Nobody would ever have trouble guessing that Connery and Emerson are brother and sister:
They look a lot alike, and the fact that Emerson imitates his facial expressions and mannerisms only makes that more pronounced. But for all that surface, they sure are different kids. I don't think I was prepared for how different they would be. I thought we would get to reuse at least some of the mad parenting skillz we amassed during Connery's baby- and early childhood. Alas, no.
Connery, for all his willfulness now, was a pretty easy baby and toddler--especially where physical misadventure was concerned. He did not know how to operate the remote controls for the TV until a couple of months ago--because we once told him not to touch the remotes and he never did. Before I had Emerson, I assumed that was just because of what a great job we had done in instilling in him some intrinsic respect for us. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Turns out he's just really compliant. We say the exact same thing to Emerson in the same tone and she does whatever it is we've asked her not to with more vigor.
It's not for nothing that her Halloween costume was a little devil. Apparently the only thing you ever know about parenting is how to parent a single child a week ago--you'd think we'd get some cumulative knowledge going on. Not so much.