Obviously because they are always together, they share a special connection and love being together, and insha'allah will always be close, but aside from that, Muhammad and Mariam couldn't be more different. For example:
* Muhammad HATES sleeping, last to fall asleep, first to wake up - hates sleeping alone. Mariam falls asleep right away.
* Mariam is 100% independent, doesn't want anyone doing anything for her: feeding her, tying her shoelaces, whatever. Muhammad has no problem having people do everything for him. Because of this, when Muhammad is sleeping or not around, Mariam asks about him but does her own thing. He HATES being without her...when she isn't around, he is just not the same until she is.
* Muhammad will eat pretty much anything, Mariam is SO picky - if it was up to her, she would only eat white rice and plain pasta! Only similarity is that they both don't eat much - which explains why he is still so skinny.
* She is the boss. Even though she is still the "girly girl" - she is definitely the boss. She tells him what to do, yells at him when he doesn't listen to her - but she is also very gentle, very loving and hates seeing him cry - if he cries because she has something he wants, she will immediately give it to him - even if she JUST started playing with it. "Ok mohamed, ok....."
* He loves people, loves going out - she is terrified of strangers. This has gotten better over time, but she's still a very, very shy child - he absolutely is not.
* Mariam is much easier to discipline - the threat of a time out will be enough to get her to stop most of her tantrums, every once in a while she'll need a new one to renew the memory in her mind. Muhammad on the other hand, usually gets at least one time out daily :) His tantrums are usually more frequent and he needs his time out memories constantly refreshed.
* Heck, they don't even look alike!!! :))))
My memories of Noora are quite different. I truly remember Noora to be a very pleasant infant and toddler. She began sleeping for 6 hour stretches when she was 2 months old (in fairness, Muhammad was sleeping for 6-8 hours at around 3 months, and Mariam was waking up once in those stretches for another month or so...) Her toddler "terrible twos" were nothing compared to M&M, although I remember "thinking" they were bad at the time....She rarely ever needed a time-out (although that has changed a bit as she's gotten older). She was, and continues to be, a terrible eater, and would still prefer someone feed her if she had the choice. She loved playing with other kids, and easily made friends - alot like Muhammad. She wasn't as shy and reserved as Mariam is now. She is very bossy, and it is a constant point of conflict between her and her friends. I think this is a manifestation of her being an only child for so long and usually having things her way. But despite her being bossy, she is also very caring and sensitive - alot like Mariam.
