Second Son, NOT Same as the First

When I found out our second baby was also going to be a boy, I knew theoretically that they would be different, but in reality, I totally prepared for the baby to follow in his brother's footsteps.

Boy, was I wrong! The adage "no two children are alike" is true. So very true. I am sorry I doubted you, adage.

Our first son had colic, and cried almost constantly (or that was what it felt like at least) for the first four months. Second son was a peach! He slept through the night after only a few weeks, and the best part was that he didn't wail for three hours before doing it, either. Isaac, even up through age two or three, took a lot of work to put to bed and usually still cried or fussed himself to sleep for a few minutes. Thad was so easy - you just laid him down and walked away. No fuss, no muss.

Of course, as Thad grew out of babyhood and into toddlerhood, the personality differences became much clearer. Thad is a very happy child, but on the rare occasions he got upset or mad, it was like a hurricane blew in, wreaked havoc, and then left - all in the space of minutes!

Thad is now three years old. He was a really late talker - in fact, he is still catching up to his peer level. We have had some concerns over his developmental delays. At 2 1/2 to 3 years old it is hard to tell whether he is just displaying extreme toddler angst or if there are deeper issues at hand. We've had evaluations done, but no one was willing to give a hard and firm diagnosis - we'd have to take him down to Children's hospital in Seattle to do that, and I am just not willing to put him through that yet. The evaluations done here were harrowing enough.

These local evaluations did qualify him for occupational and speech therapy, which we will start soon. They also qualified him for the public pre-school program aimed at children with developmental delays. He started the one-on-one prep class with his teachers in December and has done really well; we hope to integrate him into the classroom with the other children soon!

He is such a soft-hearted sweetie with a 1,000-watt smile! When he is adorable, he is the most adorable boy on earth. When he is cranky, you want to tear your hair out! I am not sure which son is more persistent - they just wear you down in different ways!

One of my favorite Thad quirks is how he will ask for something 23 billion times until you finally say, "Oh, Thad, would you like some pretzel sticks?" and then he will happily say, "Okay!" like it was all your idea - and a great one at that.

Another thing he does is say thank you - to everything. He'll be having a temper tantrum over watching a show and I'll get down and take away the DVD case as his punishment and when he calms himself down, I'll give it back to him and make him put it away. "Thanks" he says. Hahaha. Silly boy.

For a long time, he wouldn't give hugs, but he has now decided hugs are awesome, so he gives everyone one! He likes to reach around both your arms and squeeze with all his little three-year-old strength. I just love it!

I have a feeling that Thad will give us a hefty set of challenges that are completely different than his older brother's; I also think he'll bring us some of life's greatest joys. My heart swells when I spend time with Thad - he has that effect on you!