Propensities

I don’t have hair hanging down in my eyes. I haven’t had it for most of my life, yet when I am stressed I will run my hands through the front part of my hair in a slight grasping way as if it was still falling down my forehead. Even now, with my hair probably no more than an inch and a half long, when I do it I feel like there should be much more there. But it isn’t. It hasn’t been for about half my life.

I would think I do this because of all of those years with horribly shaggy haircuts as a kid giving me the habit, but I’m not so sure now. Kestian does something similar by moving the hair off his forehead, and his hair has rarely been very long. Even with a fresh haircut he does that, and it is very obvious when he fusses over it when he lets me brush his hair (though he refuses any hair brushing anymore, even after a bath).

So I think my hair thing wasn’t due to my ragged mop of hair when I was a kid, but instead is just some propensity that I have and that I seem to have passed it on to Kestian.

I can see lots of the propensities that my kids have inherited from me. Little things that obviously they didn’t learn, and are not any OCD things (and I assure you, I can tell the difference). (Oh, Adelaide has taken to using “I assure you” in conversation lately, which undoubtedly is learned but is definitely from me).

I have never been a breakfast eater. Literally, never. As far back as I can remember, I just haven’t liked to eat much breakfast, and I can distinctly remember realizing this when I was in first grade (the kids’ age!). It is a combination of things, including probably some acid reflux issues (being on Zantac increases my ability to eat breakfast), but even then I just don’t like much in the morning. Heck, mostly I just get something to drink and skip it altogether.

So when Adelaide explains that she just doesn’t like eating in the morning, I totally understand. I mean, she has to eat something, but I am not going to force her to eat the ungodly huge meals that her brother eats (seriously kid, you’ve had three pieces of cinnamon toast, two bowls of serial sans milk, and a banana and you are still hungry?). The way she acts and the what she says makes me totally understand that she is just never going to be a breakfast person; she is just like her father.

Well, except for drinking. With Adelaide, having a cup of liquid with a meal is obstacle that is not usually ever tackled until after everything is eaten, and even then after we remind her. I cannot even FATHOM doing that! I drink a lot, and I do mean a LOT. No, not alcohol (sometimes, but I don’t drink alcohol a lot when I do drink it...screw you Paul!). I mean water, juice, soda, tea. I drink multiple cups with every meal, and I drink along with the meal (even though I don’t drink much wine, I totally get that it is part of the meal). All throughout the day, I always have a cup with me and I will refill it a lot. Today, for example, I peed five times before 10:00 NOT including my first pee of the morning, and that isn’t unusual since I probably drank 50 ounces of liquid in that time.

Kestian does that too. Ok, maybe not the drinking as much as me during the day, but he definitely drinks during the meal and will often have seconds (or more) of drink. Is that because he likes the sugar? Nope, our kids drink water probably 75% of the time.

I love the weird amalgamation of food behaviors that they share with me. I would make a chart, but instead here is a little list!
-Morning Meal
-Kestian: Big morning appetite (not like me)
-Adelaide: Small/nonexistent morning appetite (like me!)
-Drinks at Meals
-Kestian: Drinks a lot (like me!) during meals (like me!)
-Adelaide: Drinks if reminded (not like me) after meal (not like me)

Come on kids, why can’t one of you be exactly like me in all things eating? Adelaide actually requested a pickle at dinner and ate it (pickles are great!), but she also likes tuna sandwiches (so much disgusting there). Kestian likes all kinds of cheese, and the other day wanted super extra Romano cheese on his pasta (like me!) but complained because the pasta sauce had meat in it (not at all like me!). They also have differing views of broccoli and cauliflower, with one wanting it steamed and the other wanting it raw, and I’ll be damned if I know which one wants what (I do know, A: steamed, K: fresh), but it is weird because I love them done either way but for different reasons. Even when we have the same tastes, we don’t.

These amazing miracles of little people are part me, sometimes in very different and almost complementing way with each other. I am reminded of this every time I am stressed and run my hand through my hair; there is not a better way to encapsulate this than with hair. Adelaide has my color but not my texture or thickness. Kestian has my texture and thickness, but not my color. Seriously, Adelaide’s hair color is pretty much a good match for mine, and Kestian’s everything else (swirls included) is EXACTLY like mine. Let us hope that is the extant of their similarities to my hair.