Vague Recollections

As I was standing outside A's door tonight singing lullaby after lullaby, memories of doing the exact same thing for C at about the exact same age came flooding back. As did the search for JUST the right blanket/stuffed animal to sleep with this particular night, and the insistence that she sleep with one of those hard, not at all cuddly baby dolls.

I often feel like I am raising the same child all over again, except this one wears pink instead of blue. Most parents wax on and on about how their children are so totally different, but I never have anything useful to add to those conversations as outside of some missing parts and the ability to speak clearly, my children are much more similar than dissimilar. A is a slightly more picky eater, and C was a slightly better sleeper (only slightly though), other than that I find it hard to earmark a trait as uniquely their own. A adores the same books C adored at this age, and throws temper tantrums over the same issues. Both children are strong-willed and loving, and see humor in the exact same faces and jokes.

I'm not sure whether nature or nurture are to blame here, I have to assume nature as I imagine that most parents out there raise their first and second children in basically the same fashion. As a friend once told me when inspecting my kids, we know exactly how any future J-E children will look and act. And let me tell you, while I love my two dearly, I just can't raise the same child for a third time. So baring any unforeseen accidents in the birth control department, our family is complete.

And if there is ever such an accident, this post will be promptly deleted so as not to scar the poor third child. But y'all will know what happened. Shhh.