Intellectually, I knew that my two kids would be different, that they would be their own people with their own interests and anxieties and passions. So, I KNEW that. But actually watching those differences manifest themselves is shocking and fascinating in equal measure. For instance, Juniper, our 3 year-old, can’t stand to get her face wet. It’s not that she’s timid—she’s a bulldog in social situations—but she’s…cautious about certain things. Water being one of those things. Amity…not so much.
About a month ago, we took our first ever full-fledged family vacation. We packed Juni and Hammy and half the house into the minivan and headed to Georgetown, SC. It was a revealing trip for too many reasons to list here, but one of the most interesting takeaways from our time on the beach was that Juni is a little concerned about the ocean, while Hammy wants to be IN the ocean. Now. She would get smacked right in the face by a wave and laugh. When we tried to take her out of the water, she’d struggle free of our grip and scamper back to the water, obviously outraged that we’d tried to remove her in the first place.
You can see pretty much the same thing in these pictures. We didn’t really feel like taking the girls to the local water park, so we just plugged in the sprinkler and set them free. Juni would either run away from the water or finagle things so she wouldn’t get her face wet; Hammy was happy to stand 2 inches away from the sprinkler and take all jets full in the face. The girls are so young, only 1 and 3, so I know I’ll be noticing more and more of these ways they’re so similar and so different, but these past few months, during which Hammy has really started to show her personality, have been eye-opening. Hope you enjoy!
