So different

It amazes me that my children are all so different from each other.  I know this is a definite "DUH" statement, but maybe because they are siblings or because I carried them all within me, I sorta continue to expect that they will be more alike than what they are.

Part of the reason I wanted to have a 3rd child was to see what nature would throw at us.....we had 2 tow-headed, blue-eyed South-paws.  I was curious to see if we'd get another.  So far, with dark-hair and grey-eyes, M is proving to be the exception to the rule.  Handedness remains to be seen.

M's teeth are just like N's baby teeth, with the big gap in the middle.  G has the funky double tooth in front and there is virtually no space between his teeth.

N slept through the night starting at 4 weeks.  G at 14 months.  M......this remains to be seen as well.  Though his sleep has improved much since his tubes and cutting all 4 molars, he is still waking up at least 1 time a night to nurse.  Which is another difference.

M is the "tugging at my shirt" kind of baby.  He says, "Ursssss," as he's trying to get at my breasts.  Neither N nor G ever did this.  He nurses a good 4-5 times a day and protests loudly if I am ready for him to be done before he is ready to be done with a nursing session.

Both N and G crawled "normally," on all fours, while M does the side-winder crawl, with his right leg flat in front of him, his left leg up as he scoots on his bottom wherever he wants to go.

N was a great eater who would try anything put in front of her.  At 18 months of age, she would eat 3 bananas a day.  One night I remember she wanted cherries and black olives to eat.  G was a fairly good eater until he turned 2, at which point he decided that vegetables are the same thing as poison.  M is a picky, picky eater who refuses anything vegetable-like, whole milk and juice.

By 13 months of age, N and G would bring me books and sit on my lap to be read to.  M likes to look at his books and babble read to himself, but he has yet to ask me to read to him.

My friend G wrote a blog once about how having one's first child was like being dropped from an airplane into a big city after having lived in a tent in the desert your entire life (or something along those lines--she said it much better than me so read here).  It is a huge job to learn how to survive in a city.  Having one's second child you think, "Hey, I know my way around this city.  I'll do fine."  But the 2nd child is like being airdropped into an entirely different city.  You are familiar with subways....but not how this particular subway works.  You know that cities have government buildings and churches and malls, but this particular city has different hours of operation.  Having one's third child....or 4th or 10th or whatever......well, it's yet another city you get to visit and discover.

It's a good thing I love to explore new places.