Our two boys

Any expert will tell you not to compare your children. But, seriously, is that even possible??? I understand the logic and wisdom behind the advice, so I'll try to follow it... instead of comparing my boys, I'll contrast them. Charlie is only 14 weeks old, but it's already possible to spot some differences between him and Zach. Many are subtle though, as so far these brothers are pretty darn similar.

Both boys are very mellow, willing to go with the flow. Charlie is so content 95% of his awake hours, it's amazing. Just last week he sat happily and quietly in my lap watching my friends eat dinner. He didn't want to sit in his car seat - that's not his favorite place if it's not in motion - but from my lap he was able to look around with his big eyes, taking in the world. I guess he just wants to be a part of things.

Charlie still doesn't cry much. He continues to wake up slowly, making little noises here and there, grunting and snuffling as he tries to get his hands in his mouth. He will eventually start yelling if we don't respond to all of these earlier cues, but it can be an hour before that happens! Zach, on the other hand, was quicker to holler, although he did give a little advance warning.

I think we're going to have another thumb-sucker in the family. Charlie has gotten his thumb in his mouth several times, and keeps on trying. I think I've already mentioned in previous posts that we have to swaddle Charlie with his arms free, just like we did for Zach. There'd be no sleeping in our house if the hands weren't available.

Charlie likes to be held upright, as did Zach. I think he really does prefer to have a view of the world, not just the ceiling and the face of whoever is holding him. He definitely won't fall asleep anymore when being cradled... that's how he eats, not sleeps - make no mistake about it.

Speaking of sleep, I just looked at the sleep spreadsheet I kept for Zach... yes, I had an actual spreadsheet tracking when he ate and slept. First-time mom, you got it! But it was fun to look back and confirm my suspicions that Charlie has been a better sleeper. At the age Charlie is now, Zach was just starting to sleep for 8 or 9 hour stretches, something Charlie has been doing for a few weeks. And by this age we had let Zach "cry it out" for a few short periods, something we haven't really had to do with Charlie. However, both boys, from the start, were great about going right back to sleep after they ate - no need to walk the floor, rock, etc - just lay 'em back down and they were out. Charlie is especially good about putting himself to sleep after I lay him down awake, but I suspect Zach would have been better if I'd actually given him the opportunity at this age!

One thing Scott and I noticed right away is that Charlie has no interest in standing. When Zach was a baby, any time we "stood" him up on his feet he would actually try to support himself on his little legs. Not Charlie - they collapse like little noodles! We always wondered if that was why Zach walked early - he wasn't very interested in crawling, he wanted to be on his feet. It'll be interesting to see if Charlie will be more of a crawler and/or a later walker than Zach was.

I get such a kick out of watching Charlie on his activity mat/gym (whatever these things are called!). He LOVES it. He started out just staring at the hanging animals/fish, then started talking to them, and now he is always reaching out to them, knocking them around. His eyes get huge when he makes them move, and the whole time his little legs are kicking in the air in excitement. This is very different from Zach - he was never the least bit interested those fish. So much so that when my mom offered to purchase something new for Charlie, I suggested a different activity mat, thinking maybe the fish one just wasn't a very good one since Zach didn't like it. But of course, there's nothing wrong with the fish mat - Charlie likes that one and the new one equally. Just a difference in the boys!

As far as how they look - I'll let you come to your own conclusions - these pictures are of both of them at 13~14 weeks. If you can't tell who is who... the first bumbo picture (outside) is Zach, the next one is Charlie. The baby is the bouncy chair Charlie; the one lying on the activity mat is Zach.

The video may be one that only parents or grandparents could love, but it's my effort at catching Charlie talking to the fish on his activity mat, and then talking and smiling at me (my apologies in advance for the video quality... no time to go get the tripod!).