The Mom Crowd

I was at the park with my kids last week, when I stopped for a moment, I took a look at each of my children. My two-year old was climbing the rock wall, and my five-year old was playing quietly in the sand. It was at that moment, that I realized how different, yet, alike my children are.

My first born is now five. She was a very quite baby, I could hold her and rock her all night long. She loved to cuddle, she was always so happy and content. She ate extremely well. Even at a very young age she always liked her vegetables.

I remember people asking us, “Are you getting much sleep at night?” Joking of course, because usually parents don’t get a lot of sleep with a newborn. Ironically, we would say, “Yes we are…a full eight hours” She slept like a baby through the night.

As first time parents, we were in heaven. We thought that if this is what having kids was like, we got this in the bag. Fast forward five years, and she is now in Kindergarten, extremely independent, very competitive, excels in all her courses with school, and yet she still loves her quite time to read, play with her ponies, and even puts herself down for a nap.

Our two-year old on the other hand…HA! She is a wild one. She would never let us hold her and rock her to sleep. In fact, she actually slept in her car seat for 8 months, because she hated being in a crib, held or anything else. But she loved her car seat. So that’s what we did. She was a very picky, messy eater, and could never sit still.

Needless to say this was extremely difficult for us to adjust to because of our previous experience with our first born. Once our two-year old figured out how to walk, she then learned how to run within one week. It was over at that point. She would climb anything she possibly could, from the kitchen cabinets, to on top of the hutch on my desk, she even tried to climb the Christmas tree. I felt like I couldn’t do much of anything when she was awake because I was constantly chasing her around.  Although, she has calmed down a smidge, she still is on the go all the time.

Having two children with completely different personalities continues to be interesting and a learning process all at the same time. I have learned to embrace each child’s personality for what it is. With one child I find myself talking to her in a more mature manner, because she gets it. She is responsible for her age and she understands. With the other, I have found that I need to be more of the coach, even though she is very high energy, when I keep her busy with me she seems to be more relaxed.

I love all my children for who they are, and I am still amazed at how two human beings can come from the same parents yet be so different in nature. Take time with your kids. If they are frustrating to be around, find what makes them tick. Try to engage them more with the things they like to do. Trust me, sometimes dinner would get done a lot faster if I didn’t have a two year old helping me. But, that is what she wants right now, she wants my time. Giving time to your kids with the things they love to do is the best gift you can possibly have. Embrace your child’s personality to the fullest, everyone involved will be all the better for it.