I think one of the biggest shockers for me since becoming a mom is discovering just how unique my kids are. I had my first daughter and while aspects of her personality startled me, for the most past she was easy going and a delight to parent. So I signed on for kid number two. We had another daughter, and while she brings joy and light to my life she also drives me insane. Two girls, same gene pool, same upbringing, but the difference between the two of them is night and day.
My daughters love each other fiercely and get along well, which I hope will continue as they get older. Both girls are strong-willed, cheerful and intelligent. But that’s where the similarity stops.
My first child, who will soon be six, loves music and art. She loves to draw and has been pretty good at it since she was just a wee thing of three. She loves books. She likes to sit and read to herself, and her favourite mom-daughter thing is storytime. She is fixated on the stories themselves and likes to discuss the characters. She loves animals, in an “I want to learn all about them” kind of way. She loves pink and has a minor fairy obsession. If she is grumpy I can guarantee the solution is sleep. When she was younger we called naptime her “reset button”. She wakes each morning happy and excited to start a new day. She likes to have quiet time to herself. When she gets home from her days at kindergarten she tells me, “I’ve been around too many people and I just want to be alone in my room for a bit”.
My second girl, who is three and a bit, likes music if it means she can jump and dance. She doesn’t give a fig about art. She colours and draws because she likes to copy what big sister does, but at three she still just scribbles and has barely mastered the art of drawing a circle. She also loves to read, but is fixated not on the story but on the words themselves. She wants me to point to each word as I read it, and I’m not allowed to skip a single one (i.e. skipping past the copyright page has her in fits). She loves animals in an Elmyra-like I want to hug them and squeeze them type way. Her favourite colour is orange. Or maybe it’s green, or blue. She can never decide. If she is grumpy I can guarantee that the solution is feeding her. She is not a morning person, she wakes up miserable and angry. She is slow to start off and it sometimes takes an hour to coax her out of her bedroom. But once she is going she never stops moving. I call her my little tornado. She climbs, explores, and gets into trouble non-stop.
I’m curious if any of you have had a similar experience? Were you shocked by just how different your second (or third, or fourth) child was?
My girls are unique. Each kid is unique. And Kinder gets that. Which is why they’ve branched off into selling two different Kinder Surprise eggs. The classic egg which we all know and love, and now a second pink “girl-themed” egg. You all know I cringe at the pink thing, and labeling toys for girls or for boys. But I have two unique little kids. And the truth is one of them is very happy to have her classic Kinder Surprise egg and one of them is crazy over those darn new pink eggs.
Disclosure: I’m part of the KINDER Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
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