Nathan Like Me?... Scary

I've realized over the past few weeks that Nathan is so much like me it's scary. I have lots of querks that I really hoped would never get passed on. ;) Beside the fact that he currently seems to have my physical characteristics and build (on the shorter side and prone to extra weight), he seems to have several of my other traits.

I am one of those persons who gets hot very easily - always have. I blame this for the main reason I disliked sports so much growing up. I can just look out the window on a summer day and start sweating. I get all red-faced and sweaty just sitting outside in the summer so you can imagine what I'm like if I am doing any sort of physical activity. Lauren seems to have gotten Brian's traits. Brian is one of those people that can run a mile in the middle of summer and barely look like he's worked out. It takes a lot for him to get hot. He never get's red-faced and while he does sweat he doesn't look like I do - hair wet and matted to the side of my face like some sort of cat that has been dunked in water.

Anyway, it became very clear to me on our Seaworld trip that Nathan is, sadly, much like me. Poor thing. Just sitting in the stroller at Seaworld and he was drenched in sweat and his little cheeks were bright red. We shared several water bottles trying to keep cool. While Lauren and Brian were off seeing all the animals at the zoo, Nathan and I were trailing behind panting in the heat and trying to cool off. We were miserable.

We went to the beach this past weekend and he seems to have more of my traits. He sunburns very easily. Lauren has never been sunburned, partially because I lather her in sunscreen and partially because she has Brian's olive-ish skin.

(Soapbox for a moment - I hate seeing young kids burned or darkly tanned. Sun tanning is bad for your skin. I know too many 20-somethings that have had cancer cells removed from their bodies because of all the sun exposure they had in their teen years. As long as I can control it, my kids will be white. Okay, back to my blog.)

It takes a lot for Brian to burn - he usually just tans. So while I am lathering myself with SPF 50, Brian doesn't put anything on and he is just fine. The same seems to be true for our children. Poor Nathan, 15 minutes into our beach trip and he is hot and sweaty and sandy and unhappy. Very much like me as a child. (I hated the beach and still do.) To me there is nothing worse than having dried salt water all over yourself and sand in all kinds of areas sand shouldn't be.