The Warner girls, explored.

Do not adjust your television sets. I know, we're back online and it's been less than a week since our last conversation. But I felt inspired. Or bored. Or something. First things first, I know you're dying to know- Kimberly is now the proud possessor of ear tubes! And what good looking ear tubes they are. I think. I can't really even see them. She bounced back so fast that Jessie was skeptical that they did anything to her except knock her out. But my insurance claims they did something that cost a lot of money, so I have faith.

Speaking of the munchkins, they are the subject of my inspiration today. Spencer's sudden transformation into a man of substance has often led me to ponder which of the sisters imparted their dastardly or angelic tendencies to him. And yes, I know he got all his DNA from Jessie and I. But we are great believers in nurture around here, having heard too many of my phrases parroted from Madeline, and Madeline's turn of phrase in Kimberly's mouth. It has also led me to ponder in great, deep, philosophical sessions, what an amazement it is that two children could be so alike and yet so different. Spencer, alas, will have to wait to be the subject of my deep thoughts until he has shown more personality than smiling, crying, and stubbornness. But I thought you all must be as deeply interested as I am in my daughters, so let's play compare and contrast! Mostly contrast. But here's a brief rundown of the ways they are similar:

• Looks, obviously. They've gotten more different as they got older, but still similar enough that strangers have no trouble telling they're related, and every time we put Kimberly in an old outfit of Madeline's, it's deja vu all over again. And their baby pictures frequently get confused even by their dear father, who is not as obsessed with when we got certain clothing as I am.
• They definitely have similar mannerisms and habits. The way they talk, the way they play. There's that nurture thing.
• They both have an intense passion for pink and baby dolls and books. Many shared interests. Time will tell if that's just Madeline being bossy.

There's other similarities, but they're not as fun to talk about as their differences. Sometimes I get so thrown by Kimberly because I'm used to dealing with Madeline and forget she's her own person until she reminds me. 

• First, the biggest difference: their temperament.  Madeline is drama queen extraordinaire  Exceedingly and irrevocably happy until she's in the pit of despair. No in between. Every difference of opinion is a fight with her. Every timeout an ordeal. Not so with Kimberly. She's definitely been known to throw tantrums, but she's also often remarkably unruffled. She doesn't care about punishments or thinks they're funny. Where Madeline rages and reacts, she'll often observe or go off and do her own thing. A lot more patience, or apathy, depending on what spin you want to put on it.
• Madeline is a total extrovert. She must play with friends or perish. She talks to random people at church or out shopping, and if no one else is around, she requires me as an audience. The worst thing in the world for her is being alone. Kimberly is shy. She takes a while to warm up to people and doesn't like strangers. She's good at playing by herself and would rather sit with me than run and play.
• Madeline is robustly healthy. I think she's had two sick visits to the doctor her whole life. But when she is sick, you know it. She's a terrible patient. (See drama queen above.) Kimberly has been in to the doctor more times than I can remember for ear infections. She's had tubes and stitches and hand foot and mouth and throws up ten times more often than Madeline. But it's hard to tell when she's sick, unless she's puking all over your shoes or something. She might be a little crankier, or a little more tired, but mostly she just keeps going and playing and doesn't complain much. Nice and easy to take care of, but hard to tell if she needs medicine.
• Madeline has trouble concentrating on one thing. She bounces from thing to thing and never wants to pause or stop, and gets bored fast. Kimberly can spend half an hour reading one book or doing a puzzle. She gets absorbed. This is fun at places like the aquarium, when Madeline is racing from tank to tank and Kimberly wants to spend half an hour looking at one fish. One exception to this rule: they both would spend all day on the ipad if I let them. Dang technology.

So, that's their little world in a nutshell. It's fun realizing all my parental tricks and strategies, which have been pretty much trashed on Madeline anyway, won't work on Kimber, so we're back to square one. And now that Spencer is all into free agency and controlling his own destiny and junk like that, I'm pretty convinced he's going to do his own thing too, and so this parenting gig will always be an experiment. Good thing are test subjects are pretty cute.