How different was your 2nd child to your first? Temperament etc

[Dozeyland]

Inow everyone is different, but how so in your experiences?

Pretty much total opposites.

DS1 is very gentle, easygoing and laid back. DS2 tends to play more roughly and is a lot more demanding, he gets much angrier when things don't go his way.

DS2 is only 13 months though so it's hard to say how different they'll turn out.

Like black and white. If I met them seperatly I wouldn't place them in the same family iykwim. In looks, in temprement, in personality. they're both amazing but it shocks me how unique they are, how little influence my parenting Seems to have on them- I've been the same mother to each, you'd thinly that they would share at least some. likes/tastes/quirks, but no. Then they are still very young, so perhaps in time dd2 will be more like dd1 (doubtful)

• think not thinly!

massively

Then again I am *nothing like my siblings. At all. So why should my dds be alike?

Polar opposites in every way so far.

Polar opposites!

I have 4 girls and they're all quite different tbh.

Interesting thread, I love my ds dearly but I'm hoping the next one won't be quite so spirited (for want of a better word)!

my DP has a theory on this. he says that the 2nd DC fills the space that is not taken by DC1 in order to exist if that mkes sense?
so DS1 is very intense and hard work and DS2 is super easy

just wondering how DS3 will be? a bit of both?

complete opposites from day 1, thank goodness for that! love ds1 dearly but another the same argh! my mum had the same but my brother her first was an angel, she swears if she had me 1st I'd be an only child.

Complete opposites! Both boys but so different.
Ds1 is laid back & calm
Ds2 is one of those that throws himself on shop floors screaming and climbs everything in sight. I need eyes in the back of my head or he will be off!

ours is a bit weird - our three kids DS (5) and DT girls (2) all look very very similar: obviously you expect the twins to but they look so like their brother just more dainty, slightly smaller noses. EVERYONE comments. Yet personality wise they are very similar to each other but very different to him. He is very intelligent, rule-bound, very black and white sense of the world. Quite an intense kid, but with an amazing sense of fun. Doesn't rest much! DT's on the other hand - little imps. They have been described as "life's natural sequins" - they are charming and know it, very cute, but very very cheeky. Obviously it's early to tell but they don't seem anything like in the same league as DS intellectually (I do know it's early but DS at this age was already obviously going to be academic). The differences between the DT's are minimal - one is more cuddly, a mummy's girl. One is absolutely a law unto herself but does it all in such a cute way no one minds whereas the other is slightly more eager to please and will occasionally listen to the word "no". One is more independent - first to go off at places out of all 3, never looks back.

What's bizarre about my situation is having 3 who LOOK so alike yet are different.

My sister and I are polar opposites: scientist/artist, sporty/not sporty, musical/tone deaf - but we look polar opposite too: blonde/dark, short/tall...

Completely different. Ds1 easy, laid back, calm etc. Ds2 highly strung, gets angry very easily! But he does have a really adorable character too and can be really loving. Dd1 seems more like ds1 so far which makes life a little easier.

Completely different in almost every way.

Chalk and cheese!

DC1 sleeps. yawn

Hahahahaha.

Hahahahaha.... they couldn't be more different.

If you plotted DS1s temperament on a graph it would look like a contour map of East Anglia. DS2s would look like the fecking Himilayas.

DD fits in somewhere between the two, edging closer to DS2.

DD1 was the perfect text book baby, I was 19 and a single mum and found it a breeze.

Then I met dp and had dd2 and it was hideous, she didn't sleep and was just an angry little bundle for about the first year.

It didn't put us off as we've had dd3 and dd4, but dd2 is still the hardest of my children to parent.

"lifes natural sequins" theotherboleyngirl - what a lovely description.

My 2 dd are like chalk and cheese.

Only 7 weeks in but DD2 is the polar opposite to DD1 who, in fairness, was the devil incarnate. She hated every seat, swing, playmat, cot, carseat we could chuck at her (figuratively speaking...), thought sleep was for wimps and hated her dummy. She had the arse for the first year of her life.

