What's in a name?

G&T 27-and-a-half months  M - 5-and-a-half months

These days, I really struggle to remember my girls' names. OK, that's not strictly true, but I do find I need at least three attempts to get one right. It's not like I don't know which daughter is which, it's just that my brain seems to just spew out a name at random before it's processed who it's talking to. Since becoming a mum, I've actually had to sit down and apologise to my own parents. As one of three girls myself, I was forever being referred to by the wrong name, and I know I'm now destined to replay those teenage 'You don't love me enough to know my name!' years from the other side. My parents accepted the apology with uproarious  delight. Revenge is so very sweet...  I don't even have the excuse of the twins being identical. G is blonde, lanky and the absolute image of her father, while T is shorter, powerful and my little clone. They're very different wee people, and I've always tried to treat them as such. When I was growing up, people would comment on how my sisters' and my names didn't 'match', as though we somehow came as a set. When I found out I was carrying two girls, I was adamant that there would be no rhymes, no alliteration, no suggestion that they were two halves of a whole. Out and about with them in the buggy, people would forever ask if they were a boy and a girl, even if they both had pink on. I could never understand why until one lady simply said it. She expected two girls to be dressed alike. But why? Surely twins have to fight hard enough as it is to be seen as individuals. If other twin parents want to name them Polly and Poppy, or buy oodles of cute matching outfits, fair enough, but that's not for us. My girls are both beautiful, clever, crazy and wonderful, but both in different ways. G loves numbers and letters, showing all the signs of an academic to be, while T loves puzzles and soft toys, a tough little cookie with a squidgy soft centre. They're not just a twin, they are their own people, and we're going to make sure they get to thrive as such. That's if I can remember their names, of course.