A child's characteristics present themselves young?

A child's characteristics present themselves young?

So expert moms out there can you tell me if there is any truth to children's personality traits being established fairly young? 

Personally, I do believe you can start to pick up on what kind of child you have young, but maybe that is me just trying to fit my world into nice little boxes.  My sister-in-law seems to agree with me.  For example: she has a son who as an infant, was pretty much only soothed by being out doors.  It didn't matter what time of day, weather etc.  You could put him outside and he was immediately better.  On the other hand, she told me he hated reading books.  He would get upset if you tried to read a book to him and pretty much everything geared about him getting to go outside.   This child has since grown up and has followed suit.  He has picked a profession as a landscaper, never really much liked school, in fact hated it. 

She also has a daughter who loved being read too.  Enjoyed learning things and picked up thing easily.  She has always had a sweet spirit and is kind and caring to other children.   While she is still in school, these characteristics have carried with her.  She picks up quickly on new topics at school and is a leader amongst her classmates helping them when they need it.

So....what are your thoughts?  Did you notice personality traits in your children at a young age that were some clue as to what kind of child they grew into?

On that note, I thought for posterity I would write down some of the characteristics that Evelyn shows now (23 months) and test my hypothesis in 15 years or so.  Hopefully I remember this post!

Friendly, outgoing, not shy
Good sense of humor, finds things funny
INDEPENDENT!
Very good memory
Mimics people very well
Strong use of vocabulary/understanding
Quick to anger(intense)/quick to recover

High pain tolerance-doesn't whine much

Good self-regulation (sleep, eating, quite time)

No fear of consequences

Polite
Does not stay focused on 1 thing for very long- quick to lose interest/move on to next task