Mama's Girls

We spent the day at the pool. Now that summer vacation is winding down into the final two weeks, we plan to spend every sunny afternoon pool side. It's a good way to tire us all out and to soak up the sun. Today I watched as the kids played with each other and occasionally with other kids who happen to float into their radar. Piper was her usual bitchy self--snarling at any kid unwise enough to get within a foot of her. She'd yell, push away, turn her head, and if you had the misfortune of being born a male, she would stick her tongue out at you. Camille alternated between slapping wet handprints down on the side of the pool, and bumping into everyone, utterly oblivious to the presence of other humans. When she knocked someone, she gave them a cool glance, and moved on. Umberto was pretty mellow. He played with the girls mostly but wasn't rude or aloof to the other kids. He was just shy and didn't make much effort to get to know anyone.

A pretty typical day at the pool (including a Piper meltdown involving having a stuffed animal at poolside).

I told H just a minute ago, as we reminisced about the girls' personalities: "It's funny because Piper has my in the face bitch attitude; while Camille has my slightly aloof, I think I'm better than you personality. Wow you really lucked out and got two girls just like their mama." He laughed and said: "Yeah. It's kind of like they split up your two different personalities." And he's right. I totally embody both aspects of the girls. There are times when I'm really in your face, mouthy, loud, etc, but then there are times when I'd just rather pretend you don't exist. A lot depends on my feelings and relationship toward/with you. But the girls have managed to split that personality into separate entities. Neither possesses both of these aspects.

It's one of those funny quirks of having kids. The thing that really throws my whole cultural constructivist self into a tail spin. Yeah it can be argued that they learned this from me but why do they each have a such different aspects of me? It's a funny thing to have kids and watch them develop into beings that are so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. They always have pieces of us but they never are us.