Mini-Me's

Not really sure how to write or punctuate that title, but I think it turned out. On to the post of the day:

When my children were very small, I used to think about what traits of mine they might inherit. Jillian has my coloring and looked remarkably like me when she was just born. We don't look much alike now. She definitely got her Dad's height and thin frame. Her hair reminds me of my sister Marisa's when she was young. She has my eye color, but her Dad's ears. She loves reading, but is also good at math. That is definitely all Kyle! When Jillian was two and loved to sing and dance around the house, I thought she might take after me and become a dancer. Now Hayden is the dancer in the family and is loving his hip hop lessons. I was hoping that Hayden would get a bit of my muscular frame along with Kyle's height. There's no hope. He is as thin as a rail and just average height. He might end up as tall as Kyle, but I doubt it. He's not a crazy boy all of the time (thank goodness!) and he can spend a lot of time building with legos or other blocks. He's an engineer like my Dad. He also has great pitch and can sing in tune most of the time. Kara's a mystery. She certainly looks nothing like me, although she has my ears. I think Kyle was kind of a chub as a baby, so she might end up thin. She's already tall, even taller than Jillian was as a baby. She loves being around people and reading books.

What's my point? I think it's so cool how kids can be like their parents in very specific ways, and also be their own unique selves. I love to see what they're interested in, the thoughts they come up with, the way their bodies change and grow. I can see bits and pieces of several family members in each of our children, even though no one's claiming Kara's head. The challenge, as a parent, is to instill in your children the qualities and values you want them to inherit, but also to let them develop into confident, independent people. Sometimes I wish Jillian was a bit more ambitious, but maybe a little lack of ambition keeps her innocent and sweet. I've just come to realize how bright Hayden is, how eager to learn. I've got to capitalize on that now and help him progress while he's excited about it. Kara's at that age where she loves to explore everything. Just taking her outside for a walk -- even in the rain -- is delightful. Her expression of "oooh" at every new, or not-so-new, encounter makes me see the world as she must.

I hope I can avoid passing along some of my bad habits to the kids. I hope they can be better than both me and Kyle are -- smarter, healthier, kinder, more successful. Sure, that's what every parent hopes, right? But I also hope that we can be a close family who loves and cares for each other. After all, we share a lot more than DNA.


Amy