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Monday, October 12, 2009

Same Recipe, Different Cookies

Exhibit A: Wendy, left, 3 months; David, right, 4 1/2 months

Exhibit B: Wendy, left, 5 months; David, right, 4 1/2 months

I've heard that saying before - "same recipe, different cookies" - referring to the differences between children in the same family. I figured it was true; after all, my brother and I look alike but we have quite different personalities. Now that I am a mother of two, I can personally testify to the truth of that saying!

Wendy and David look a lot alike, as seen in Exhibit A and Exhibit B above. I don't notice their physical similarities most of the time, because I am comparing a 3 year old with an infant. Looking at their baby pictures side-by-side does show their commonalities: big blue eyes, very fair skin, chubby cheeks, and silly smiles.

What pictures don't show is the personality behind both of those silly smiles. Wendy is a perpetual-motion machine. She is constantly moving, climbing, running, jumping, and goofing, and there's usually quite a bit of noise involved in whatever it is she's doing. She is very smart and very inquisitive, which means that nothing in the house is safe.

David, on the other hand, is very relaxed, laid-back, and happy. He is just a little bit behind on his physical development, because he just isn't motivated to do much but look around, chew on his fists, and smile. He has been able to turn over (front to back) since he was 12 weeks old, but he only does it a few times a week. Instead, he'd rather play for awhile on his tummy, pushing up & looking around & talking, and then put his head down & go to sleep. He loves to interact and he loves to smile and laugh - he's such a jolly, content baby that he makes me want to have another right away. (Not really. But he's a very good boy!)

Here's an example of a typical day:

Wendy was "cooking" in her play kitchen last week, busily making some bean-beans and cookies. (That's what she told me, anyway.) I was in the other room, folding laundry. I realized that I was hearing a metal-on-metal sound, and recognized it as the jingle of the big Pampered Chef pizza cutter that is stored in the knife drawer in our kitchen. I went to investigate, and found her standing on a chair in the kitchen, trying to use the pizza cutter blade as a screwdriver for the battery compartment of a V-Smile Pocket that we had been given a few days before. Why was she trying to take it apart? Why was she using a pizza cutter? How did she know where the pizza cutter was stored? How did she not hurt herself? I guess I should be glad she wasn't trying to use one of the steak knives.

And David? He was laying on the floor, contentedly gnawing his fist & watching the ceiling fan.


5 comments:

Unknown said...

So much fun to compare their baby pictures! And thanks for the reminder to lock my knife drawer :-)

Nichole said...

Wow, they look SO much alike!

Sandi said...

Those pictures are remarkable!!

Allie said...

They do look so similar. What cuties!

Unknown said...

WOW. That's unbelievable. Of course, people tell me this is true of my kids too, so maybe I should find the side-by-side shots. Unfortunately I am a very lazy blogger :)