is this payback?

According to my mother, my aunts and even some of my cousins, I was a very calm and quiet child.  My mother says that she would sit me down to play with my toys and I will just sit there - out of her way - playing by myself.  I was content with my dolls and knowing my mother was close by. 

This is me at the age of 2, playing with my doll.

Rafael - age 6

 

 

 

 

 

My mother in law says Rafael, my husband, was a very active boy.  She tells the tales of how she would tie him up to a chair - to, some how, keep him in control and how a few minutes later, he would free himself to go back to his naughtiness.  There are also those stories of how he would go make friends (specially those who had food) and play outside his mother's store all the time. 

Our kids have a lot of us.  Not only physical, but on how they behave.  Nathaniel is a lot like me: calm and quiet, although he can get rambunctious from time to time, generally speaking, he is more mellow than Adrian and Victoria.  Nathaniel can sit down and watch a movie for example, while Adrian has a hard time staying still.  Adrian is more like Ralph.  My mother in law used to say that whenever Ralph would finish his bottle, he would just threw it up in the air - and back then it was glass bottles, so many were lost if she wouldn't catch them.  Adrian did the same thing as a baby!  Ralph is very determined and border-line stubborn - and so is Adrian.  All those stories that I've heard of Ralph being active and mischievous, are becoming a reality in our house with Adrian.   While Nathaniel is analytical and a thinker, Adrian is more impulsive and a go-getter.  He is not shy at all! He makes friends anywhere! He just smiles and off he goes!

So, I often tell Ralph: "this is payback for all the headaches you gave your mom!" but, wait! why am I paying for it? beats me! I was the calm and quiet one... had I known back then that I was going to marry such a rascal, I would have let loose and done a naughty thing or two!

Rafael holding Adrian, Nathaniel and Victoria and I