Random Stories: How do you tell them apart?

We get this question a lot, so I thought I’d address it here. It was actually a major concern for me before they were born.

At first it was difficult. And even now, I'll sometimes call one by another's name. I know who the kid is, but for some reason, I say something different.

People have mentioned that the boys look a lot alike in the pictures we post. In the pics they do all look alike. Especially if they have their bodies covered and/or anything on their heads and/or it’s at a distance.

For probably the first month, we kept their hospital bracelets on them. It was especially a problem with Alex & Logan because they are most likely twins. Nick has always been easy to distinguish because he has a lot of hair and it’s darker than Alex & Logan.

I think we also tracked them by clothing as well in the early days. When we changed them in to a new outfit, we just kind of subconsciously processed that Alex was in the blue, Nick was in the white, etc. etc.

The first conscious distinction we were able to make between them was their cries. About a month or two after they came home, Tiffany & I could tell who was crying from across the house easier than we could identify them by sight. For example, Nick has kind of a guttural cry. Alex's is preceded by a kind of cough like thing. And Logan's tends to be quieter but protracted.

Now, they simply look different enough (again pics kind of distort this if they have a lot of clothing on). Nick still has his dark hair & sly smile. Logan is the lightest in weight and smiles the most. And Alex is our pudgy baby (we like to say "healthy”). Additionally, their personalities and voices are different. Each of them has their own little mannerisms.

It’s very strange, but I think a lot of the identification happens on an unconscious level, esp. at first. You just kind of know. Granted both Tiffany & I are wrong on occasion, but that also becomes a bit of a fun guessing game. The phenomenon of "you just kind of know" is very odd. I used to ask parents about this before we had kids and never understood it. But I think it’s largely true. You pick up on all kinds of things that you don't process consciously (and some you do) that allow you to "just know" who is who.