his brother only.
Funny thing is, when he meets other twins and they start chatting about it, a lot agree with him.
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wow it really is like they are having a conversation in mumbo jumbo “dada” language!!!