Who my children are

Sometimes I look at my children and wonder where on earth did they get that???  They certainly didn't get that personality trait from me or Brian.  But then I have to stop and think, they are their own people.  Natalie is Natalie and Noah is Noah.  They are their own unique people.  No two people are the same and it's even more difficult to remember that because they are twins.  Twins tend to be compared to each other all the time because they are the same age.  I imagine girl/girl and boy/boy twins are compared to each other even more than girl/boy.  So I have to consciously stop myself from comparing them and view them as their own people.  I thought I would take the opportunity today to tell you who my children are and how I wouldn't want to change them for the world.  God has blessed with the two most amazing children that I know (I think all moms say that!).  They may be challenge at times and really try my patience but I love their spirits and their unique personalities.  (Thank you to Jaime for the idea for this post as she has done this for all her kids)

Natalie
Natalie is a high energy, spunky little girl who is full of life and loves to play with legos, tools, cars, trucks, fire engines, bikes, and pretty much every other toy that are typical "boy" toys.  She will very rarely play with anything girly.  Although she does love babies and taking care of her babies and animals.  She is very nurturing that way.

Natalie has the most charming smile that can make you forget everything that can be accompanied by the fiercest hug.  Her smile can be deceptive though.  She knows how to use it to try to get her way.

Natalie is incredibly curious.  She may not ask all the why questions and instead will try to act out her hypothesis to find out if she is right or wrong.  Unfortunately for her, her hypotheses may not always led towards safe and correct behavior and therefore she may get into trouble or get hurt.

Natalie is a dare devil.  She is quite physically strong and loves to be doing physical activities.  She may climb to the highest heights at the park, she may ride her bike as quickly as possible and then slam on her brakes right before I have a heart attack that she is going to go into the street.  She wants to see how far she can push herself.  She is rarely timid when exposed to new activities.  She will jump right in and sometimes will dive in headfirst without looking.  She loves trying new things.

Natalie has a strong personality and is opinionated   She speaks up for herself and she knows her own mind.  I very much appreciate this personality trait because it's one that I struggle with.  I'm glad to know that she will stand up for herself even if it might lead to an argument or fight with her brother or it might be in the form of sassing adults.  It might also be in the form of wanting to wear non matching clothes.  She is NOT going to be walked all over.  She will definitely let you know that she is not happy with something even if she doesn't say it in the most respectful tone-something that needs to be worked on.  I sure hope this personality trait leads to her being a strong, independent woman one day.

Natalie is incredibly empathetic.  She knows when other people are sad or unhappy and she will try to charm you out of your funk.  She knows when to give a hug or a kiss or be affectionate to make you feel better. She will try to pull you into an activity to make you forget what you were worrying about.

Natalie is a helper. She will often come over as I am making dinner and ask to help me.  She wants to know what I am doing and will often just stand and watch if I don't have anything that she can help with.  She is a great helper at school and her teacher has mentioned that several times that Natalie always is willing to help her with a task.

Natalie has a huge imagination. One moment she may be blasting off in a rocket ship and then next moment she may be a veterinarian and then next moment she may be conducting a band with her animals playing instruments and then she may be riding on a train that is going to crash.  It's hard not to get caught up in her enthusiasm of this imaginary world.

Natalie is affectionate.  She loves to give out hugs and kisses.  She loves to be cuddled (when she wants to be cuddles not when you want to give her a cuddle).  She loves to sit on laps.  She loves to be held and will often not let go because she is still cuddling with you.

Noah
Noah is a sweet, sensitive little boy who loves building.  He hasn't met any building material that he doesn't like.  He loves building with legos, blocks, wood, lincoln logs, drawing plans on paper.  He is a building engineer at heart.  He makes his own designs and doesn't need to follow the plans written out for him.

Noah is so inquisitive.  He wants to know everything about everything.  He will ask a bazillion questions about something and it may drive me up the wall but he does it because it he seeks knowledge.  He doesn't ever stop asking questions.  He retains this knowledge because days later he can tell me all about what he was told about such and such topic.  He tries to internalize the information so he can tell you all about x, y, and z.  His memory is truly amazing.  He remembers minute details about various topics.  He seeks his knowledge through gathering information from a variety of sources.

Noah is sensitive.  He does not want to get in trouble.  He hates to be reprimanded and will often cry if he feels like we are being harsh with him.  He normally will try very hard to be well behaved so that he doesn't get in trouble.  He is sensitive about how other kids treat him and he wants things to be fair.

Noah has a very active imagination.  Noah often dresses up to be different characters.  He loves to blast off into space, ride on trains, be a race car zooming around the house, and so much more.  He loves to invent situations and scenarios in his mind.  He loves to pretend.  He gets others to join in his imaginary games, including his sister and then the two of them create these amazing imaginary scenes.

Noah is silly.  He likes to talk in a silly voice.  He loves to make silly faces.  He loves to be physically silly.  He loves to laugh about his silliness and others' silliness.  He loves to try to make others laugh with his goofy antics.  His smile can light up the room.

Noah is a scholar.  This is manifested in his inquisitiveness as well as his love for books.  He loves to sit and have books read to him or listen to people tell stories and would do this all day if I let him.  He asks questions about stories and about character motivation.  He often looks through the books on his own trying to find out more information.  He loves fairy tales and will try to retell his favorite ones-The Three Little Pigs, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  He likes to try to make up his own stories too.

Noah is dedicated and focused.  He has a long attention span for certain things-building, coloring and drawing, books and more.  Often times he gets so engrossed in what he is doing that it is hard to get him to stop.  He wants to finish what he is doing before moving on to something else.  Unfortunately that makes it hard from him to transition sometimes and may cause a meltdown.

Noah is a problem solver.  He loves puzzles and loves to try to figure out how the pieces fit together.  He will work puzzle after puzzle until they are all worked.  Then he'll start again.  When he's playing with other toys and something doesn't fit, he moves things around and changes things until it fits.  He looks at things logically and strategically.  He wants to solve things himself and doesn't always welcome help from other people and gets frustrated when someone does try to step it.  Not being able to solve the problems cause frustration for him too.