Day 37

I've been thinking a lot about the nature-versus-nature thing lately. Like, do Kai and Jules sing loudly and dance around 24/7 because, much of the time, that's what we adults in the house are doing too or because all of our DNA encodes a love of music and moving? Is Jules "cranky-plus" in the a.m. because he's watched me act like a jerk toward Jon--or did he inherit two dominant genes that predispose him to being "hangry"? (Speaking of, check out this super-cute pillow on the fabulous New Duds blog.) Does Kai love sweet things because I ate too much ice cream while I was nursing him or because of the way his brain is wired, naturally? (Yes, I understand that this statement might make me sound like I didn't pay attention in any of my science classes... but it's what I wonder.) Finally, I must ask: can an obsession with deer be inherited and might this be a trait that skips a generation? Because take a look at this:

Oh deer!

Jules spent nearly an hour yesterday at school cutting out these pictures and assembling this collage, which is--save for one snake and a tiger--full of deer. This was totally unprompted. His teacher had just given him a bunch of magazines. Maybe this sort of sorting and categorizing is age-appopriate. Or maybe my kid is brilliant in this area. Or maybe, maybe he just really likes deer, which must be a "nature" (versus nurture) thing. In our home, right now, there's a huge focus on cows, horses, lions, tigers and elephants and giraffes--mostly plastic. But my dad, like many in Western Pennsylvania, is a huge deer hunter. So I think Julian got the "deer" gene.