How could the same two people produce such different kids?!
Some comparisons for ya:
Andrew
Victoria
Here, they're lookin' pretty much the same. Red. Wrinkled. And sleeping.
But things are pretty different from there!
They both smiled pretty easily but, as you can see, Tori was always a bit more...ROUND than Andrew.
But then we started seeing some pretty significant differences. Andrew didn't cut teeth until he was 18 months old. Tori cut them at five months.
Not that you can SEE their teeth. But these are the ages they were at when they cut their first ones.
They were both early walkers, but Andrew managed it at the end of his 7th month while Tori figured crawling was her best option until she was 9 months old.
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Since then, the biggest differences for us has been their levels of communication. Andrew has always been (and continues to be) REALLY good with his motor skills. Every time I take him to a well child appointment, the pediatrician is impressed with his physical abilities.
But he struggles with the speech part of life. We used sign language with him but we still have a hard time understanding him on occasion which, understandably so, frustrates him (and us!).
Tori is quite the opposite. While she has good motor skills, they seem to be about average. Yes, she was an early walker, but most of her other motor skills are right on track. However, verbally, its insane how different she is than Andrew. She speaks CLEARLY and, at 14 months, is using more words than Andrew did by the time he was almost two. Not to mention the fact that she knows what she wants when she wants it and she will let EVERYONE around her know she wants something!
But one of the biggest physical differences for me is their size difference...
Tori is now 14 months old. Here is a picture of Andrew at 14 months and a current picture of Tori.
Well, maybe they don't LOOK that different, but...trust me, they are. She is HUGE compared to what he was at that age.
A huge personality difference in the two of them is the fact that, most of the time, Andrew is a naturally sweet kid. Don't get me wrong: he can be mean and steal toys and he struggles with sharing and he yells and he throws fits. But something Tori is that he is not: Naturally aggressive. Maybe its the difference of feeling the need to "survive" that makes her that way, but she is a bully! Here's a perfect example: in their Sunday School classes, we always get the same thing from their teachers. Andrew's teacher always comments on how sweet he is, how respectful and how well mannered. We have ALWAYS heard that about him. Tori's teachers? Well, they talk about how adorable she is and how fun she is...but they also talk about how she bites other kids, she pushes, she hits and she steals food. She's a bully! She will decide she wants a toy just because Andrew has it and she shriek at the top of her lungs, run at him and take him down until she can get the toy and run! He is pretty good about asking for help to deal with the situation but, now and then, he will decide to fight back and then it just spirals from there. I end up with two kids crying, a broken toy and several bruises from the brawl. *SIGH*
Okay...I have no idea what the point of this post was other than to allow ME to go through and think about the differences in my two kids. Suffice it to say: they are very different. Physically and in their personalities. But I am so grateful! How boring would it be to have the exact same experiences over and over again?
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