Telling them apart.

I get asked this a lot.  "Can you tell them apart?"
I always answer with, "Of course I can".  I was worried, before they were born.  My wife and I had plans to keep on the hospital bracelets as long as we needed to in order to make sure that we would not mix up the boys.  We had one son before the triplets.  It was hard to imagine another child created by the same two people looking different than the first one.  I know this is crazy and other families have different looking children all the time.  They are just born one at a time.  Still, for us we were concerned.
The first thing working in our favour is that the boys are not identical.  This means that they will look like siblings but not exactly the same.  I look similar to my brothers.  I've been asked if I am a twin.  My brothers are two years older and two years younger than me.  I would get these questions while I was in my teens.  So, just like my brothers, my triplet boys look like brothers, however they are just the same age which may make it more difficult to tell them apart.
One of the things that I didn't think about before the boys were born was the ways that they would be different other than looks.  Weight one was significantly bigger than the other two when they were born.  Sound, they all sounded different.  One had a lower cry and to this day his voice is lower than the others. I could always tell who was crying from across the house.  It's amazing how quickly their personalities develop and you can tell them apart that way as well. And subtle things like one had thick hands while another had lender hands and longer fingers. I am confident that I have never mixed up the boys. As I look back to pictures from four and a half years ago, I can see how people who didn't see the boys everyday would get them mixed up.  I have a little trouble myself and I need to check the labeling on the back of the picture.  I am usually right, but it is much harder than I ever imagined.  I can see why people didn't understand how easy it was for me to tell them apart at the time.  I would get offended at the question and say things like "of course I can, they are very different. How can you not see that?"  Well, I may say that to my wife after the people had left.  Looking back, I have to be much more forgiving.  I would be interested to hear from a parent of twins who were identical and if they had any issues telling them apart.

Have a great day.
Triplet Dad