Nurture vs Nature

When raising kids, I often wonder what is a result of parental behavior and what happens purely just because. When Trent was about Sean's age, he slept at 9, 1, and 4. Eventually, he gave up the 4pm nap and then later he gave up the 9am nap. He still takes a 1pm nap. Most moms I know that have their kids on a nap schedule, keep one fairly similar to Trent's original schedule.

Then, we had Sean. For the first few months of Sean's life, he wasn't really into sleeping. It eventually came. When the exhaustion was really sinking in, I started putting both boys down at the same time. I figured we'd start a bedtime routine, even if Sean didn't believe in going to bed. It worked. Soon after, Sean started sleeping through the night. He and Trent both sleep from 7pm until about 6am every night. (Sean gets up at 4 to eat and goes right back to sleep.) I don't know if he just embraced the schedule we started setting for him or if at that same time he was ready to start sleeping through the night. Then, there was naptime. Trent would consistently nap and Sean would inevitably catnap throughout the day. Well, between 1 and 4, I was always "resting" with Sean because I didn't want him to wake his brother. (Our house isn't that big and Sean has a set of lungs that could wake the neighbors.) Eventually, Sean started taking his nap at the same time as his brother. So he may or may not go down for an hour in the morning, but he usually sleeps from 1-4 in the afternoon. So again, is it nature that he established his own sleep pattern or nurture that him sleeping at the same time as Trent was the behavior I was encouraging? Regardless, I try my best as a mama but I don't take a lot of credit for their behavior. I just accept the fact that God has blessed me with two adorable little boys.