I’ve had over nine months to get used to being a mum of two. There have been ups and downs – but I think we’ve all settled quite nicely.

One thing that I can’t stop thinking about is how different my two boys are. I know V1 (Vin, from now on) and V2 (now known as Booni) are four years apart so there will obviously be differences. What I mean is how different Vin was as a baby. Obviously they won’t be the same, and they’re both their own person. And I’m not saying I prefer one over the other – they’re just different!

Vin and Booni were both born on their due dates – Vin by emergency c-section and Booni by an elective c-section.

Vin was 5.8 lbs and Booni was 7.3 lbs. Vin was still wearing ‘tiny baby’ size at two months and Booni was in 3-6 months clothes by the time he was two months old.

They both put themselves into a four hourly feeding schedule early on.

Vin always needed cuddles to fall asleep. And he still prefers to sleep cuddled up with someone and sleeps better when he is. Booni has only ever slept on my chest once. And he’s only ever slept in my bed once. He hates being cuddled to sleep. Instead, he prefers to be bounced to sleep in his chair!

At twelve weeks I used the Gina Ford book to put Vin into a routine. I guess it didn’t work that well (I didn’t follow it very well) because he continued to wake at least twice a night for milk until he was three years old! Booni put himself into a routine by eleven weeks. And started sleeping straight through the night – sometimes for thirteen hours. That all changed at about seventeen weeks and he started waking quite regularly again. And now, at nine months – he still wakes.

I’ve got tonnes of photos of Vin – lying on the bed or propped up on pillows – in all his little clothes. The reason I’ve got all these photos? He stayed still while I took them. I’ve got a lot of Booni too – just not nearly as many as of his brother. The reason why? He can’t stay still for a minute. With Vin I was able to put on a Baby Einstein DVD and he would sit and watch it. For at least ten to fifteen minutes. With Booni? Forget about it. He barely sits still long enough to notice that the television is on!

At nine months, Vin was able to identify a few animals by pointing to them. Booni doesn’t know any. Vin could point to his nose and to the light. Booni is more interested in the ‘click’ the light switch makes than actually looking (noticing of) at the light.

Vin loved looking at books. Booni loves chewing and throwing books. He’s not interested in listening to stories.

He can wave goodbye. He is quite marvellous at chewing and throwing things. He does understand ‘no’ (especially when accompanied with a wagging finger). And he understands ‘come back’. So he knows something at least!

I know he’ll learn things in time. But I’m wondering if it’s because he hasn’t had the same input Vin had – you know – first child and all. Or does is he just not bothered? I started feeling a bit guilty about it a couple of months ago and decided I’d sign him up for playgroup. So we’ve started going to playgroup. Again. He loves it. He’s so happy to get out of the house and to go somewhere that has different toys for him to chew.

LagosDad and I were discussing how we thought Vin would be book smart and Booni would be street smart. I know it’s too soon to know what they’ll be like in the future – but we still talk about it.

I wonder if they’ll always be so different to each other. And will it work in their favour? Or against them? Will they be close? Or will they be too different to get along?

I suppose I shouldn’t think about all those things now because:

a. Vin loves Booni to bits (Booni is the name he came up with and now we all use it).

b. Booni adores Vin. His face lights up when he sees him.

c. I love them both more than anything.