You Know You're the Second Child When...

In honor of Bean 2 (Brooks) turning 2 on Monday, I thought I would dedicate this post to him.  He's such a cute (but equal parts mean) little character, but that's another post for another day.  I think a lot of his personality traits come from being the second child in what was a two-under-two household - you know, where it's survival of the fittest.  A lot of my friends with children this close in age are experiencing the same personality traits in their youngest, so I know I'm not alone in this!

OK - You know you're the second child when...

• Every stitch of clothing you own has been worn before and has already been broken in for you - complete with stains, holes and stretched neck holes.  (Hey - at least mom doesn't get mad when you mess them up!)
• You don't speak many coherent words before the age of two, because your loud mouth older sibling won't let you get a word in edgewise.
• Your voice is naturally 2 or 3 volumes louder than your sibling's, because it takes at least a small scream to be heard.
• Your baby book is less than half-way completed (but mom still keeps your important memoirs, she just has no idea where she stashed them).
• You don't get to participate in any of the same kiddie programs that your older sibling participated in, such as Kindermusik, or Toddler Library Time because your mom is too busy working and/or ushering your older sibling to and from school/activities (but that's cool because your family comes with live-in playmates)
• You learn to throw blows before you learn to throw a ball.
• You're naturally more easy-going because you learned to entertain and feed yourself at a very young age.
• You learned to scale even the highest cabinets or pieces of furniture, because while mommy was busy wiping your older sibling's hiney, you were trying to figure out how to get to that Halloween candy on top of the fridge.
• The house is filled with tons of pictures of your older sibling and maybe two of you.
• You've never been to see Elmo Live, Barney in Concert or anything of that nature because your parents took your older sibling and hated it.
• You don't own any toys of your own - you play with your older sibling's and if you happen to receive a super awesome toy as a gift, your sibling swipes it for themselves.
• You potty train earlier than your sibling did, but simply out of necessity - your mom leaves you in your wet diapers so long that you figure the potty has GOT to be a better solution.
• Your infant schedule looked something like this - wake up when your loudest sibling comes bursting into your room and turns the lights on at 6:30AM, eat, nap in the car on the way to take sibling to school, eat, swing while mommy takes a shower, nap on the way to pick sibling up from school, eat, chew on the grocery cart handle while mommy chases sibling through the aisles, nap on the way home from said store, eat, bath with sibling, bed again. (Drastically different than Bean 1's strict schedule.)