The Power of Genetics

It's amazing sometimes what a part genetics play in the creation of a person. I'm reminded of this constantly with my children, with the fact that Molly is SO much like Chris, and Emma is SO much like me. A perfect example of this happened the other day when we took the girls to the paint store to choose paint colours for their bedroom (that they share).

They've been talking for months and months about the colours that they wanted. Molly chose purple, her favourite colour, and Emma chose pink, her favourite. I recognize the fact that really, I had no business taking those children into the paint store and presenting them with the seemingly endless choices. It was one those moments when hindsight told me, "What in the HELL was I thinking???"

But I digress.

We walked into the paint store, and straight over the section with the coloured tabs. Molly paused for a second, pulled out a purple strip, and pointed to the middle shade. "I want that one". Done. Choice made. 30 seconds flat. That was a Daddy special. He sees something he likes, picks it, and never looks back.

Forty-five minutes later, I was on the floor with Emma, begging her to "please, just make a choice". She had gone from pink to yellow to green back to pink and maybe back to yellow, but was currently sitting with a lap full of pink colour strips. There were too many choices. We tried helping her eliminate some, but she couldn't cross off any possibilities. She wanted to know the name of every single colour. We suggested what we thought would look good with the "Lilac Bouquet" Molly had chosen. We threatened her with leaving.

Finally, finally, Emma took a final stroll back to the wall of colours and picked out a strip. "What's the name of this one?" "Cotton Candy Pink". "I think I want that one." God bless her. We didn't give her a moment to change her mind, we had the paint store dude start making up the colour right away. But leave it to her to choose a colour based on the name. That's totally something like I would do.

Oh and yeah. You're probably wondering how "Lilac Bouquet" and "Cotton Candy Pink" look together. Well, it certainly wouldn't be *my* choice in colours, but it's perfectly fine for a little girl's bedroom - particularly two little girls who love princesses and dressing up. Besides. That's what I get for letting them choose, right?