Personality

It's fun to speculate about what kind of personality Dani is going to have. Will she be funny like her brother? Will she get excited about things easily like Jack? Will she be laid back? Reserved? Outgoing? Shy?

I truly believe that birth order plays a major role. Take Jack, for example. From the moment he was born he was the center of everyone's world. Our first baby. My parent's first grandbaby. Grandma's first grandchild that she has had a huge role in raising. And Jack has certainly decided that he likes being the center of the universe. There are some major pros to this. He loves to engage us. He's smart. He has acquired language at an incredible rate because someone is always talking to him (and because he's smart!). He has learned many things that even preschool kids don't know yet (ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes, etc.). But there are also negative aspects. He doesn't like to share the attention. He can throw little tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants (which is often attention.) And he's very shy at first in groups. At music class, it takes him awhile to warm up. Last week, he refused to go up to the teacher to give his toy back, even as all the other kids did this without a second thought. It's clear that he has not been as exposed to other kids. This is fine for now, but he is going to have to work on socializing with kids his own age, as he prefers the company of adults or older children.

Anyway, this has got me wondering what our Dani will be like. She came into the situation when we already had one kid. By nature, she will not get the one on one attention that Jack once got. I wonder how that will affect her personality. I think a lot of youngest kids are really outgoing and the cut-ups of the family. I hope this will be the case for her. I get the feeling already that she is going to be initially more outgoing than Jack. She LOVES to engage with you. Jack did to but Dani really loves it. Maybe it's because she has to share the attention and because she doesn't get 100% of it, she really adores what she does get. Or maybe she's just a little social butterfly. She follows our every movement and is always watching her brother. She grins from ear to ear when you talk to her and she loves to try and talk back. She's a big blabbermouth already. Hmmm. . . wonder where she gets that from? She seems to seek out and crave interaction with others, more than I remember with Jack. And she is WAY more interested in people than in things. This morning, when I put her on her playmat, I was trying to get her to bat at toys. She couldn't even see the toys because she wouldn't take her eyes and her grin off of me! I kept trying to divert her attention to the purple elephant that she seems to like but no luck. I had to back away in order to see what she would do but as soon as she caught a glimpse of me, it was over. Maybe this is an indication that she's going to, unlike Jack, jump into social situations with both feet. I sure hope so. She is so smiley and happy (unless hungry or trying to fall asleep) and squeals with delight at any interaction. Maybe she can teach her brother how to loosen up a bit in social situations!