Every Child is Different

Everyone always says that every child is different. That kinda seems like a no-brainer, except sometimes I find myself expecting Cora to hit every milestone just when Reed did. I guess maybe because it is my only point of reference. Maybe part of it is they do look and act so much alike that I expect them to be alike in other ways too.

Cora can stand up in the middle of the room and take a few steps, something Reed couldn't do yet, but if he could pull up on some furniture then he could walk all over. She is and Reed was a very active baby. I thought Reed was a climber (http://erinandbob.blogspot.com/2009/05/no.html) but I think Cora might be even more of a monkey. Maybe we have just left her with harder challenges due to Reed's behavior. The coffee table in the referenced 5/2009 blog post is no longer in duty as a coffee table. We don't use one anymore. So what does Cora try to climb (besides the obvious staircase)? She can hitch one leg up to the top of the bathtub and she almost can get her leg to the top of Reed's twin bed on a standard bed frame. I couldn't quite get that documented on film this morning. Believe me, it was impressive.

Cora likes to try to dress and undress herself more than Reed. She loves to pull off socks, shoes, and hats especially and then fiddle around trying to put the sock or hat back on. She throws laundry over her head and I think she thinks she's putting it on, sometimes wrapping them around her shoulders like a kid leaving the pool in the summer.

Cora manages to circle her foot with any ring-like object you give her, regardless of the diameter of the ring. It is kind of amazing sometimes...at least to me.

All these things Cora can do; some impress me, some terrify me. My baby girl. Then I think back two years and I think of Reed as he approached his first birthday. I really thought he was a big boy. Now I look at Cora and I see a baby. It makes me remember back when one of Reed's friends turned one the month after him and the mom said that he seemed like a baby to her still but when his older sister (the first born) turned one they thought she seemed so grown up. I wonder if this is a birth order thing or a personality/ development thing. It doesn't really seem like Cora is behind where Reed was besides being a few teeth short. Could that make a difference or is it just a matter of perspective?