born that way?

one of the most facinating parts of being a parent is watching the interplay of genes and environment, the old nature vs nuture debate in action. Before I was a parent I was pretty firmly in the nuture camp. Now I see that it's not that easy. It's so interesting to watch my kids; who look like Chris and I, who share our genes, showing us the personalities they were born with. It's even more obvious with two kids because the differences are there from the very beginning even with the same parents, same house, etc. The first night that we brought Brixton home, he slept six hours straight. Unity didn't do that until she was six or seven months old. Obviously birth order has some role to play here (parents more relaxed, etc) but I know enough people with mellow first kids and more sensitive seconds to know that's not the whole explanation.

All this to say that I have learned my kids have their own personalities that they were indeed born with. It's not to say that we're off the hook as parents or that life experiences won't shape them, but truly each human is a beautiful and unique thing. You know those people who can find some strange pillowcase in a thrift store and cut a hole in it and make some fabulous dress that stops traffic? Suffice to say, I am not that person. Chris and I both wear the same t-shirts and jeans until they literally fall apart and consider something we bought two years ago to be the "new" shirt. Unity? Can pull her brother's vest out of the dirty clothes pile and make an outfit out of it. This is not parental influence. If she continues in this path, we'll have to find some kind of fashionable adult to mentor her later.