16th November 2010 , Posted by Jaime Teo
More like Daddy or Mommy?
I was grocery shopping last week and couldn’t help overhearing a conversation that was going on at the “confectionery” aisle.
Little Girl : Daddy Daddy! This one! This one! We bought this last time and it’s veeery nice! It’s the original one. We buy this can?
Little Boy : No no Daddy! We buy this one! This one! We never try this before! This one got more chocolate, sure very nice one. Can we buy this one?
The clamouring and conversation continued along a few more aisles, with both kids touting their biscuit of choice to their father. I think both packets eventually went into their shopping cart, such was the ‘persuasiveness’ of the kids.
I found myself smiling at the contrast between the two — one goes for the tried and tested whereas the other for new grounds. And I wondered whose traits they took after. I also started wondering what traits Renee would get from me and which from Dan. It really is a very common question – one that gets asked even before the baby is born. “Will she be more like you or me? I hope she gets my/your <insert positive trait>”, as if by hoping, we can tailor make a child =p
When Renee was born, we looked at her every feature and checked them against our names – there was nothing on my side. She looked like mini Dan minus the goatee =p As she grew, I started seeing some resemblance to me although some friends tell me she now looks like her own person and they are starting to suspect we abducted her from a Japanese family.
So Renee(right) has got more hair but she has got my cheeks right?
Traits wise, it is too early to tell. From our ‘exchanges’ so far, it looks like she belongs to theåƒè»Ÿä¸åƒç¡¬ camp. In English, that means she yields to soft approaches and doesn’t take to the hard line approach. It is most evident when I put her in her cot during naptimes and she cries because she’d rather be carried to sleep. I have been trying to break this habit, but the stubbornness persistence of this one (I’m sure that’s Dan!) is stronger than my willpower at times. Continual encouragement helps calms her down sometimes, but when I ignore her or try to be stern, she works herself up to a proper ‘cryout’.
Also, it is looking like she prefers to do things her own way (can’t tell where she got that from… I suspect my mother may be laughing at this). When we give her a toy and try to take her hand to show her which buttons to press to make it work, she’d withdraw her hands and insist on working it out herself. I may be getting ahead of myself but I’m already wondering how we are going to teach her to write if she won’t allow us to hold her hands.
This is about the time I tell myself to stop wondering and start getting on with the rest of the day. “Whatever will be will be” applies even more when you grow up.
Oh and if she is like me(or Dan), no amount of hand holding is going to help her handwriting anyway.
1 Comment
Celine
November 17th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Renee definitely got your cheeks!!
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