Family Traits

We all inherit traits from our family that we are proud of and ones that we try desperately to change or hide. As our children are born we wonder which traits they will be lucky or unlucky enough to have received.

One thing I am thankful for is that Maddy did get better hair than I have. I come from an long line of women who have very thin, fine hair. Maddy also got the ability and desire to negotiate. Some of the funniest moments are when she and the hubby go head to head.

She also has some traits from me that I am not so fond of, but I can say she comes by them honestly. First I am not Obsessive Compulsive, hang on a sec I need to go turn the light on and off three times. Ok, ok....I might have a few OCD tendencies but I try really hard to keep them at bay. Lately I have noticed Maddy doing a few things that I "would do" as well and trying to convince her not to is like convincing me not too. A perfect example is the Katy Perry post. Maddy has now decided that she has to have a play list just for Church! So I have spent almost every day approving songs that she can listen to before and after Church. The only problem is that the child has about 8 Bazillion songs on her I-pod.

The other trait she has come by naturally is being very literal. We have some great literal stories in my family. Thankfully most of the time we are literal, but can rapidly deduce what the message actually is. This also helps me in understanding how Maddy comes up with answers to questions or problems. The flip side is that is makes it very difficult sometimes to help her think around the questions to get to the correct answer.

One thing Maddy is great at is dressing opposite of the weather outside. She has always done this and I suppose always will. Living with it 24/7 I have just grown numb to it. My Mother however still struggles with this. Last week we were working in one of her Life Skills books and the section was discussing weather and temperature. I would give her the weather forecast and then ask her questions about what type of things would she wear and what type of activities could be done outside. We got to the last question and boy did it take us a long time to work around that literal answer. The forecast was warm, sunny and very windy. The question was could you fly a kite and what did you need to fly a kite. Well she starts right in with I would need to have a kite. I would ask what else and she proceeds to go down the ENTIRE list of kite accessories. Finally I had to break down and mention wind. Her answer was "Why would I worry about if it is windy out if I don't have a kite!".

Family traits gotta love em.