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Thursday Thirteen – 13 Similarities and Differences between Jackson and Julia

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Thursday Thirteen
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Jackson (my 4 year old son) and Julia (Susan’s 15 month old toddler) are more than cousins. Genetically, since Susan and I are identical twins, they are half siblings. But, ‘for real life’, as Jackson would say, they love each other as much as any other siblings – and isn’t that what makes a family?

And like many brothers and sisters, while they have a few similarities, they have many distinct differences.

Thursday Thirteen - Jackson and Julia

13 Similarities and Differences between Jackson and Julia

  1. They both are fair skinned with blue eyes.
    It’s rather amusing that they both have blue eyes since all four parents have brown eyes.
  2. They both adore each other.
    Both are only children and are great companions for each other.
  3. They’re both extra attached to their mommies.
    Until Jackson was two, he refused the church nursery and Julia is following in his steps. I hope her second birthday also brings a bit of independence.
  4. They both love dancing with the Wiggles.
    One of our tricks for distracting Julia when she’s fussy is to turn on the Wiggles and Jackson gets on board entertaining Julia with his Wiggle Groove.
  5. They both love to squeal in delight while playing their favorite game – Chase!
    But sometimes their squeals cross the line to high pitch screams and we have to try to settle them down.

  6. Julia has red hair, Jackson has blonde.
    Julia doesn’t yet have much hair at all, but the hair she has is red. Susan and I were blonde as children (our father was 100% Finnish.) Slowly our hair changed and now we are brunette, but Susan has hers highlighted blonde. Our maternal grandmother though had red hair and so does Julia’s paternal grandmother.
  7. Jackson is tall, Julia is tiny.
    Jackson is incredibly tall – in fact we’ve never met a child his age that is as tall as he is. Julia is a lightweight. At 15 months, the little thing isn’t even 20 pounds.
  8. Julia is a natural climber. Jackson — Not so much.
    At two he towered over any other toddler his size. Yet he wouldn’t even climb out of his crib. I never had to worry about him climbing on anything. Julia is a little monkey already and we have to keep an eye on her constantly.
  9. Jackson is a great eater – Julia is not!
    When Jackson was born, they plopped him on my belly and he reached out his neck and started trying to suck. He started eating within seconds and has never slowed down. Feeding Julia has always been incredibly frustrating.
  10. Julia is serious. Jackson laughs all the time.
    Even as an infant, Jackson would constantly be cracking his big smile and entertaining us with his infectious laugh. Julia however is very serious and observes quietly. She only gives a big belly laugh when tickled or chased or when playing with Jackson.
  11. Jackson never stops talking. Julia hasn’t started.
    Jackson stuns everyone he meets with how advanced he is verbally. He started talking at 9 months old and at 18 months had a vocabulary of well over 150 words and was talking in little sentences. At 2 he spoke completely fluently, without a hint of baby talk.

    (Combined with the fact that he was the height of a four year old, this caused a few problems. I considered putting a sign on him saying, “Give me a break – I am two!”)

    Julia however, is not talking other than the usual mama sounds etc. It was so handy to have Jackson communicating at this early age, but with Julia we have to try to guess what she is thinking.

  12. Jackson was an easy baby, Julia is fussy.
    When Julia goes out, everyone ooohs and ahhhs over how quiet and well behaved she is. She doesn’t say a peep and sits in our arms, watching everything go on around her. BUT, get the monkey home and she’s a handful. She has an unfortunate tendency to fuss – a lot! Some days it can drive us a little batty.

    Jackson on the other hand, was a happy, easy-going baby. He didn’t start to be a real handful until he could walk. Now – he keeps us hopping!

  13. Julia is a GIRL and Jackson is a BOY.
    I know this is obvious, but it is so interesting to watch how different they are because of their gender.

    Julia seems to be very much a little girl already, primping herself and admiring her “pretty” dresses. She is obsessed with shoes, sunglasses and hats and loves to look after her dolls. And she sits still and concentrates on activities like coloring.

    Jackson is 100% boy – with all the testosterone you can get! Allergic to the color pink at birth, he has never gravitated to anything remotely feminine. He loves Star Wars, superheroes, action figures and knights – basically anything “fighting.” He is in constant motion and still will rarely sit down to color. The crafts he likes are messy and involve gluing, paint or cutting – and it can only last for about five minutes.

