No Déjà Vu

I was telling Meredith the other day how I realized that Madeline at the ripe old age of 14 months was going to be a completely different eater than Jackson was/is. Jackson was happy with his plate full of fruits, veggies, cheese and crackers at Tuesday's holiday party; I knew he wouldn't eat the chicken strips or ravioli or the other more "adult" options. Why I was surprised that Madeline wanted the chicken and ravioli (and not the fruits/cheese/crackers) is not a mystery; Meredith summed it up: "They are different people." And that they are...

I've embraced the physical developmental differences between my first and second child. Watching each of them learn to sit up or crawl or get teeth has been equally exciting. Jackson was a textbook baby as I refer to it. In Madeline's case, it has reinforced my description of her: unpredictable.

But she's at that age where personality traits begin to show...and now I start to see glimpses of what is going to make Madeline, well Madeline, and which oddly enough might make her a little more predictable. My favorite is Smiley Madeline who seems delighted with us or with herself when she entertains us with responses to "How big is Maddie?" or "Where's Maddie's nose?" or "Blow kisses, Maddie?"
In a nutshell, the second time around is just as sweet; it's just different from the first.