I get asked a lot about what Samantha and Amelia’s relationship is like. Are they different from each other? Do they get along? Can you tell the differences in their personalities yet? While I don’t like to assign specific personality types to them, in general so far, the girls definitely show individualized traits. While identicals are supposedly more alike personality-wise than fraternals, this hasn’t been the case with Samantha and Amelia…they couldn’t be more different.
Samantha (right now…not typecasting her as this way forever) is the more aggressive twin. She will dart across the room with sniper-like intensity just to grab whatever Amelia is playing with at the moment. Doesn’t matter if I give her THE EXACT SAME TOY; she wants whatever Amelia has for the sake of having it. Sometimes, Amelia cries about it and I have to run interference by giving the toy back to Amelia while simultaneously re-directing Samantha toward something else (“LOOK, Samantha! What a COOL rattle/doll/spatula/insert random object here”). Other times, Amelia goes “Meh,” and finds something else to play with, until Samantha barrels on over and the cycle starts again.
In general, Amelia typically has a more mellow personality, although she’s recently started stealing back her toys from Samantha as if to say, “I’M NOT PUTTING UP WITH THIS CRAP ANYMORE!” She’s also started becoming a little bit braver and occasionally steals Samantha’s toys. Having received a taste of her own medicine, Samantha, 99% of the time, starts bawling. She’s a pretty big cry baby.
Interestingly, when the two are separated, Amelia becomes really outgoing. If Samantha falls asleep first for her nap or if Samantha is in another room with Daddy, Amelia crawls around playing with every toy as quickly as possible. When Samantha’s there, she’s a little bit more tentative and seems to always be looking behind her back for her sister to come up and attack!
Amelia also seems to be a little bit of a daydreamer. She can sit for minutes just staring at a toy or object, turning it around in her hands. She almost seems to zone out for a bit until she suddenly snaps back to attention when I call her name…definitely her Daddy’s girl. Samantha, on the other hand, is more likely to protest something she doesn’t like (“GET ME OUT OF THIS HIGH CHAIR, NOW!”), moves 100 miles an hour with everything and gets bored easily…Jake says she’s just like me, but I disagree!
As for their relationship, the girls have really started interacting a lot more the past few months. When they were only a few months old, they would glance at each other, but otherwise didn’t seem too interested. Now, they laugh together, play footsie together, hold hands, wrestle each other and babble with one another. From what I’ve heard, the girls are definitely interacting a ton more than other twins their age! Many people’s twins don’t start babbling or playing with each other until they are over a year old.
