Several of my friends (particularly Jenn) have commented on how little a parent's influence shapes a kid's personality. You can teach your kids certain behaviors, but the underlying personality is all nature. Many siblings prove this point as they can be quite different despite having the same parental influences.
I am now starting to see some of this in Megan. Quite specifically, Megan is a chicken, a scaredy cat, a yellow bellied lizard. And I don't think this came from watching us.
At the Newport aquarium Megan enjoyed watching the fish, but she would not, would NOT put her hands in the touch pool. Mac and I had our hands all over the touch pool, but Megan had a complete tantrum as I tried to guide her hand into the water.
At the shark exhibit, Megan was OK watching the sharks, though she would pull away from the glass everytime a shark came near. At the end of the tunnel there was a large set of shark jaws (the ones Mac and Megan posed in). Lots of kids were touching the teeth and not one of them lost so much as a finger, but again Megan preferred to keep her hands to herself... very tightly to herself.
And then right as you leave the building a huge fake shark hangs overhead from the high ceiling right above the door. "Megan look at the shark," we pointed out, without a touch of fear in our voices. As we walked out hand-in-hand, Megan kept a watchful and very wary eye on the shark. Just as we were about to walk under it Megan sat down on the floor, started waving her hands madly and yelling "No. No. No.", all the while watching the shark with dread. I tried to get her to stand up; I told her it was a nice shark; but she wouldn't budge. I had to scoop her up and carry her under the shark while she was clinging for dear life.
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