Birth Order

I come from a blended family. I am my father's firstborn but I am my mother's middle child. Having a husband who has a degree in education lends to many discussions about how our children resemble our personalities and charts similar to the one above. It is so crazy to see how personalities can fit into such categories. My daughter, Madeline, is truly a firstborn. She tells everyone what to do, she is broken into a million pieces when Mommy or Daddy discipline her. She thinks she knows how to do everything "all by herself"! 

Emma, doesn't fit in the category as well as Maddy does. She is independent and loves to negotiate but she isn't always the most easy going or the best peacemaker all the time. Today I was getting ready and Emma was in the bathtub and August was standing up by the bathtub, like this picture below:

She was making him giggle so much and I realized how unique her relationship is, and mine was as the middle child. She is the only child who will never know being alone with mommy for a season. When she was born, Maddy was at home. When Maddy went to school, August was born. Emma will always be the child who was with mommy and another sibling during her preschool years. I have always felt like I have been able to connect with people and play the middle man really well. I have often been the person who levels the field between two opposite personalities. I think that Emma will have that same advantage. She is great friends with Maddy and while Maddy is at school, she has developed a great relationship with August. As they were playing together and she was making him laugh, I found myself smiling because she has a unique fit in the life of our family. She doesn't fit in a box! I found myself stopping and saying a little prayer, "God, please help me to see who you have made Emma to be and to grow her into the woman you want her to be rather than being who I think she should be!"