True Colors

So, Travis and I really like the personality test called "True Colors" (there are actually two with colors, but we use Blue, Gold, Orange and Green). We are constantly using the colors as descriptive words to explain a person's behavior. Example, "I think the lady I met was really orange, she would be a sentence into our conversation and then be off on a different one with someone else." Or, "The person at the post office must be green." We don't have to go further. Well, we have our kids tentitively pegged, one with each color. We know that they can and probably will change here and there, but so far in their lives they are: Jeremiah--Gold, Lilly--Green, Isaiah--Blue and Adelyn--Orange
Here are some examples as to why we feel that way...

Adelyn--While she has the most room for change, currently she seems to lean toward Orange. An orange person flys by the seat of their pants, is always up for an adventure and really doesn't like rules (especially if they seem illogical or squash their fun). So far in life Addie has never really liked her exersaucer, we figure because it takes away her freedom. : )

Isaiah--He is Blue, there is no question (even with the option of change, right now he's blue). A blue person wants everyone to get along, they're romantic, personable and feeling. This kid cares SO much about people, he's always giving hugs, kisses and in general making everybody's day brighter with a smile. He has a following of older women at church (and other frequently visited places) who just stand in line for an Isaiah hug. He notices when someone is hurt or sad, many times he's "blown away my ouchies" without me ever mentioning that I had any, he just reads your face. Tonight at dinner the kids were being silly and saying they didn't like my cooking...I told Isaiah that he was going to make me cry, that that wasn't very nice and his little face, being all silly a second before dropped and his brow furrowed and he looked like he was about to cry!

Lilliana--My little Green girl. Greens could also be labelled "Type-A," but with all personalities there is a range from extreme to light. Greens like to be in charge, they follow rules IF they make sense to them and if not they don't really care. Lilly is a light green, she loves to be in charge and often will push rules if they don't fit what she wants. She will choose to go in the 2 & 3 year old's Children's Church, where Isaiah is the next oldest because they will listen to her and she's 'the big fry.' However, she does have a generous heart, last week I made her go to the 4 & 5's Children's Church and she almost cried, saying "But Isaiah will be scared without me." She also brought Travis a plate of chips during the youth game night, and then came back and refilled it and then offered to do the same for me, there was no prompting or asking involved. Oh, yes and with some of her birthday money she bought some animal crackers, which she shared, even though I didn't tell her she had too. However, I'm not certain that she was sharing purely out of the kindness in her heart (though there is a lot there), I think she really liked that she was in control of who got what and how much. It's not unusual to hear her say, "I'm in charge of my chicken." Soon she'll be in charge of getting the chicken's eggs...hopefully that rule makes sense to her, or we'll have a fight. : )

Jeremiah--He is my Gold. Golds are the rule followers, the organized, the details matter sort of people. We're the ones that read a sentence like "$60 for the first two people and then $10 for any additional" and go, "Do they mean $60 each or $60 total." And that happens with everything. : ) But anyway, on to Jeremiah's goldness...This kid remembers everything, if I need to do something, I tell him. Granted his sense of time is still developing so it's possible he'll remind you after the fact, but only because you didn't tell him to remind you before lunch etc...He remembers his finger getting bit when he was almost three at the Sylvana Fair, and he remembers eating crab with the Kershners when we was two years and two months old, so things that happened last summer when he was three are like crystal clear. He thrives on routine, this summer was tough on him, he lost a lot of focus and self-control. We've been in school for three weeks and his attention span has tripled from the last couple months, he likes knowing what is coming up. So, two days ago I sent him upstairs with his laundry basket of clean, folded clothes to put away. Half an hour later he still hadn't come back down, though I know he had been half way through. When I called him down for dinner he asked if he could finish 'rolling' his clothes. Not exactly knowing what sort of mischief was up, I told him after dinner he could finish. I got to see what he ment...he took every drawer (some of which were stuffed and hugely messy), folded the clothes and rolled them (just like Travis and I do). His underware, p.j.'s, shirts and pants are all nicely rolled in his drawers. I don't know how long it will last, but he had more laundry to put away today and he took his time and rolled them all.

I love my kids and I can't wait to see how they change and grow over the years and who they'll turn out to be.