Mother Nurture

It's been really fun - and interesting - to get to know Audrey over the past 4 months.  She is smart and discerning and is more sensitive to sound than her brother was at this age.  She wants to move much more than her little body is capable of and gets frustrated if she's left in one position too long.  She's very alert and attentive and not much of a fusser.  She's happiest when someone is giving her 100% of their attention and staring into her big blue eyes.

It got me to thinking about nature versus nurture.  I think both are extremely important, but I thought back to this little video of my boy taking his first steps on his 1st birthday.

Adorable, right?  But, did you see what happened at about 3-4 seconds in?  He stumbled a bit and I caught him.  I was helping him to stand back up again when he did something so characteristically Will that it makes me smile still.  He pulled his hands away as if to say - I don't need help!  Let me do it.

And now, at 2 1/2, that is one of the most common phrases my little man says, "No, mama.  Will do it." He's very independent and, although he's willing to ask for help when he can't do something, he always prefers to do it himself if he can.  And, that was evident from a very early age.

Knowing that makes watching my little girl grow into herself that much more interesting.  I see so much in her already.  She's SO different from her brother in so many ways: her physical appearance, her mannerisms, her "milestone" achievements, her likes and dislikes, even how she nurses. But she's smart and fun and fantastic in her own ways.  So much of that personality does seem to be there right from the start.

As a mom, I feel like it's my responsibility to nurture those (natural) strengths that I see in my little ones, even from this young age.  I think sometimes that can be hard if your child's strengths are dramatically different from your own (like if you are an outgoing parent and your child is more introverted), but I still think it's vital that, as parents, we work to understand each of our kids as individuals so we can nurture their strengths without making them feel compared to another child's strengths.  My kids may both be great athletes, or one may trip over their own feet (like their mama), or neither may like sports at all, but no matter what they are talented at or how their personalities manifest I will encourage each to be their own best self - whatever that may entail.  And, I'm so excited to watch my little ones grow into the [undoubtedly awesome] people that they will become.

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