It is 6:30am and I am about to go to work. I wait at the door for a moment and hope Olivia comes running down. Sometimes she peeks around the corner slowly and inquisitively and if she sees me there she comes running full tilt. I get the excited hug at the end of my workday too, but these morning ones are a bit rare and I cherish them a little more. Sometimes she’s up before I am and I try to put here back to bed, but she’s a tough little nut and this usually doesn’t result in her staying there very long. Her sister will sleep until 7:30, maybe 8:00am and sometimes beyond.
They are so different. Madeleine is obsessively detail oriented and Olivia is equally obsessively free-spirited. Madeleine can create entire worlds and has an attention span to die for. She’ll set up her farm and animals for hours at a time some days, while Olivia gets bored a bit quicker. She can’t sit through entire movies and doesn’t care to create worlds – destroying them is much more fun. I took her to the Sunday morning kids singing for the first time last week and she was the wildest one there, dancing without regard for those around her, crowding the leader at the front. Madeleine has been going for a year already and still hesitates to go every week. Her bravery appears in increments while Olivia’s, being the extrovert, is ever-present. She has no fear.
I see benefits and dangers for each of them. Olivia will be ambitious, accomplishing much probably by erring much, but succeeding much because she’s not afraid to fail. Madeleine will succeed too, if we nurture her ability to think long and hard and solve problems. Hopefully we can convey our satisfaction with each of them as they grow. With her beautiful orange hair and extrovert personality, Olivia will always be the attention getter and we’ll have to counter-balance that by giving Madeleine and bit more attention at home.
And girl #3, Sophia? I’m not sure yet, she’s only 6 months old. She’s a decent sleeper and a “good baby” by anyone’s standards. Having now observed 3 children up close and hanging out with a lot of other people who have kids, I believe less and less that some kids are just born to misbehave – well, girls anyway. I probably won’t ever have the experience of raising a boy but speaking from vicarious experience I’d say it’s a completely different task.
