A Case of Mistaken Identity?

I think I read somewhere that babies are often close to 18 months old before they can recognize themselves in a mirror.

Our girls have loved looking at mirrors since they were just a few months old. And when they began to talk just after they turned a year, they would often exclaim “Baby!” when they saw themselves.

The girls are now 19 months old. Over the past couple of months, they’ve started saying, “Sissy!” when they look in the mirror.

Our girls are nowhere near identical; in fact, I often joke they are VERY fraternal (as if there are varying degrees…HA!). I can’t imagine they see themselves and actually think it’s their sister.

This is definitely one of those amazing twin experiences in my book. My guess is that the girls know the mirror image is not their sister, but are at a loss for what to call themselves.

I know the girls know their own names (they answer to them when they want to), but on the other hand, I hope we haven’t confused them by calling them both “Sissy”…as in “Where is Sissy?” Or more often, “Don’t pull Sissy’s hair!”…“Give that back to Sissy!”

I think this behavior is probably just the evolution of them recognizing their mirror image. But it does beg the question in my mind about identical twins…do they actually confuse their mirror image for that of their sibling's?

That’s just fascinating for me to think about. And whatever the case with our girls, I just love watching the learning process.

No Self-Esteem Issues Here!

Check out the girls checking themselves out in the mirror! Just ask them, "Where's the pretty baby?" and they grab the mirror and give it a kiss!



I think it's important to support their self esteem...I just hope I'm not creating two adorable little monsters! HA!