It has only taken me 13 years to realise that I have always known the answer.

Since the girls were born, family, friends and strangers have always asked if we knew if the girls were ID or not. Having been told little if not nothing by the medical staff we always answered that we did not know but we thought they were not ID.

To most people the girls look the same. They have the same ears, the same toes, the same fingers. The same eyes, hair and skin colouring. They have the same crown parting in their hair.  But to us they look different, most of the time anyway. We have made sure that they have had different hair style most of the time. We dress them differently. They have their own personality. In fact they have very different personality but remarkably similar overall.

Child 1 has always been slightly smaller than child 2. Half an inch at the most, usually 1 cm. She also has always been lighter, not by much either. Their body shape is also different. Child 2 has very long legs while child 1's legs are slightly shorter.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a dsi. We were having fun using the inbuilt camera. There is a function where you can compare 2 people. It tells you what their resemblance is. Not related, related, cousins, siblings, twins and same person. Guess which one my girls came under. They were the same person as 73%. How surprising was that? I was quite surprise. Apart from one time, where after having been away for a week I mistook child 1 for child 2, I have always been able to tell them apart. I am not so good on baby photos unless their favourite toy is there. But from age 2 onwards I can tell who is who.

One of my friends who has twin girls always thought that her girls were not ID. I have always been convinced that they were ID. Having known them since birth, 13 years later I still struggle to tell them apart and I see them very often. She has always thought that mine were not ID either as she has never had problems telling them apart. She was wrong on both accounts. Her girls were tested and came back ID at something like 99%. Using the dsi (highly scientific process. Lol) they come up as 63% twins.

Anyway what clinched it today was: I was ready other people experience of being pregnant with twins and most mums could tell what they were having. And then I remembered: in my case 1 placenta, 2 amniotic bags. How dim have I been in the last 13 years? I never processed the info.

So from today on I will be able to say that the girls are ID twins.

That information does not make them identical. Anybody having met them knows that they are very different indeed. They just happen to look physically the same.

Another mystery solve, on to tackle the next one: Who has eaten the chocolate?