...Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

I've always liked hearing those stories about identical twins getting separated at birth and living totally different lives with different parents. And then they get reunited when they're like 40 years old and they find out that they have all these weird, quirky things in common. Like, say, they both put ketchup on their eggs, or they both always sleep on their stomachs, or they both get creeped out by the animation in the Toy Story movies. The general upshot of those stories is that it's all about genetics. When it comes to identical twins, genetics apparently kicks "environment's" butt. Shared DNA seems to trump those other pesky little details like, you know, their parents' emotional, intellectual, and financial support.

Now, I know that Leah and Riley aren't identical twins, but given that they have similar DNA and are being brought up by the same parents in the same parenting style, I was thinking that they would grow up to be at least somewhat similar. Or at least have at least one or two similar personality traits.

But here we are as the girls approach 9 months old and they really couldn't be more different:

• Riley: serene. Leah: spazz.
• Riley: stingy with smiles. Leah: always smiling unless she's crying.
• Riley: likes other babies. Leah: either ignores other babies or makes them cry.
• Riley: patient. Leah: totally incapable of waiting for anything.
• Riley: shy around adults. Leah: total adult-charmer.
• Riley: potato. Leah: po-tah-to.

And the list goes on and on. As far as I can tell, they don't share a single personality trait. Plus, they don't even look like sisters, at least to me. Basically, it's like Leah is from Mars and Riley is from, like, Krypton.

Kathy's explanation for this is that she had a little fling with the mailman about 18 months ago, and that one of the twins has a different daddy. I am pretty sure that she's joking.

She's joking about that, right?