Thirteen years ago, I stood watching an ultrasound, silently hoping we were looking at a girl baby. I was pleased to see my wish come true as the technician pointed out the important part of the grainy black and white image. This would be my second daughter, affectionately known here as “L”.

When the technician moved on to scan other areas, I happened to notice a dark void that was separate and distinct from the mass that was my child.

“What’s that?” I asked.

The technician hesitated a bit, but went back over that area.

“Hmmm… probably a non-developed fetus,” she said after a couple of passes.

“Like, she could have been a twin?”

“Yes, that’s pretty likely. It happens some times,” she said, flatly.

I couldn’t get that out of my mind. I might have had two more little girls instead of just one. Twins! How cool would that be? But only a few hours after getting a healthy dose of life on the outside of the womb, this little baby’s temperament ripened into one that made me quite happy that she was not a twin.

Fast forward to 2004, past divorce and remarriage and the construction of a new blended family. Herald the arrival of Michael.

Right away, my wife and I noticed something about him: he has like a miniature version of his sister L. Her twin had returned in the form of a red-haired boy.

Now, all kids exhibit some common bizarre behaviors. All four of ours have painted with toothpaste, crammed something down a heater vent, spilled countless glasses of milk/water/juice/soda, and stuck something up their noses.

But L and Michael share characteristics that go beyond typical kid stuff. Let me itemize.

• Blankets:
  Michael loves his blankies and carries a group of four of them all around the house, just as L did when she was his age. And of these, they each chose a favorite “alpha blanket” to reign supreme over the others; the blankie that must travel everywhere. Both of them love to build nests of blankets and pillows on the bed or the couch, or even the floor if necessary, and prefer to sleep without a top sheet on their bed.
• Aggression:
  Both of them need help keeping their anger in check. On her first day of kindergarten, L took out a whole line of boys because one of them thought it would be fun to push her. Michael was booted out of his first daycare for whopping on some kid who was biting him. Not that I would condone such behavior in any way… but at least I know they’re not going to be pushovers.
• Volume:
  They’re incredibly loud. I thought L was the loudest baby on record until Michael came along. L has mellowed in recent years, so I have hope that eventually Michael’s shrieks will be quieted. Both of them have to be told to STOP repeatedly; the first three times don’t get through. They’ll just keep right on doing whatever it was you told them to stop doing.
• Left Handed:
  L was the only lefty in our family until Michael came along. And while he hasn’t settled on a dominant hand yet, he tends to use his left for eating and writing.
• Favorite Character:
  Both of them glommed on to Elmo and Curious George as favorite characters in their toddler years, and both dropped them in favor of other things as life progressed.
• Favorite Song:
  They both latched onto a portion of the song “Skidamarink” as their own theme, to sing repeatedly. Michael took the line “I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon…” and turned it into “I love you in the morning, ifter afternoon.” Years before, L had taken the next line: “I love you in the evening, underneath the moon!” and made it into “I love you in the night… I love you in the night…”
• Maple Syrup:
  They each separately discovered the joy of licking the syrup off the plate after eating a stack of pancakes. L has gone so far as to pour herself a lake of syrup on one occasion, which resulted in her being completely banned from touching the syrup for two years.
• Random Washing:
  Both exhibit the squirrelly tendency to wash toys for random reasons. Many times, I’d find L in the bathroom washing off small plastic animals. And recently I’ve caught Michael washing marbles and rubber bands in the same sink.

I’m sure it would not surprise you to know that their birthdays are separated by just under two weeks.

Since he was six months old we have referred to Michael as “L’s Twin,” which had annoyed L to no end… until fairly recently. After Michael picked a toy off the floor with his foot and put it back on the shelf, as she herself has been known to do, she shook her head, smiling, and admitted “I guess he really is my twin.”

I’m glad she’s finally accepted the truth. It makes things so much easier.