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34 Comments

  1. Very cute. :0) Some of the opposites Jackon and Julia share are the opposites mine share. LOL! So, I could relate to both. ;0) My oldest wouldn’t go into a nursery/class on her own until this year . . . she’s almost 3. Amazing . . . I thought I was the only person in the world whose kid struggled with going into the nursery.

    Reply

  2. Hey, this was very cool reading through. The picture you took is very :cool:.
    I don’t know, but Jackson looks a lot bigger since the summer started. He looks older 🙂
    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  4. Aren’t they darling??? Fun how they have similarities that work well for them and also the differences that seem to fill in the spaces for each other. Fun list.

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  6. And they are both beautiful! There’s something special about growing up close to cousins – something my kids will probably never experience and for that I am sad.

    Reply

  7. and they’re both so cute!!! I had no idea that genetically, they’re half siblings because you and your sis are twins! Wow…that’s cool.

    Reply

  8. What adorable children! I only have 1 blondie, the rest are brunettes. That’s a wierd genetic code you’ve got going on… pretty cool though, I’d give anything just to raise my kids in the same Province as my sister – let alone have them look alike. 😉

    Reply

  10. I knew a family where twin sisters married brothers (not twins) so the “cousins” were geneticly siblings. kind weird

    Thanks for stopping by the garden

    Reply

  14. I’ve always been facinated by the whole identical twin/identical DNA thing! I have a friend who has an identical twin brother, and he’s always saying stuff to his nephews like … “I could be your dad!” Or “my brother is the most handsom person I’ve ever seen.” Well, he looks just like him, so you know where he’s going with that … lol!

    Reply

  16. Great list. They both have such awesome blue eyes. My little one who just turned 3 is a late talker also. I think it might be becaues the older kids always got him anything he wanted and he didn’t even have to say a thing. Maybe this is what Julia is doing. My niece on the other hand talked incredibly early just like Jackson. In fact when she came to visit she asked me why doesn’t baby Darrian talk. Now that he just turned 3 in July he has started talking up a streak. I guess it’s just that kids are so different . BTW my I love the both kids names. My grandson is Julian, a name I suggested to my daughter and my friend Alisha just had a baby named Julia, which I also suggested to her. As far as Jackson I have always liked this. I like to use Jackson a lot better than Jack. I thing the full name is so masculine. Just like a boy.

    Reply

  17. I don’t think I knew that about twins’s children being half siblings. My friend is an identical twin, and her husband is an fraternal twin to a sister. The 3 couples all have children. Are they ALL half siblings, or is that the stupidest twin question you’ve ever been asked?

    Reply

  19. Isn’t it amazing how different but how similar siblings can be? My two are the same way!

    Your’s are beautiful!

    Happy Thursday!

    Reply

  20. Whoa – I learn something new every day – what an interesting thought that cousins could be half-sibilings. Genetics is amazing!

    Reply

  22. YEAH your site is back up! 😉 I tried to log on last night and nothing…anyway great list! 🙂 They are just soo cute!

    Reply

  23. Pretty neat list. Cute kids look so happy.
    I wasn’t sure what to do my 13 thursday on today so I used yours.

    Reply

  25. Great list. the kids are adorable. I find number 8 interesting. My youngest is the only boy, and he is such a climber, and my girls were somewaht, but not like him. I hope they grow up to be best of friends.

    Reply

  29. Fun list!

    I have to laugh at your last one. I have a boy and a girl and you couldn’t BE any more boy or any more girl than those two!!

    Thanks for stopping by my TT!

    Reply

  31. Wow. I never thought about the genetically half-siblings thing. That’s actually really cool.

    And fabulous picture of them too. Sooooo cute!

    Reply

  32. Isn’t it just amazing how similar yet different they are! And they could quite easily pass as real siblings too. They are both truly adorable!!

    Reply

  34. It’s nice to be first. That was a great list of similarities and differences. They real look alike. If not for the age, they could be mistaken for twins.
    Thanks for dropping by.

    Reply