When I sat down to write
this post last night it brought a little pang to my heart. I missed posting about Archer's first month with us and very nearly missed posting about his second. It's true what they say that parents take fewer photos of their later-born children. If it weren't for the
photos my friend Vi took of us all just after Archer's birth, we would hardly have any photos of him at all.
But beyond my negligence as his documentarian, I feel a bit negligent as his parent. I've given him so much less attention than I gave to his big brother at the
same age--
than I still give his big brother. Archer can usually be tucked away in my sling and forgotten about for a few hours at a time while I tend to Colin's latest accident/demand/meltdown. But bless him, he doesn't seem the worse off for it. He is so calm and gentle and good-natured, it almost makes me wonder if Colin might have benefited from a little more "negligence."
One doesn't like to compare one's children--and I'm not saying I prefer one over the other--but so far, my boys are as different as night and day. Since the day he was born, Archer has been a relaxed, contented baby. I think I can count the number of times he's been truly hysterical on two hands. As an infant, Colin
barely slept and was wound so tightly he would scream his head off every time he got his diaper changed. In fact, he still fusses about getting his diaper changed. I will be so glad when he is potty trained.
Likewise, my boys bear little physical resemblance to each other. Although they inherited a few characteristics from each parent, Colin looks more like Kevin's side of the family and Archer more like mine. (Colin has my dimple, his father's hair; Archer has my eyes, his father's, um ... earlobes?) I remember being surprised when I held Colin for the first time: He had such a full head of spikey black hair, how could he possibly be mine, I thought? But Archer I recognized immediately as a Ligon.
Lately, I've been wondering if they come by their differences naturally or if I've played some role in making them so very different. Was Colin really such a difficult infant, or was I just an inexperienced, insecure parent? Is Archer really so relaxed, or am I just better at meeting his needs quickly. It's certainly true that whenever Colin cried it made my blood pressure shoot through the roof. Archer rarely cries because we are so in sync that I know what he needs almost as soon as he does.
Perhaps it was the difference in their births: Colin's was v
ery intense and nerve-wracking; Archer's was
peaceful and easy--and they say that stress hormones present at birth stay in a baby's blood stream for weeks afterward. In this case, I wonder, could they still be in Colin's two-and-a-half years later?
Whatever the origins of their differences, it's exciting to have two such dissimilar children. Who knows what this very new, very different baby will bring to our family mix? Will he be left-brained like his daddy or right-brained like his mama? Will he be impish like his brother or something entirely different? In any case, I ought to do a better job documenting his many differences. So I'm setting myself the goal of taking a few new photos of him every week and posting them here. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Not with such a handsome mug ...
Tell me, were you a different parent the second, or third, or fourth time around? Do you think it's made a difference in your children's personalities?
Item No. 3 in the "What-the-Hell-Was-I-Thinking" Department: Forgetting to shut the basement door, after which Colin went downstairs and proceeded to empty an economy-size bag of dog food on the floor and then mixed it with the entire contents of our tool box. I'm sure the dog will be thrilled.
The first thing you might be wondering is why, with two small children in the house, do we own 10,000 tiny screws and nails? A very good question. We now own only 10 screws and nails.
Miraculously, I did manage to clean it all up before we had to leave town, including the dog food he put in the dryer along with my wet clothes.
