Probably freakin' growth hormones in those nuggets.

When we visit the pediatrician, the differences in my daughters are glaringly obvious.  Physically, Laurel is 80 percentile weight, 90 percentile height while Rachel is 50 percentile weight, 17 percentile height. (You can probably guess that Ching has put the percentile growth numbers in a spreadsheet.)  Laurel tends to be verbal, easy going, cautious and will perform on command.  Rachel tends to be a little more pensive, 2 seconds from a dramatic meltdown, fearless and plays hard to get.  Laurel is a hybrid vegetarian..will only eat meat that is breaded, dairy, fruits and one vegetable.  Rachel is a great eater--she eats everything.  Laurel feels like she is missing something fun if she sleeps; Rachel sleeps like a log.

Their differences are a given but I don't notice them until I have to describe what the girls are like during their doctor's visit.  Then the imaginary spotlight burns hotly on my face.  Did I do this to the girls?  Because I know my parental style between raising the first daughter and the second was and still is very different.

I can't explain the physical difference. (If Laurel didn't have my same overbite, I would swear that she was switched at birth.) Probably freakin' growth hormones in those nuggets.  Great, I will be buying tampons for Laurel when she is 10.

I feel like Ching and I are the cause for Rachel's current verbal skills.  We don't read to Rachel as much as we did Laurel.  There was a time when we thought our eyes were bleeding from reading so many books to Laurel. We had to put a limit of three when she was a toddler.  Before the age of two, she had an amazing clarity in her speech.  So much so, that Ching and I would see what she could repeat--like riboflavin and superfluous. (Don't judge--It was harmless fun.) Rachel doesn't have this clarity.."please" sounds like "meee" and "thank you" doesn't even sound like one. Is it too much television, lack of books or Laurel chattering over her?

And then the food.  It is wrong but I cater to Laurel's needs like I am a short order cook.  Rachel will eat what Ching and I eat.  I am not sure how that happened.  And sometimes I will go into the family room around 5:00 and Rachel is eating a leftover breakfast waffle (sans syrup) that she found from that morning.  (I think it was in her reading chair--how ironic.)

I don't tolerate Rachel's tantrums--I just walk away.  But with Laurel, I remember, hearing her crying during a time out and I would start to cry. For the love of God, when did my heart crust over like that?

Once Rachel is in a big girl bed and can get up in the middle of the night, this will be the turning point.  I will learn to sleep with one eye open.