No, the girls are not twins, obviously, since they are 2 years apart - two years and 4 days if you really want to know. Try to ask me their birthdays and it takes me a minute before I say them correctly (August 27th, 2008 and August 31st, 2010). But, going back to the whole point of this post, Campbell has recently developed two traits that are IDENTICAL to Peyton and it makes me wonder.
The first trait is the infamous crawl. Anywhere we went, people would stop and watch Peyton crawl. She never once crawled like a normal infant. Instead, she would always tuck her left leg under her torso and use the right leg and her hands to crawl. You see this exact same thing with gorillas to give you a better image. In fact, one person even named her crawl as the 'gorilla crawl.' Although it was very awkward and amusing to watch, Peyton knew what she was doing. The girl was a speed demon. Her poor left leg was always covered in scratches, but she was very efficient and had no trouble going anywhere she wanted. I often found myself running after her she was that fast.
We were all waiting to see how Campbell would crawl and at first, she crawled like a normal infant. But then one day out of the blue, Campbell started tucking her left leg under and now she is a speed demon. I think she started doing it so she could keep up with Peyton and her nieces. I was content have a normal crawler that wasn't able to get around too fast, but I will admit, it is pretty neat and fun watching Campbell crawling an awkward crawl her big sister used to do.
The second trait that Campbell has developed is not a good or cute trait. In fact, it is a very smelly and bad one. Peyton became well known for her ability to rip her clothes and diapers off during nap time, no matter how many layers of clothes and how many layers of diapers, and use that newfound freedom to poop in the bed and then use that poop to decorate herself and the crib. I did everything in the books to get her to stop doing this. I seeked advice from all parents I knew and even dedicated my facebook status to the "help me stop Peyton from decorating with poop" cause, asking everyone for advice on how to get her to stop doing this. It was a daily struggle that lasted months. Finally, I was able to successfully address the issue by putting footed PJs on backwards on Peyton, thus making the zipper out of her reach as it was now on her back. It took awhile to learn how to put footed PJs on backwards, but man, it solved the problem and all was well.
Until one day, I walked into the nursery to get Campbell up for her nap and I was met with overwhelming smell and sensation that it was happening again. Yep, Campbell was standing there with a huge grin on her face and buck naked. She had taken her clothes and diapers off, pooped, then decorated her crib with her new art material. I screamed and screamed and screamed. HOW COULD SHE KNOW HOW TO DO THIS??? Why do BOTH my girls insist on doing this?? What is the deal??
Campbell has demonstrated her new skill twice now, and the second time it was so bad that I spent 30 minutes scrubbing her down with a TOOTHBRUSH and soap because she managed to get the stuff everywhere. Campbell screamed the whole time, so maybe when she thinks about doing it again, she will remember the scrub down and decide not to decorate. But, knowing my girls, Campbell will continue to do it. Time to get the footed PJs out from storage.
