Nature vs. Nurture

I've always been pretty fascinated by nature vs. nurture. What parts of us were predicted the second the sperm hit the egg, and which parts are a result of our socialization? I don't think we'll ever really come to full answers on many of these questions, because of course both things are a factor.

But I had to laugh when our baby was (seemingly) happily sucking its thumb in utero on Thursday at our 'big' ultrasound. See it there? Cute, huh? Sucking away.

Why did I find this so funny? Because nature scored a point at that moment. Which leads me to another confession: I sucked my thumb for a long time. A LOOOONNNGGGG time. I sucked my thumb until I was in 2nd grade. Yes, that means that I was seven years old or something like that before I stopped.

Mom & Dad tried really hard to get me to stop. REALLY hard. But I was onto them. I'd wake up from the taste of that yucky crap they snuck into my room to plaster on my thumb, make a disgusted noise, and promptly march myself to the bathroom to wash it off and get back in bed to contentedly suck my thumb. And rub the corner of my pillow. I don't know how many pillows they must have had to buy for me in my younger years from rubbing through the covers. (Not of the pillow cases, but of the pillows themselves.) And really, it's a miracle that I never required orthodontic care. I don't know how I pulled that one off.


Observe -- thumb in mouth, other hand rubbing pillow. (I had to take a picture of a picture, so it didn't come out all that clear, but I think you get the idea.)

So, of course, since karma comes around and kids pay us back for what we did as kids, I thought it was hilarious that our kid is already getting me back for all that thumb-sucking-stopping rebellion -- before it's even become part of the world!

Joke's on me.

The ultrasound in general was pretty cool, though. At first, Blueberry was just chillin' out, causing frustration for blocking a view that the ultrasound intern needed. Then, Blueberry caught on that someone was playing with it, poking around, and started going crazy playing back. That baby was moving all over the place!

It's pretty amazing what technology can do these days, though. We saw the spine (wow!), heart, two legs, two arms, head, brain, belly, and all kinds of things that I didn't even know what they were. The ultrasound tech was remarking at 'gorgeous' body parts I've never heard of but was glad to hear that they're gorgeous. Cuz who doesn't want a gorgeous right ventricular septum (or whatever) for their kids?! I mean, really??

It was a bit long, though, I must admit. Particularly since we first had an intern and then the actual tech. Everything was therefore measured twice, and the focus was more on the lesson for the intern and less on delighting us with our baby's body parts -- we were more like accessories for their process. 

But pretty cool nonetheless. 

I went home and sucked my thumb.