Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Are they identical? - Really?

Today was one of those days when I had to run errands in between meals and naps and playtime of course. I ran to a department store to get a gift for my mother-in-law for Mother's day. If any of you have twins or even more than one toddler running around, you know this is not an easy task and you must prepare for the amount of energy it takes.
When we finally got everyone and my purse loaded onto the stroller, we are off to buy something (hopefully on sale!) Mind you I am pushing a double stroller which takes some maneuvering because it is very wide. It sometimes does not always fit in the door and is very hard to get through when you have to try to open the door and push the stroller through at the same time. Whew! Yes, I am just barely in the store and already exhausted.
Another thing you hope and pray for is that the kids are not grumpy or crying or just trying to squirm out of their seats. Thankfully all was well on that front.
I am trying to get through the aisles looking at the clothes, of course I am also knocking clothes off the racks from my big ole stroller. My kids also help by pulling clothes off too, which is so thoughtful of them. I finally find a top that I like for her and is on sale (yea!) when a woman comes up and asks if my kids are twins. I say yes as the kids are waving at her saying "hi". She then begins to tell me how her cousins friend has twins that are 10 and are identical like mine. I said that mine aren't identical that they are fraternal. She says "is identical when they look alike?" I tell her "yes". She says "I think yours are identical because they look just alike". Now I didn't want to be mean or rude, but I wanted to ask her if she has had her eyes checked lately because a) mine twins are boy and girl and b) they have never looked alike, not even as babies. I just politely said, "no, they are fraternal". She then calls a saleslady over and asks her if she thinks the kids are identical. The saleslady looks at the "identical" lady like she is off her rocker and says, "well, I don't think so, after all wouldn't she (me) know if they were identical or not"?
After the poll is taken in the store of whether my kids are identical or not, I said "I appreciate your interest in the kids, but we need to go check out now" She said "OK, but I think they are identical and you should dress them alike so you can see how much they look the same." I am smiling at her and thinking OK crazy person, I am about to get a restraining order, but I just said "well thanks a lot" and run like we were on fire, knocking clothes off left and right not caring what was in the way of our semi truck sized stroller.
When we finally checked out and got loaded in the car, I took a deep breath and started the car and remembered that I also needed to go to Target. Crap!