h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So the Comet has learned to roll.

This shocked the heck out of you. The Star didn’t roll for at least six months. Of course, he had torticollis. It seems the medicos were right when they said it had delayed his development.*

Anyway, this underlined a suspicion that has been forming lately.

You children are not the same.

The Comet is a hedonist. She emphatically does not like to get hungry or tired and is not afraid to say so. She can spend hours lying around, soaking up every last drop of sensation from any given situation. She is the baby who found her hands in the first few weeks. Which is good because now she can use them to explore interesting new textures. She crinkles her crinkly toy with abandon, carefully fingers the plastic toys the Star brings her and you caught her stroking the leather sofa, an expression of bliss on her face the other day. She regularly tries to get her feet into her mouth. She hasn’t managed it yet, but you suspect it was an aborted attempt at that which first flipped her onto her stomach.

It is all quite strange and new to you, because in the time it takes the Comet to become bored with her surroundings, the Star as a baby would have demanded at least ten changes of position, tried to fling himself off the sofa, out of your arms, over the side of the bed and out of his bouncy chair and insisted you bounce him up and down for at least ten minutes.

This is because the Star is a thrill seeker. Contemplation is not his thing and neither is sitting still. He gets bored easily and does not see the point in waiting around once that happens. If he can’t do it, he is ruthless about abandoning it and all in all patience is not his virtue. He has an absolute disregard for physical discomfort. He is so busy looking for the next buzz, one that’s bigger, better and, preferably, more likely to cover him in dirt, that he just wouldn’t notice if he were hungry, tired or running a temperature of 150. He wants to know what’s over there, not over here, and by god can he shift when he sprints off to find it.

Anyway, you are not complaining (much). The Star keeps you fit and the Comet, well the Comet will soon be able to help you out in other ways.


*Brief pause while you struggle with the urge to google ‘long term effects of torticollis’.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/get_baby_ready_housework_11326

While people often comment on how obvious it is that I and my brother are siblings when they look at us, our personalities are like night and day.

I would often sit still and be quiet when strapped into the babysitter, fascinatedly observing the world around me.

My brother inherited the babysitter and, in the first week of use, managed to break the foot part of it (that was removable) by hammering his heels against it while hopping around the room (strapped in the babysitter).

So which one takes after his/her father, and which one takes after you?