Suburban Shalom

seeking peace and purpose from my little neck of the suburbs

And, they say it’s not innate…

I’ve been going through pictures on our computer this week in hopes of getting to the point where I can print some of them off and organize them into albums where people {like my own children} might actually be able to see them some day. I have no problem taking the pictures or even getting them uploaded to the computer. But, once they land there, they tend to be permanently parked on our hard drive. Whatever happened to the days of taking a roll of film to the local camera store and then waiting with great anticipation to pick up actual hard copies of our memories?  Sometimes technology robs us of the simpler joys…

Anyway… as I’ve been sorting through the pictures from the last few years I’ve noticed something remarkable. There in our collection of hundreds of photos lies proof that children, even siblings, are born with innate differences in temperament and disposition.

We’ve long known that the Toddler is serious and sensitive, but I don’t think I realized that these character traits date back to her infancy.

Here we have her first Easter…


Seriously… a bunny hat? 

And, once we went on a family excursion to the duck pond. As you can tell, the Preschooler thoroughly enjoyed herself…
Meanwhile, the Toddler merely tolerated the whole experience…
Isn’t the weather lovely?

Sure, I see the ducks. What’s all the hype about?

For some reason, I never noticed until looking back through these photos just how much the Toddler seemed to dislike her Bumbo seat. 

She felt the same about her forward-facing carrier…
Then, there was the time we went to the Birmingham Zoo. Not surprisingly, the Preschooler thought it was a great outing. And, as usual, the Toddler thought…
Oh, wow. A slow-moving train that circles the zoo. I can hardly stand the excitement.
I used to try and get pictures of the girls doing cute sister things. But, I soon realized it wasn’t really worth the effort.

I think she’s touching my head. Yes, her lips are definitely touching my head.

That’ll be enough of that. Got it?

So, I stopped with the sister pics for awhile until that summer when I thought we should try again…

What is it with you people and this Bumbo seat? Can a 1-year old not get a real chair around here?

And, then there was her first haircut… which she just loved, of course.


And, we’re going to pay her to do what with the scissors?

Next, we have the happy occasion of the Toddler’s second birthday party…


And, our annual outing to the pumpkin patch…
Raise your hand if you want to leave now. Me! Me! Pick me!

And, no family album is complete without this jewel from Halloween.


Don’t even think I’m going to smile with this poodle skirt get-up on.

Fortunately, by the time I got to our more recent pictures, I started noticing a much happier disposition in the Toddler. She poses on command now and can even be caught, on occasion, smiling without being prompted. She still retains a great deal of seriousness about certain matters, but I think that at age 2.9 we might have turned a corner with our willingness to let our guard down a little and crack a smile. 

Comments

  1. Beth says

    absolutely LOVE this post! What a cutie..and of course your captions are priceless. The halloween pic. may be one of my all time favorite kiddie pictures!

    Reply

  2. Hollie says

    Beth: Thanks for your comment! I can't wait for you to enter parenthood just so I can hear some of your commentary on it 🙂 Hope you're feeling well!

    Reply

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