Family,  Gracie,  Parenting,  Siblings

Two Different Children

April 18, 2011 /


I am constantly amazed at how unique babies are. Even though Gracie is only three weeks old, she is still a very different baby than Bean was.

For one thing, she wears dresses. Which could be the most fun thing in the whole wide world. You know how they say that having a baby girl is like having a doll to dress up?

THEY’RE RIGHT!

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Aside from the dress thing, though, there are a lot of differences between Baby Bean and Baby Gracie.

Gracie loves to be held. You put her on your shoulder and she will snuggle into your neck as close as she can get. Then she sighs happily and falls right to sleep. It’s the sweetest thing. Bean, on the other hand, wasn’t a huge cuddler. He still isn’t. He likes to be held as much as the next two-year-old (which ain’t much…) and he gives out hugs and kisses like he’s throwing Moon Pies from a Mardi Gras float. But you’d never find Bean snuggled up in your neck. Even as an infant.

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Another big difference? Gracie doesn’t like pacifiers. Bean couldn’t sleep without one. Wouldn’t be separated from his binky. It was permanently glued to his little pie face. He loved that sucker. But Gracie? Notsomuch. We keep trying because…well…I don’t really know why we keep trying. I guess it’s because I read “Happiest Baby on the Block,” and Dr. Karp suggested binkies as a sucking mechanism to help your baby sleep. Or maybe it’s because we are just in the habit of giving the baby a binky when they are crying or falling asleep. Truth be told, the binky was awesome with Bean. But I’m also learning that there are some really great things about having a baby who isn’t dependent on the binky. For starters, we don’t have to deal with that big problem where the binky falls out of her mouth when she finally falls asleep, which then wakes her up. Bean went through that for months and it was horrible. Also a plus? Gracie doesn’t have an enormous binky in all her pictures.

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Gracie’s temper is different than Bean, too. When Bean was mad as an infant – and even now as a toddler – his temper was built up when it came out. His cry was a slow building explosion. When you first heard him start to whimper, you had about 5 seconds to get him happy again before he went crazy. But Gracie? There is no 5 second “grace” period. Gracie goes from sleeping to screaming bloody murder instantly. But the up-side is that a) she hardly ever gets upset unless she needs something and b) she comes down from her hysteria just as fast as she gets there.

Even at three weeks old, I think it’s so neat how different Gracie is from Bean. She has different needs, different preferences, and different reactions. And I’m even more excited to see what those differences bring to our family in the coming years.

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