Oh, that's Tyler. Or is it Max?

One of the most common questions we get as parents of identical twins is, "How do you tell them apart?" In fact, most of our family and friends admittedly cannot tell them apart at first glance (or 10th or 11th glance...) and are always trying to find some defining characteristic to differentiate Max and Tyler.

Way back in February, I opened up the blog for questions and planned on answering this question right away. Besides procrastination, I think the reason I've stalled for so long is because it's a tough question to answer! In the early days, the boys' personalities helped us tell them apart. Max was very laid back and calm and Tyler never seemed to stop moving! Their cries were also different (Max's was more raspy and Tyler's was high-pitched and loud) and we could always tell who was crying even from another room. When the boys first came home from the hospital, we did keep their hospital bracelets on as backup in case we got them confused. Once the bracelets fell off a few days later, we discovered that Tyler had a tiny birth mark (resembling a spider bite) on his upper right thigh and Max had an even tinier birth mark on his inner wrist. As much as I'd like to say we never had to rely on the birth marks to tell our own children apart, we did. But only on a few occasions -- and I think sleep deprivation must have had something to do with it too, right? Right.

I mean, really, can you tell them apart here? I'm honestly not sure I could tell you who is who in this picture from when they were 3 months old:



Now when people ask us how we tell them apart, Andy and I always answer the same way: they just look different to us (good thing too because their birth marks have since disappeared!) When Andy walks in the door from work or when we get them up every morning, we immediately know who is who. There is one thing that is noticeably different though (more so in pictures than in person) and that is their smiles. I was told by a mother of grown twins that with identical twins, one typically has a smile and one has a grin. I'm not sure if that's just a myth or what, but if you look at the pictures below you'll see that this theory applies to M&T.

Regardless of whether or not you can tell Max and Tyler apart, we can assure you that they continue to develop as individuals and their personalities will forever be a dead giveaway (more on these differences at a later time). So even if their looks are still identical to you, their unique personalities will shine through with time.

If you are completely stuck, there is one trick that never fails -- Max has an outtie belly button and Tyler has an innie. Just don't be asking them to lift up their shirts at their high school graduation!

Notice Tyler's grin (left) and Max's smile (right). I'll leave the rest of the pictures without labels and provide the answers at the end!

Photo #1

#2

#3

#4

#5

And the answers....

Photos#1-4: Tyler on left, Max on right. Photo #5: Max on left, Tyler on right. Easy, right?

Now that you are all pros at telling the boys apart, here are a few more challenging ones. What I forgot to mention is that this grin/smile theory only shows up clearly in maybe 50% of pictures. Give it your best shot and see below for the answers!

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

The answers: #6, 7, 8 - Tyler on left, Max on right; #9 - Max on left, Tyler on right; #10 - Tyler, #11 - Max