A Study on my Children

Watching little EM develop her own personality, quickly, makes me think back on the other two when they were about the same age. Not comparing for comparison sake, but more to notice differences, especially as I know more now on learning styles than I did with the first two. I guess I am a little amazed that I can already see EM's choice learning style exerting herself.

MB, my first, my oldest, the one who was an only.
She crawled at around 6 months and then stopped for awhile. Then she started crawling again at 8 months but only to get her to something to pull herself up so she could walk. Never 'heard' the word NO, and has never felt like she couldn't do something physical. She was climbing, running, jumping at early ages - not the cuddle child that I had always imagined in my fantasies. Even reading aloud to her is an active event for all. She always hit the milestones quickly and at the end of her first year was operating at close to an 18 month on the standards (according to the doc office). Because she was my first, an I didn't have nearly as much to do to keep me busy I spent a lot of time playing with her, focusing on her. So that eventually she wanted me there whenever she played - she began to want badly to be around others at almost all times.

K, the second born and the one I thought was to be my baby - but instead became the middle. At this point with two I could not have had any two more different children. In looks and in baby personality. K was the type to sit back an observe things. We were always afraid that she wasn't going to hit her milestones because she never really made any effort to try new things. She went with the flow and was content to do and play with whatever was there. Then suddenly she would have a new skill. No trying it out, no practicing - it was just there, and most importantly on her time schedule, when she thought it was important. Even if you knew she could do something, you could not get her to perform it for anybody else just to prove that she could - there had to be a reason for her to do something. K was content to play alone and coul become grumpy if someone tried to play with her.

EM, little EM - my surprise baby, the one I am sure will be the baby, and the one that as I have heard elsewhere "the missing link" between my oldest two. I have been able to watch and study how she moves through her skills - because she practices them, I can see her mind putting the different motions together to figure out how to make her body work. She doesn't just appear with a new skill, like the other 2 (in their own ways), but I can see each step build on the other. Just this past week she has 'perfected' her crawling motion and has become not only mobile, but FAST. And this has opened up a whole new experience for us. She is exploring - everything. When she fins a place to stop and study it becomes even more fun to watch. Today she found the plastic bin under the kids work table in the family room. The plastic bin is the place that we throw all the toys we cannot, or are to lazy to go find homes for at the moment (later I take it and empty in the right place). She sat there for 30 mins picking each object out, holding it up, switching hands with it, smelling, tasting and beating on the floor and then finally placing on the floor before reaching in for the next item. EM enjoys having her sisters, or I, play with her, but, if we can't she goes and finds something to entertain herself with.

Today

MB is still gifted in her physical, motor skills. Her agility and strength are sometimes the first thing noticed by people (other than her hair). She runs on a motor that is set to high and I sincerely believe that she finds it painful to sit still. She is quick on the uptake and has a memory like an elephant - although not as quick to perform it for others as she was. She realized that she was 'different' than the kids she was around in preschool and since then as made it her mission to be as like other children as possible (I shudder at the horror of it). She even gets mad if someone mentions her hair color. She still needs more mommy time than the other two and finds it the most difficult to entertain herself.

K, is still reserved and slow to warm up to new things. She likes to sit back and observe before she dives into something. It is tough for me to know what is going on her brain and she is constantly surprising me with her knowledge, when I don't even think she has been listening. She is also very detailed-oriented in her own way - much of the drawings she does now express a focus on detail, even if she does not verbally share her findings with me like MB. She wants/needs time alone and is not really interested in too much one-on one with me Because of this I sometimes fear her getting lost in the shuffle as I attend to the needs of the other two.

EM - well she is what she is above. And only time will tell.

Studying and watching, I have figured out one thing - It is sure going to be fun teaching this crowd over the next upteen years.

On a totally different note; DH took MB with him to work on a pool that belongs to an old boss of mine. He goes out there often and sometimes takes MB out with him. As DH worked, MB and old boss were sitting together talking. He pointed to a butterfly and asked MB what it was. Instead of answering "butterfly" she responded with "Eastern Tiger Swallowtail." Old Boss turned and looked at DH with surprise, at which hubby said he shrugged his shoulders and said, "You asked."

Have a peaceful Sunday all.

Amy