Life With My Little Girls

People are constantly asking me about the differences between Trynica and Berlin. Are they different? Isn’t it interesting to see how different they are? How are they different? The answers? Yes, yes, and in so very many different ways!! Not only is there the blonde hair/blue eyes compared to the brownish hair/hazelish eye thing, but their personalities can be as different as night and day sometimes.

For example…

When it comes to eating:
Trynica – is very particular. One day she will like one thing and the next day won’t like it anymore. She can take ages to eat a meal, even if it is something that she likes. Tryn will rarely ask for more. We can usually get Tryn to eat things though if she is not eating enough. Tryn will still let us help her eat if she is having a hard time with something (ex: like something drippy).
Berlin – I would say that the best way to describe the way that B eats is shovel. Berlin gets very intent on eating and will focus on that and nothing else, most of the times until she is done. Berlin will absolutely not eat anything that she does not want to and there is, literally, no way that I know of to get her to do it. B also has to do everything herself. She will even forgo ice cream if she can’t hold the spoon on her own.
Similarity? Yes, neither of them are very fond of veggies, though they both love green smoothies. And, of course, they both love treats.

Speaking of treats, when it comes to eating treats:
Trynica – will still eat slowly and methodically.
Berlin – will go back and forth. Sometimes she still shovels, but other times she will take one piece of candy and have it for 20 minutes. She will put it in her mouth and then take it back out, hold it, lick it, take a miniscule bite, hold it, put it back in her mouth, take it out, etc…Or sometimes she will just hold it in her hand for a really long time.

Reading:
Trynica – loves books. Even at a young age she would sit there and let us read 20 books to her, page by page, if we could last that long. We used to, and I guess still do, skip lines from the really long books!
Berlin – loves books too. With Berlin though, if we manage to actually read the first two pages we feel like we successfully read a book to her! She loves to look through books and flip the pages, but she can’t stay on one page for more than 5 seconds. And she is the one who has to flip the pages.

Talking:
Trynica – said her first word when she was six months old and never stopped talking after that. She was speaking full sentences and say her ABC’s by the time she was 1 ½.
Berlin – could really care less. She learns the words that gets her what she wants and doesn’t really bother with the rest. She is too busy to sit down and repeat the ABC’s. It’s not because we haven’t tried, she just doesn’t care.

Walking and other physical activities:
Trynica – started walking when she was 12 months old. She was very cautious and though she was probably physically able before 12 months, she was too cautious to want to take those first few steps. Once she started she learned within a week and never crawled again, but she took her time and waited until she was sure.
Berlin – pulled herself up to stand when she was six months old and started walking when she was 7 months old. It took her longer to go from steps to full on walking across the room, but that was because she didn’t have the strength yet (though she was walking across the room by the time she was 8 months old). People would always say that she was the smallest walking person they had ever seen. She has fallen off and down more things than I care to remember, more times than Tryn ever has and Tryn is twice her age right now. Berlin wants to, and will, try anything…especially if Tryn is doing it!

Socially?:
Trynica – loves friends and people, but can get overwhelmed easily.
Berlin – best described in Steve’s terms “Berlin is a party waiting for people.”

Animals:
Trynica – loves animals but gets scared of them pretty easily.
Berlin – adores all living things. She is fearless and will march right up to anything, even horses.

That is just for starters. I could go on about how Tryn is more emotional and Berlin is not. When Tryn was learning “No” she would burst into tears when we would say it, Berlin would laugh and think it was a game. Berlin is more stubborn and determined while Tryn is a people pleaser. Berlin is not fazed easily, she can go face first into the water in the tub and not shed a tear. Tryn is very aware of her surroundings and what is going on. I don’t want to bore you will all the many details though.

Of course, there are many similarities too. They both love fruit like it is going out of style, they love Jelly Belly’s and ice cream (just like their mom!), they both LOVE dancing and music, they both love to sing, to wear jewlery, to get new shoes, to be outside, to play at the park, to have their nails painted, and they both adore everything princess- especially princess movies – just to name a few.