It's always up for debate - who do the kids look like? Some say Carter takes after me, although I've never been able to see it. In fact, I don't think that either one of my children look much like me at all. BUT, in personality I often see traits that so obviously come from me that it's a little scary. And I see it most often in this little man...
He loves to read and learn, if you ask him he's always right and he loves to be in charge and dictate the flow of activities. He's sensitive and dramatic, irrational at times of stress and cannot make a decision to save his life! It's funny how the similarities in people often cause us the most distress.
Case in point - at the end of October, Kyle was travelling and Carter had received green dots every day that month at school (it's a way of tracking behavior and green is good!), so I said that we could go out to dinner and he could choose any restaurant that he wanted. I thought he'd choose Red Robin, Chuck E Cheese or some equally kid friendly establishment. Not so much, he toyed with the idea of McDonalds (blech!) or Burger King, because those are places that Mom won't normally take him. He proceeded to throw out just about every restaurant in our local area and STILL could not make up his mind. FOUR hours later and I'm circling around as he waffles back and forth. It was maddening to say the least (although I struggle with simple decisions like these on a near daily basis). After making our way to an area of town that has a multitude of choices, I laid down the law and insisted he make a choice. By this point, we were all quite hungry. Choice made, Stardust Diner, a 50's style diner where he could get a hamburger and milk shake. We order (after waffling over the menu for a time - both him and me - Kennedy on the other hand, always knows just what she wants!) and the waitress goes to make the kids' shake...chocolate was ordered and after delivery Carter says, "I should have chosen strawberry!" Really, it was like looking at a miniature version of myself from across the table. I second guess decisions too, and now I realize how frustrating that must be for the people around me. All in all it was a fine evening, and we left with full bellies and pride for a month of good behavior. It was just another example of how very alike a child can be to his/her parent.
Carter is his own little person and I can only pray that he learns to use the good qualities he has inherited from his parents and overcome the bad ones :)