DD2 is chilled, loves sleep, loves her swing, dummy and is generally no trouble. It's still DD1 (4) that keeps me up at night.

Chalk and cheese or polar opposites in all but that they both know their own minds (some would call it arch stubbornness!)!

Totally different

DD is loud, extrovert and a whirlwind to be around. Still loves attention - and sleep.

DS was a totally laid back baby, hitting toddlerhood is getting feisty but generally is pretty quiet and serious, will put his mind to things and is a lot more independant than DD was at his age. He was a nightmare sleeper though.

I always remember a quote on mumsnet saying DD broke me, DS is putting me back together, sums us up . DD is turning out to be a lovely kind, caring and on the whole well behaved teenager though so maybe she got her frustrations out early (living in hope )

Quite different - dd (DC1) is quite demanding in terms of attention, has never been willing to play alone at any stage of her life (6 now) very outgoing, sociable, confident socially, very early walker and talker, was a very bad sleeper as a baby from day one til 9 months and pretty bad sleeper til 2, not naughty as such and easy to take out in public, eat out with etc. at all stages so far but also a big show off and rather an attention seeker :o

ds1 (DC2) was a much easier baby, slept far better than his older sister, always has played better alone (though they play together now a lot). He is more straightforward than his sister, very loving, not manipulative as she can be (and could be from an early age) but also more sensitive, far, far less outgoing and far less socially confident, younger for his age than she was at the same age - also wilder, louder, more accident prone, and less reliably well behaved in public.

ds2 is only 10 months but seems more like his big sister than brother in personality, and an even worse sleeper!

All 3 look quite similar, except that dd is slightly shorter than average for her age and slim, whilst both boys are 90th centile for height, ds1 is broad shouldered rugby player build and ds2 seems so far to be slimmer built. They have very similar colouring and I think most people would pick the older 2 out of a group as siblings, if that makes sense.

My 2 dds are very different from each other although they look similar.

DD1 (6) - very well behaved in class, timid, shy, loves books, is drawn to other similar girls, hates to be told off or get anything wrong.

DD2 (4) - much more of a "free spirit", she is cheeky, impish, imaginative and generally a touch mad. She also doesn't like to be told off, but it seems to happen to her more often....! She is drawn to children who like her eccentricities and clownish ways.

All my children are different. In fact the 2 most alike are DS and DSS1

DS1 (9) was a very laid back baby, good sleeper, happy to just entertain himself. DH says DSS1 (9) was like this too. They are both outside now in the rain together building a fort apparently in the garden. They are both quite passive and ready to compromise - which does make me wonder how they ever actually finish building anything!

DSS2 (5) was always a demanding baby in terms of attention. He woke nightly until the age of 4. He has the biggest temper of the children (so far) but is also the most loving of them all. So far he has come in 7 times to say "YAK, DS or DSS1 said .......X" He will probably be fed up soon and come in for cuddles which the older 2 would never really have done at that age.

DTS1 (9months) - he's a whirlwind. Always been very active, cheeky personaility and very much a giggler. He is walking already and already proving the distraction technique that's worked so well on the other boys to avoid distuction/ injury is not going to wash with him.

DTS2 - polar opposites to his brother! He is quite happy to be still in one place, is showing no interest in moving about yet. He is very much a watcher. Will happily sit and watch what is going on. He may possibly be my acedemic one as he is showing signs of making sounds like words atm.

DD - she is a gymnast OK, she's not even born yet and is only 25 weeks gestation, but by god this girl don't say still.

If I had my own way she would be a combination of her brothers good points but something tells me as the youngest of 6 children and the only girl she'll have a unique personality of her own

As for looks,
DS1 is ave height, slim, blonde hair
DSS1 is ave height, slim, brown hair
DSS2 is tall, slim, brown hair,
DTS1 slim, blonde,
DTS2 my chunky monkey, brown hair.