I think D reminds me every day that all children are created differently. In my head, because I had mini, abc was going to be just like her and I was going to be prepared. They are a lot alike but my goodness, they are so different! I think these moments are the ones that I’m constantly reminded that I have two VERY different little girls:
Sleeping
When I had mini, I was a single mom. We co-slept for pretty much a year and it was fine. I didn’t have to share a bed with anyone besides her and it worked out for us. By 6 months, she was sleeping through the night. Getting her to sleep thru the night was pretty easy–one night I just replaced my boob with her paci and that was it, she stopped waking up. When she was teething, we digressed a bit but she got back on the sleeping all night train pretty easily. Abc is 10 months and she’s not showing signs of ready to stop the nursing all.night.long. At 10 months, she weighs more than mini did at 1 year so I know she can sustain herself all night. But she just doesn’t. This week we’ve started some sleep training–I’m a walking zombie mom.
Nursing
I think God was looking out for me when I had mini. He must’ve already known that I was going to have another baby. Mini and I’s nursing relationship was an easy one. She latched immediately, there was no pain, it was easy breezy. Weaning her went easily. Teething was surprisingly easy and she never bit me. I hated pumping and because of my stress levels with life, I didn’t produce enough and I had to supplement towards the end. This go round I have a freezer full of milk that isn’t being used (I’m getting ready to donate it). Abc latched right away but her latch was weird and it hurt pretty badly in the beginning. We fixed the latch and we were good to go. But biting? My. Goodness. She’s drawn blood from my boobs once but none of the tricks work. When she’s cutting teeth, she’s bound to try and bite me. Ugh.
Eating
they are indeed good in every sense
I wanted to make mini’s food so badly but my single mama lifestyle didn’t allow for it. We went the Ella’s KitchenĀ route. I was comfortable with that because they make healthy, organic foods that have really interesting food combinations. At the time, they didn’t have nearly as many products as they do now but they were pretty great. Mini has a well developed pallet and would pretty much eat any baby food. Abc scoff’s at store bought food. I’ve recently tried to doctor up her store bought food but she’s still not having it. She’s pretty much on 100% table food and is a veggie lover.
Of course this also begs the question of, how can you stay the same as a parent when your children are so different? I’ve had to change too. Hearing my babies cry still physically hurts me but I’m doing better because I know that it’s important for all of us for abc to be sleeping through the night. I’m fighting for my nursing relationship with abc to extend as along as it did with mini and I think that we’ll be good once she’s gotten her teeth.
While they do have a lot of differences, I’m blessed beyond belief because they are both happy girls. They both love to smile and laugh and have fun which confirms what I’m doing right because those are the important things.
Parents of more than one, what differences do you see in your babes? How has this caused you to change your parenting?
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