On Second Thought...
One of our twin books says that you should avoid dressing your twins in identical outfits. The idea is that you should dress your twins differently so that each child retains his/her own identity and sees him/herself as more than just "one of the twins". You're even supposed to avoid referring your children as "the twins" -- it's apparently degrading to refer to them as anything other than their actual names.
Kathy and I have generally been resisting dressing the twins in matching outfits, but not really because of the whole "keeping their own identities" stuff. (We're not all that concerned about Leah and Riley having their own identities. I mean, have you seen them? They don't even look like they have the same ethnicity, for God's sake. I think we can safely say that they'll be able maintain their own identities.)
I guess the reason we resist the identical outfits is because we're worried that it might be a little too in-your-face, just screaming out "Hey! Look at these babies -- they're TWINS! Aren't they a-MAZ-ing!" Not that we want to hide the fact that we have twins, but we also don't want to hang a neon sign on their stroller that says "See Twins Here".
However, we've come to the realization that there are times that you have to throw all those thoughts out the window. And one of those times is when the identical outfits are just too freaking cute to resist:
Besides, it's Christmas, dammit.
And here's one more picture of Leah and Riley, which I include not because they're wearing matching outfits, but because - hey, I like the picture.
Happy new year, everybody.
posted by Dave @ 6:17 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Happy New Year, Umezaki Family! Congratulations on thus far successful and thoughtful journey through parenthood. I enjoy your blog a lot! Leah and Riley are so cute! And i think the photos show happy parents, you guys are not looking exhausted!
Though I think it is inevitable for all parents to refer to their kids as a collective. It reminds me of a recent work dilemma. I can't remember what the work example was, but all parents refer to their kids as kids. I mean, my parents had four kids - so even though none of us was a twin+, none of us had an individual identity. And only the biggest (not necessarily oldest) kid got new clothes, while the rest of us had hand me downs, so it was inevitable that we were treated as a collective noun. Oh - and my mom cut our hair, so we, no doubt, looked like a crew of matching non-twin+ children.
So - I say - match on! Give the people what they want! Your public LOVES matching outfits! Identities are best identified by personalities, and not exteriors. And it might make identification of Leah and Riley harder for others, that's ok. That's part of the charm.
I'm at the point where I can tell that they are different people by looks, I don't know that I know who's Riley and who's Leah. Any attempts to place Leah on the left, and Riley on the right is still appreciated.
Happy New Year, Umezaki Family! Looking forward to more developments!
For some reason, I only buy matching outerwear for them. I guess I feel it is somehow different then dressing them in identical outfits...
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