Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Back Seat Driver

It's official. Little Man fell from my tree. Much like I fell from my dad's tree, Little Man is "one of us". Although Little Man looked just like Daddy when he was a baby, my personality and charm have taken over what was once Daddy.

When we found out we were pregnant with Little Man my Aunt Michele told Daddy "don't have babies with someone in our family if you want to have kids that look like you". This has been the case for generations; our genes just take over. We are like that, a little dominating, but lovable.

I wasn't disappointed when Little Man took after Daddy, after all, I did fall in love with him. When The Babe arrived he took over the position of daddy clone. Not only does The Babe look like Daddy, he is just as laid back as the man that made him. The Babe will take a drink and then toss his head back and say "ahhh". He doesn't walk or run, he has a stride. Nothing phases him.

I don't believe babies are born with a clean slate. I believe they are born with predisposed characteristics that grow or stay dormant. My parents divorced when I was eight. With the divorce came a geographically distance between me and my father. The distance was as little as across town or across the world while my father was traveling in the Coast Guard. The distance brought a loneliness for my father but did not deter me from taking on some of his personality traits.

Little Man has taken on most of my traits. Either I act like a three year old or the boy is my child. The other day at Nana's he wanted to make a list. He grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and headed to the table. I was on the other room and heard a number of people call for me. I was in trouble, I could tell. I guess Little Man wanted to make a list of all the missing toys in the house. To top it off, he named all of them!

Daddy was not happy. What are you doing? You are making him neurotic!

As I have said before; I don't think I can MAKE my boys do anything. I simply think I am a guide. This incident merely reminds me to pay attention to what I am doing so I can pick the traits I want Little Man to see most often.

It also reminds me that I have an interesting road ahead. I am not sure who will do the driving, but someone's going crazy!

5 comments:

Putz said...

my fatherin law when we went to visit him at his shack, divorced., he said when he saw his grand kids, my and his daughter's kids, why don't you keep the mouse in your pocket, meaning don't take a chance and have sex when you could end up with another kid, or to him grand kid, wow did that tork me off

Anonymous said...

My kids look so much like my husband I often joke that I was just a host.. but as their little personlities are starting to unravel I have not a doubt in my mind that they have some of their mama in them.. Their quirky personlities have ME written all over them.. :)

MadMad said...

It is weird how they come out with their own little (big) personalities sometimes, and there is nothing you can really do but make sure they're fed... Thanks for coming by! Your blog is gorgeous! (And speaking of gorgeous, you totally look like you COULD be a pole dancer, which would be the difference, I think. I pretty much just look too old for anything more exciting than a hairnet and a set of tongs.)

Martin said...

I always got funny looks as a kid when I started dropping letters into everyone's postbox up and down our street...

Taking after your Dad they all said. Odd, Dad worked in a factory....

Heather said...

Sometimes I feel sorry for my oldest, that he is so much like me. I try to behave not like myself around him so much when it is a trait I want him to overcome (like obsessive list making) but he does those things anyway. It's unavoidable I suppose.