Oh, and before I forget, I'm able to blog as Nathan has for the first time ever slept 7 hours without eating! He woke up after 5 hours at which point I started the pacifier process, and it held him off for another 2. Unfortunately, that means I got terrible sleep as the "pacifier process" involves hearing grunting and trying to get a pacifier in while Nathan is frantically turning his head to and fro looking for it himself. But, hey! I'll take a little insomnia today. Let's just hope that this is a trend in the right direction.
The opposites began from birth:
Helen-totally routine pregnancy with no side effects; Nathan-many side effects and complications
Helen-born 1 week late; Nathan-2 weeks early
H-had to set an alarm clock to wake her up in the early days to feed her; N-no alarm clock needed...sadly :(
H-giant off the charts head (99th%); N-tiny off the charts head (17th %)
H-always loved a party from the beginning; N-hates parties of all kinds and melts down if forced to socialize for too long
H-sleeps best in bright rooms with lots of noise; N-dark room, no noise
H-has never slept well in a car even if you leave at her naptime and even if you are driving for long distances (on an avg trip to FL she will have maybe a .5 hr long nap); N-excellent car sleeper (his best quality to date)--falls asleep almost immediately and stays asleep until the car comes to a complete stop
H-spit-up was rare but explosive; N-spit-up is frequent and dribbly
H-never denied taking milk from a bottle; N-he is horribly offended if anyone comes within a 5 ft radius of him with a bottle and will scream and turn red until he passes out in exhaustion (good luck to the Nanny!!)
H-**LOVES** her pacies; N-could give or take a paci--it must be forced in and held at which point he may or may not accept his fate of having a mother who WILL force a paci.
H-One time we pinched her skin with her paci holder, and we didn't realize it until hours later while getting her ready for bed--her little skin was so red and we thought it might even leave a scar; N-pinched him with paci holder...immediately he screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed, etc, etc (Perhaps, we are parents who should avoid paci holders.)
H-don't recall her ever leaking out a diaper; N-leaks out at least 1 diaper per day--now I realize that we did in fact need the 30+ sleepers that we have
H-never had any need to co-sleep. If she was in the bed with me, it was because I was being lazy Mommy (not an uncommon event.) N-prefers to sleep snuggled up in my armpit where we sweat together all night long
H-night owl--her natural clock has her going to bed around 10 and waking up at 9; N-morning bird--natural clock is 7:30-5:45.
H-as an infant it was hard to get her to smile; N-if he is on his schedule, he smiles constantly while awake.
H-always been long and skinny; N-currently looks like a butterball
H-definite outie belly button; N-still on the fence, but it looks like we might just have an innie
The things that have in common are much fewer...they both look like Alan and they both like the bouncer seat.
So, based on this analysis of Nathan being completely opposite from Helen, I predict the following:
Nathan will be a picky eater and only eat toddler foods (ie chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese...no guacamole and scallops for him!)
He will walk late but, perhaps, talk early
He will have thick hair and will need a haircut prior to 3 years old
He will never like sleeping in his crib or having pacifiers
He will not have any cavities
He will drool and put everything in his mouth (a result of not constantly having a paci plugged in)
We will have to officially baby proof the house
He will need tubes in his ears
There you have it! The official proof that not every child is the same :) But, we love them both immensely and we wouldn't have it any other way!!
3 comments:
*LOVED* reading your analysis! So cute and so true. Could it be b/c they are boy and girl? Like boys definitely leak alot more than girls. I was also stunned by how different Nari and James were in terms of personality. James was so much more laid back than Nari. Just goes to show you that you are born with 80% of your personality. But, you can sleep-train Nathan to sleep in his crib after he is at least 9-months old. I strongly believe in doing that for both the rest and health of the mother and baby.
Loved the blog and your analysis too. I have to say that even two boys can be totally opposite. Just about the time you think you have a child figured out, s/he will ver off in a different direction. Maybe they do that to keep us on our toes...so no one gets bored. Love hearing about ya'll. Ann/Mom
Jackie, Ben, and Daniel showed their different personalities from the very beginning. Children are each very different, and to Monica's question: no, Daniel couldn't be too much more different from Ben. They're both very boyish in some ways, but they just handle things differently. Ben is incredibly fearless, whereas Daniel is not as desperate to find new and exciting forms of danger. He's just a much more mellow kid than Ben, which is fine. To quote my Dad, "Daniel reminds me of me when I was his age." I'm joking, but I can see my relative calm in Daniel's personality.
And sleep training, while I know Monica and Joel had great success with it, has never worked for us. Maybe it's a difference in philosophy or tolerance or whatever, but I wouldn't assume that all children will go for it. I still regularly wake up from being kicked in the back by Ben when he's crawled into our bed in the night without me noticing. And Daniel has a remarkable ability to notice if you move more than a foot away from him when he sleeps. Hopefully they'll both be getting better as they share a room, but only time will tell.
Fun post, either way, Kim.
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