Virtual Twins

Min and Laina are virtual twins. They are one month apart in age. Laina is older. Her birthday is in December and Min's is January. There are some big differences in them, though. Laina has superior language ability and motor skills at this point in time. Laina is also more assertive and opinionated. Laina is smaller and more compact. You would guess she's the younger one if you only would look at them, but she is in fact older.
Min can do many things that Laina can't. Min can use chopsticks and sing on tune. Min recites little poems. Laina has trouble remembering the words to "twinkle twinkle little star" but can talk your ear off about other things. Laina can spot several different kinds of cars and tell you about them when we're driving. Min can tell you whenever there's an airplane flying overhead. Laina likes to help empty and load the dishwasher. Min can draw for a long time if no one interrupts her.

Today at the Costco a woman asked me, "are they twins?". I said, "No, they're not." She said, "Oh, I thought they might be twins, they look so close in age".
"They are close in age. She's a month older than her".
"Oh. I thought they were sisters."
"They are sisters! Figure that one out!"
The lady smiled (this was all a very pleasant exchange, no irritation on either of our parts) "hmmm...that's a puzzle, I'll have to think about how that might work".
I didn't mention adoption. If she couldn't figure out they were adopted, then a little thinking might be good for her.
Since the girls are so different in size and I don't do too much of the "twin" dressing, I haven't had to answer the "twin" question except for that one time. I haven't even had to address the "sisters" question. My guess is that people assume I'm the baby sitter. I've had one person ask me if I'm babysitting, (this was before Min came home) and I said, "No, I'm the Mom." they looked puzzled and said, "oh...she must look like her father". I made a "thinking and puzzling" face and said, "you know, she doesn't look like him at all. Her daddy is German". This blew the poor little brain of the dear girl who was working at Big Lots. I could see the stripped gears of her little mind spin and try to grasp this information and make sense of it. I smiled my biggest, winningest smile, swung my baby to my hip and said, "thanks, bye!". She's probably still wondering what kind of girl I am. Poor dear.