Mommy Needs To Vent

Monday, October 16, 2006

Two Brothers

I haven't been writing on my blog lately, but I HAVE been writing. I thought I would share a little something I wrote this weekend. It's a quick comparison of my two boys:)

“It’s going to be a boy,” the young man doing my sonogram said. When I heard this, I was prepared for a little boy to be born that would follow in the footsteps of my first son, Tyler. I expected him to look similar, but yet different. I expected him to do the things that Tyler did that drove me crazy, but maybe just a little crazier. I had a ton of dreams of what Peyton, my second son, would be like. Now I have learned if I have more kids, not to ever expect that.
Both were born 2 weeks early. Tyler was just ready to come out and see the world. Peyton was forced out by me wanting to get induced early. From the moment Tyler was born, he was a wiggly worm, that couldn’t stop moving and never wanted to sleep. Peyton on the other hand, came out of me sleeping. It took Tyler six months to sleep through the night. I called the hospital the day after I brought Peyton home because he slept for nine hours straight. Tyler would cry about everything and sometimes I would have to ride him around in my car at night just to get him to sleep. I had to call Peyton’s doctor several times the first month because Peyton slept twenty three and a half hours a day and never cried.
When Peyton was born, he looked exactly like his older brother did. As Peyton started to grow, he still kept that perfect nose and chubby cheeks. Now that he is almost two, he still has the same features as Tyler and you can tell they are related if you knew Tyler growing up. If you didn’t know both growing up, then you could easily say they aren’t brothers because of their coloring. When Peyton went to his two month check-up, I decided to bring up a question that had been haunting me for a couple of weeks.
“Is there anything wrong with his eyes? They haven’t started changing to turn brown yet and I want to make sure they are okay.” She looked into his tiny bead like eyes with a flashlight and responded to my question.
“Well, they haven’t starting changing because his eyes are going to be blue, so they are going to stay this way.”
Wow. I didn’t see that coming. Tyler looks just like his father and me, with dark brown hair, dark eyes, and a dark complexion. He is often mistaken for a Hispanic child and his teachers expect him to speak Spanish. Peyton has blue eyes, golden blonde hair, and a pale complexion. People ask me if he is adopted.
Tyler accomplished all his milestones early. He rolled over and started crawling at a younger age than most babies. He started walking when he turned nine months old. Poor Peyton was expected to do all this too. He didn’t even start crawling until he was nine months. Walking came at over a year. He is much slower than Tyler was. Tyler talks a lot too. He started talking at around eight months old. He could say sentences such as “My Daddy is at work,” in sign language by the time he was twelve months old. He is almost six and still talks all the time. Peyton is twenty two months old, and just learned how to say,” Bye.” He still does not say “mama.” He doesn’t want to talk or even attempt to do sign language. People tell me it’s because his brother does all the talking for him.
. In school, while the other kids are sitting “Indian Style,” Tyler is always standing on his head and won’t ever sit still. He won’t pay attention and will not watch a movie more than two minutes. Peyton will get his pillow and blanket, lie down, and not move until the movie is over. He can hold his attention on one toy for hours at a time. When Peyton and his brother get together, Peyton and Tyler both act crazy, scream, and run. When they are apart, you can really see the difference between how they act.
Tyler went to daycare the first two years of his life. Peyton has been with me since birth. Maybe this is why Tyler is not scared of strangers and will disappear at a store in a heartbeat. He will talk to anyone and wander off at any time. I often get scared he would be easy to kidnap. Peyton screams at the sight of someone he doesn’t know. He will cling to my leg and cry until the person goes away. He does not like me to be out of his sight and doesn’t even like his own grandmother. Tyler was only like that when it came to seeing a doctor.
Both of these children are mine and I love them. They both have different personalities and look very different, but at the same time they have hearts of gold. They both are children growing up happy in a very disturbing world. Right now they love to just be kids and play pretend. They love to get dirty and chase the cats around the house. Tyler wants to be an artist when he grows up and Peyton loves to draw and color all the time too. They love to wrestle with their dad and go for walks. Most of all they love playing with each other. Tyler and Peyton are best friends and will probably stay that way for a long time.

3 Comments:

I love this post. It's one of my favorites that you've ever posted!
It was wonderful to read about your boys. We are expecting our second child and I often wonder if he/she will be like their big sister ... probably not eh?
I loved reading about your boys too! I just started a blog and I so enjoyed writing about my boys yesterday! I feel like it's the only way I'll keep track of all this stuff which I'll probably forget later, even though I always think I'll remember it all forever! But the details get blurry a month later! How different they are, huh?! My boys are twins and they're as different as night and day! Just amazing!

Add a comment