By the book.......HA!

I was reading an article in a parenting magazine the other day and I started laughing out loud at the first sentence.  "Babies are naturally social creatures who love to interact with people."  I read this to Joe and he actually started laughing, ALOT.  Why did we both find this funny?  Have you met our daughter Sofia?  I was in the nursery at church a few months ago and they were reminiscing about Fia.  Some of the comments - "Do you remember how we couldn't even look at her?  She would start crying the moment you tried to sneak a peek at her.  It was straight to the swing and you had to leave her alone.  She was so cute I just wanted to hold her but she wouldn't let us."  I am glad that I read a few books before Fia was born so that I could have an idea of what I wanted to do and what my parenting style was but after that it's good to just throw them out.  I wasted a few months thinking I was a bad parent because my baby seemed to be in a bad mood quite frequently but you know what?  It really wasn't me.  Gosh, Fia is a GREAT toddler but man she can still turn it off and on.  Joe says I have to stop calling her Sybil but when the child cries and screams for 10 minutes in the car because her shoe fell off and you can't really attend to her and THEN she sees a dog out the window and in a completely normal tone of voice says oh look how cute the puppy is........well, she has earned the nickname!  I guess I have learned that each of my children have certain innate characteristics or personality traits.  For awhile I was mad that I had such an emotional little being in my life, I couldn't see why I ended up with the cranky baby (just striving for total honesty here)  But I learned that I can't change my kids or erase the traits that are inconvenient to me, instead I have to embrace them.  I can see Fia as a passionate young woman, ready to change the world with her intensity and willingness to take charge.  She is a mother to everyone and everything.  She is demanding but in return gives so freely of her love.  She thanks me, unprompted, for making her dinner, for taking her to the museum.  She cuddles rocks, sticks, the hairdryer, anything she can find.  I can see Nico bringing great happiness to so many people through his joyful nature and being able to make things happen with his great energy.    He will smile through anything, he clings to people when he hugs them, no half heartedness here!  He runs and runs and runs until he crashes.  You will be punishing him for getting into the trash, the oven, the stairs, the toilet, the anything and he will just laugh and laugh until you can't even be mad anymore.  My children are mine and I thank God every day for who they are.