Little Girls & Little Boys

Having 1 of each allows for some compare/contrast observations at home. A prime example is how they deal with "bumps" - when they fall down or bump into something.

Immediate Reaction : Score 1 for the boys here. T will cry if it hurts, but his response is generally in proportion to how big the owie is. If you pick him up, give him a kiss, and console for just a minute, he's usually pushing to get back down and go play. C, on the other hand, ANNOUNCES that she's fallen/bumped with a piercing scream, no matter what she fell on or how hard she bumped. The response is pretty much digital - its either on or off. There is no proportionality between the size of the owie and the response. It also takes much longer to console her, during which time she's screaming and crying.

Learning from the bump/fall/owie : Score 1 for the girls here. C does a pretty good job of learning from her bumps & bruises. I don't think I've seen her run into the same thing twice. If she has an accident at the playground she adjusts how she plays on a piece of equipment (thankfully, she doesn't just stop playing on that piece of equipment). She really seems to process "I did this and it hurt, perhaps I should try something different next time." T is a totally different story. He will often immediately start doing the same thing that got him hurt. I've seen him bump his head on the same thing 3 times in 15 minutes. At the park last week, he was pushing his truck in a dried up "creek" that had rocks in it. In order to push the truck, he's bent over at the waste, all his weight forward and both hands on the bed of the truck. When the tire of the truck hit a small pebble and the truck stopped, T went driving forward and got a nice bump & small scratch on his forehead. It took Mommy a few minutes to get him calmed down. Once he was ready to go though, he bent over and started pushing the truck in the creek again. Fortunately, Mommy is smart enough to learn for him, so she moved him to the sidewalk to push his truck. He took 8 steps forward and then made a sharp right turn into the grass ... where the truck stopped, he kept going and face planted his way to a cut lip.

They are fun to watch!