Introduction to genetics…. « How Do You Do It?

Introduction to genetics….

March 10, 2008 by Rebecca

Twin mommy rant for the weekend

We are at BJ’s yesterday, stocking up on diapers. The kids are in the cart, happily watching everything that is going on (We all love BJ’s, especially because you can put two babies in the front of the cart). We go to check out, and the cashier from the aisle next to us comes over to see the kids.

“Oh, are they twins?”

“Yep.”

“Are they identical?” (Oh, so my LEAST favorite question. Ok, second least favorite, with the winner being—”Are they worth it?” Deep breath. Deep breath. Will be friendly and not irked.)

“Nope. They’re a boy and a girl.” (Abigail’s jacket, while quite girly, is pale blue, so maybe she hadn’t realized she was a girl. Although, Abigail is wearing a hair bow. Also, I try to give this response to the “Are they identical?” question, which I feel is more polite than my gut response, which would start with the phrase ”You idiot….” Yep, I’m not a nice person. Besides, usually people respond by saying, “Oh yeah, of course they’re not identical if they’re a boy and a girl” and I don’t have to say it. )

“Well, I KNOW that, but I wanted to know if they were identical.” (Said in a pissy voice). (Deep breath. Deep breath. Meanwhile my husband is smirking at me, since he knows how annoyed I get at this kind of thing….and how he’s going to hear me rant about it all the way home. But seriously, are people idiots? And you so do not get to be pissy about me saying no, they’re a boy and a girl! Did you not take biology in high school? Am I not being super polite to you, even though I just want to buy my diapers and massive block of cheese—kids are really into cheese lately—and get home before the kids go nuts because it’s lunch/nap time?)

Ok, so not only is the gender thing confusing for people, but Abigail has red hair and blue eyes and Danny has blondish/brown hair and brown eyes. They don’t even look related, much less identical. Seriously, look at them. How in the world do I ever tell them apart?

Posted in Fraternal, Mommy Issues, Other people | 13 Comments

13 Responses to “Introduction to genetics….”

on March 10, 2008 at 8:37 am1 Giovanna

Totally clueless people out there. I had a long discussion about this w/my aunt when I was pregnant. She was a bit ignorant about that…..which is sad b/c she has fraternal twins herself. Yet, she still insisted a boy/girl set of twins can be identical.
Ahhh, no!
But yeah, your kids totaly don’t look alike. That lady obviously needed glasses….or a brain…preferrably in working order.
And let me say…they are quite cute!
Gio
on March 10, 2008 at 8:37 am2 Goddess in Progress

Heehee. I love that she actually got SNARKY with you! As though YOU were the idiot… Sometimes people have strong family resemblances and all. But your kids could not look less alike! Not to mention the obvious boy/girl thing. I really sometimes think people don’t even know what “identical” means, except that it has something to do with “twins.”
on March 10, 2008 at 8:41 am3 Krissy

Your kids are so darn cute! Mine don’t look related either.
on March 10, 2008 at 9:15 am4 Ruthie

Actually, I learned from a cool show on Discovery Health, that it is VERY rare, but boy/girl twins can actually be identical. And I bet you are asking me, “How is this possible?”

Well…the egg can start out with a rare disorder that involves 3 chromosones (XXY, XYY). One of them is called Klinefelter’s syndrome, that involves XXY. Anyway, supposedly if the egg splits then one egg will be XX (girl) and the other will be XY (boy), and your result….perfectly normal IDENTICAL boy/girl twins. Isn’t that amazing???
on March 10, 2008 at 9:22 am5 theamericanwife

Gee I don’t know HOW in the WORLD you could ever know which was the boy and which was the girl. /Sarcasm.
on March 10, 2008 at 9:31 am6 Ruthie

I’m sorry the show was on National Geographic and called “Multiples in the Womb”.
on March 10, 2008 at 9:47 am7 Cynthia

I don’t know how you Mommies of b/g twins deal with it. Honestly, I give you so much credit.
on March 10, 2008 at 10:02 am8 traceys

so funny. we had a woman dart across the store to come see the boys this weekend. she said, “are they identical?” we kindly said “no, they are fraternal.” she insisted, “are you sure? because they look identical to me!” with a look of bewildered surprise, i turned to my husband and said, “oh my gosh! maybe they are identical and we’ve been wrong all this time! could it be?” she promptly left.

granted, our dudes look similar. they are definitely from the same gene pool. but come on people!
on March 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm9 HW

Once upon a time I was one of those people that asked the ridiculous question, “Are they identical?” One, I only had a vague idea of what it meant (and yes, I do have an education). Honestly, I think as a whole people are just trying to make conversation, the idea of twins is pretty cool and it’s not exactly like you see them everywhere. As much as you guys are probably going to argue with me, people who either aren’t around your kids, or for that matter around babies very much, have a hard time distinguishing different features. I know at my first nannying job for twins I had a devil of a time separating them…and they were not identical in any way. Their poor mom probably thought I was crazy. After spending time with the girls I learned how to tell them apart and today, ohmygosh, I can’t imagine anyone asking if they were identical, they look so different, BUT I remember how hard it was at first.
on March 10, 2008 at 5:28 pm10 lalagirl

I’ve answered before, “No, one has a penis.”

But only to the people who are rude. If they’re nice, then I’m nice too.
on March 10, 2008 at 6:09 pm11 betty

i say that too! i say well one has a penis and one has a vagina. so they’re not identical. my volume level varies based on how annoyed i am. it freaks people out
on March 12, 2008 at 9:14 pm12 SarahBrown

That’s my response as well - don’t care if I am annoyed or who the asker is, its my standard response. It generally stops the entire line of questioning b/c the asker is so shocked by what I just said - and that is the end result I am looking for!
on March 19, 2008 at 12:23 pm13 Jennifer

My husband actually told someone at Walmart (and in his defense it was the 5th time that trip we’d been asked) that no, the boys weren’t twins. He had managed to knock up both his wife and girlfriend at the same time. Since his girlfriend wasn’t a fit mother, his wife (me, of course standing there smiling) had opted to raise the boys together. After trying to decide whether to take him seriously or not (and my husband kept a straight face the whole time) after about a min. the person wandered off without saying anything.