Like Mama, Like Dada

I am becoming more and more increasingly aware that my son is half mini me and half a miniature version of his Dad. The obvious thing he takes after is his looks. While he has my big eyes and hair, many of his facial features resemble my husband. The looks, the expressions are really uncanny when you look at young pictures of my husband and see photos of my son. Just from looking at my husband's childhood photos, I know exactly what he is thinking because my son has the same looks of annoyance, pure glee, shyness, etc., What I guess I did not expect was how much he is like us through personality and his little actions.

Now anyone that knows my son is that he is just full of gusto. He is either on full force or he is asleep. He is the type of kid that does not walk around mud puddles but likes to walk and probably stomp right through them. He loves to experience new things with gusto. He eats with gusto and drinks with gusto. He is the liveliest little person I have ever met. It is just not him being a toddler, but in fact it is his little personality. I smile watching this kid who has such a zest for life, because he has the same personality I had when I was little. I was a true firecracker.

I will always tell everyone my son's stubborn side comes from my husband. Its a running joke in our family who he gets the stubborness from. However, there are other things that just weren't exactly taught that my son is repeating from what his Dad did as a child. For instance, when I was little and it was time for bed, my parents had to think of fun ways to get me to my bedroom. I wasn't a brat or anything. They knew I wanted to be up and if they could think of a game it would be easier on the both of us, they would do it. I don't now how many times my Dad gave me horse back rides or I was wheelbarrowed to my bed. My husband on the other hand would look at his Mom and Dad and inform them that it was 8 o'clock and that he was going to bed. No fuss, no games, and no complaining. That is my son for the most part. There are obvious times he does not want to go to bed, but for instance last night he went up the stairs by himself (my husband followed) and he pointed to his bed. He wanted to go to sleep. He does this quite often in where he asks to go to sleep on his own accord. I am not trying to brag, but I seriously don't know any kid that does this on a regular basis.

There are also other things my son does that mimics my husband when he was a child. When my son coughs, he will most likely fart as well. I never had an issue with two things happening at either end at the same time, but my husband did as a kid. He can now for the most part control that, but the first time that happened to my son, my husband had to laugh remembering that he did that as a child. My son LOVES the same foods my husband likes, while I look at them and want to gag. That could be pickiness on my part, but who knows? My son is also very quiet like my husband (although still full of energy) and he talks only when he wants to. That is my husband. It also know when my husband and son are very comfortable when they are sitting as both will curl their toes inward. That certainly is not something I do.

To go a little further to explain my thinking, I wanted to talk about the similarities of my sister's son. My nephew and my son were born three weeks apart. If it was not for my nephew I would just think that perhaps that gusto my son has is just part of having a little boy. Before my son I knew very little about little boys. The two I believe will be great friends some day as I once was great friends with my own cousins that were my age, but they are totally different in personality. My nephew is a very sweet child who is very cautious and very observant. Unlike my son, he will look before he leaps. He studies his surroundings and then may approach or decide not to approach a situation. He is in fact EXACTLY like my sister when she was a child. I obviously don't know too much about my brother in law's childhood, so I can't compare my nephew to him. I will say that my nephew certainly is a little carbon copy of his Daddy. There is no question that if you had a room full of toddlers and Dads, that you could easily pair those two up as being Father and Son.

I guess my thought is the old saying "the apple does not fall too far from the tree" is more correct then I ever thought it would be before little kids entered my world. I just find it amazing.