My Little Temper Tantrum Thrower

No two kids are alike and Gage taught us that pretty much from the first day he arrived in our lives. I like to tease him and tell him he was my difficult baby, my little temper tantrum thrower. I can say this with a smile now because at 22 years old, he's much more in control of himself and his emotions. Most of the time. As a baby, though, he was very different from his happy-go-lucky big brother. I have plenty of pictures of him with his ornery little scowls and tearful outbursts. 

He's a bit stubborn. I jokingly say this started in the womb because when his due date came, he refused to go down the birth canal and required a C-section to deliver him into our arms. Well, his dad's arms. I was too busy having some kind of allergic reaction to the meds in my IV to snuggle him right away. While Ken rocked him in what should have been my labor and delivery room, I was in a recovery room thinking my skin was on fire. Good times. 

His need to distinguish himself from his brother continued. Not only would he refuse to be born in the same fashion, he also decided my breast milk was not for him. His sensitive little belly rejected everything but the most expensive formula on the shelves. This meant he cried a lot out of hunger and frustration. We thought once we got him on the right formula the tears would lessen. We were wrong.

Gage is my emotional child. Not weepy, mind you. More the quick-to-anger type with a heavy dose of determination on the side. Want to see a bit of temper firsthand? Tell him he did something wrong. Messed up a math problem? Stomp, stomp, stomp upstairs. Missed a tackle, failed to catch a ball, or didn't connect with his receiver? More effort and less mercy with an angry little scowl on his face. 

But he's not all anger and temper tantrums. Not by a long shot. He can be funny, cheerful, and silly, too. 

Gage is also my helper child. Not that KC wouldn't help, but he usually had to be asked and might try "going to the bathroom" for a good half hour first in hopes someone else would do the job for him.  Gage, meanwhile, was Ken's constant shadow. He often helped his dad do things around the yard or in the barn. He didn't have to be asked because he was there, right at Ken's side, doing the things his dad was doing. 

In all honesty, now that both boys are grown, the differences in their temperaments have evened out a lot. Gage isn't nearly as quick to throw a tantrum as he once was and KC isn't always happy-go-lucky. They've both matured into men with a wide range of emotions they aren't afraid to share, whether those feeling are sunny or sour!