Square Peg, Round Hole

 

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has

already earned my contempt.  He has been given

a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord

would surely suffice.

-Albert Einstein

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It's official!  Malea is a DeLashmutt.  

When you become a parent, there is joy in simply watching yours and your spouse's traits come out in your child.  Aaron would say Madison gets her emotionalness from me.  I would say she gets that knack for walking around with something in her hand and asking where the item is, while it is in her hand the entire time, from him.  I will admit, however, that Madison is mostly me!  She looks like me, walks like me, talks like me and has been dubbed my mini-me.  Malea, on the other hand, has been a toss up. 

I've always thought, since Malea was born, that she looked more like Aaron.  When we came home, I compared her first baby photo to Madison's and if I didn't know who was who, I would have gotten them confused.  As she grows up, I am seeing differences but most everyone comments how much she looks like Madison.  Again, when you compare photos, there are definite differences but they do look alike. 

Yet, Malea loves to spin herself into a Ring Around the Rosie frenzy until she falls down.  She will pile the pillow pets on the floor and fall head first into them.  She will bonk her head on things just to make us laugh.  She's full on silly and I'm confused as to whom she got that trait from.  I love her lust for laughter and how she's most happy when she is making people laugh.  While Madison loves to care for people so I'm just sure she's destined to be a nurse, I see nothing but clowning around from Malea.  Those who know both Aaron and I would say clowning around is not something neither of us does often. 

However, I was playing with Malea on the floor the other night.  She has this toy cube that has different shaped slots on each side for blocks.  I try to line up the blocks and encourage her to push them inside.  Or, I'll point to the matching color, hoping she'll be super intelligent and just thrust the block inside without having to rotate it until finding the perfect position for it to fall inside.  But, the other night, as I watched her play, I saw one trait that seals the deal for me that she is more Aaron than she is me.  What is that you ask?  It's a little thing I like to call square peg, round hole. 

I use this term often with Aaron's father when he attempts to solve the simplest of problems with a very complex solution.  At times, I'll even tease Aaron and just say to him "square peg, round hole."  It's as if there is an absolute refusal to believe the square peg will not go in the round hole.  As though we've been lied to for centuries and they do actually fit.  Hence, when Malea's little square block sat in the round hole, I had to snap a photo. 

If she is more Aaron than me, I'm OK with that.  Perhaps she's already showing us her own personality that is different from both of ours?  For now though, I'll hide the little toy block.  Just in case she becomes convinced that square pegs really do fit in round holes.