Personality
May. 31st, 2012 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiMina is such a happy, easy-going baby. Her personality coming through this young? Folks have always commented on how social/easy/smiling she is - moreso than they would expect from a baby (who should be crying most of the time right? or something? so they say).
This weekend we went up to NH to visit with my parents, and my sister and her boys were also there (Gene and Stene were at a wedding, so we missed seeing them and Mace face). JD is all grown up; he is going to be 15 this summer! He was working for my dad, doing demolition in their vacant second floor apartment so that dad can make it more habitable (remember or "Nashua Cribs" episode?). Colin is what, 3 now and Braylon is 2. They are having so much fun with their new baby cousins Mason and Mina. At one point Colin remarked excitedly, "Baby Mina, you are so pretty with your face!". Aw, so cute. I don't want our girl to find value in people's comments about her being pretty, but it is so hard not to remark so when she smiles at you.
There are only a few kids in the infant room at the childcare center she attends. She is by far the baby-baby. She's also the only girl in there. Twin brothers Don and Donnell are walking/crawling all over and causing all sorts of trouble but have fun with her. Aiden is a new little boy - I haven't seen him yet but Brian tells me that he's a handful in the morning when his Mom is trying to drop him off. Nathaniel rounds out the room. He's similar age-wise to Don and Donnell (and I think Aiden), but he's quite grumpy and antisocial. When I picked up Mina yesterday they told me excitedly that her charm had broken through his grumpy and antisocial facade. When the kids have tummy time on the mat, he does not want to be near the other boys but is content to allow Miss Mina to be near him. He reacts VERY strongly to the other kids being near him, but is tolearable/curious about Mina. On nice days, they take the infants outside if the staffing permits them to do it reasonably. They need to be able to keep an eye on the mobile ones, and Mina and Nathaniel hang out in a stroller or bouncy seat. I guess yesterday they sat the two of them next to each other, and found Mina had grabbed Nathaniel's hand and he was allowing it! They took a photo of the two of them sitting together and a closeup photo of their cute, holding baby hands. Our girl seems to have picked out a boyfriend for herself, and an older man at that. Brian says he fears that our daughter will follow her Mom's footsteps in liking grumpy/antisocial/problem boys. I think that it's just her smile, her love and her easygoing nature isn't threatening to poor Nathaniel. I'm intimidated by those twin boys and their energy sometimes!
I know I was a chatty baby when I was a kid (as Mina is seeming to be) but I think I was more cranky/awkward and less social/snuggly (with my parents at least) as Mina is, if I recall what my parents said. My sister was the quiet snuggler, but I always had something to do or somewhere to get to. Who knows what Brian's personality would have manifested as, were he given a more supportive environment at home (and wasn't so isolated). She's just under 5 months old and really is just her own person. Crazy!
We are so in love.
This weekend we went up to NH to visit with my parents, and my sister and her boys were also there (Gene and Stene were at a wedding, so we missed seeing them and Mace face). JD is all grown up; he is going to be 15 this summer! He was working for my dad, doing demolition in their vacant second floor apartment so that dad can make it more habitable (remember or "Nashua Cribs" episode?). Colin is what, 3 now and Braylon is 2. They are having so much fun with their new baby cousins Mason and Mina. At one point Colin remarked excitedly, "Baby Mina, you are so pretty with your face!". Aw, so cute. I don't want our girl to find value in people's comments about her being pretty, but it is so hard not to remark so when she smiles at you.
There are only a few kids in the infant room at the childcare center she attends. She is by far the baby-baby. She's also the only girl in there. Twin brothers Don and Donnell are walking/crawling all over and causing all sorts of trouble but have fun with her. Aiden is a new little boy - I haven't seen him yet but Brian tells me that he's a handful in the morning when his Mom is trying to drop him off. Nathaniel rounds out the room. He's similar age-wise to Don and Donnell (and I think Aiden), but he's quite grumpy and antisocial. When I picked up Mina yesterday they told me excitedly that her charm had broken through his grumpy and antisocial facade. When the kids have tummy time on the mat, he does not want to be near the other boys but is content to allow Miss Mina to be near him. He reacts VERY strongly to the other kids being near him, but is tolearable/curious about Mina. On nice days, they take the infants outside if the staffing permits them to do it reasonably. They need to be able to keep an eye on the mobile ones, and Mina and Nathaniel hang out in a stroller or bouncy seat. I guess yesterday they sat the two of them next to each other, and found Mina had grabbed Nathaniel's hand and he was allowing it! They took a photo of the two of them sitting together and a closeup photo of their cute, holding baby hands. Our girl seems to have picked out a boyfriend for herself, and an older man at that. Brian says he fears that our daughter will follow her Mom's footsteps in liking grumpy/antisocial/problem boys. I think that it's just her smile, her love and her easygoing nature isn't threatening to poor Nathaniel. I'm intimidated by those twin boys and their energy sometimes!
I know I was a chatty baby when I was a kid (as Mina is seeming to be) but I think I was more cranky/awkward and less social/snuggly (with my parents at least) as Mina is, if I recall what my parents said. My sister was the quiet snuggler, but I always had something to do or somewhere to get to. Who knows what Brian's personality would have manifested as, were he given a more supportive environment at home (and wasn't so isolated). She's just under 5 months old and really is just her own person. Crazy!
We are so in love.
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Date: 2012-05-31 02:42 pm (UTC)And it's not like infants can be complimented on their humility or penmanship...
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Date: 2012-06-03 05:00 pm (UTC)The danger is in a girl being valued JUST for being pretty, or having that value be the highest. We all still want to feel we're pretty to someone, even if we are happy that we are smarter than we are pretty. So just balance it out with your compliments/comments on her other traits. And later, if need be, have some conversations with the people who do the most toward forming her self opinion. "You're so pretty" comments from random people aren't going have a strong influence in the long run, once she realises that all they know of her is her outside, so they couldn't possibly comment on anything else.