It seems that once our daughter was born, the writing of my blog decreased dramatically. That wasn't the only factor, especially recently, but as a result of the infrequent writing, I have not had as much of a chance to write about our daughter as I did about our son. Its not that I lack the amazement at her development, it is more timing that anything else. I have come to see what many people have said about having more than one child, each child is different in unique ways and the fact that we have a son and daughter makes the difference that much more striking. It is tempting to chalk up different reactions and tendencies to one being a boy and one being a girl, but now that our daughter is older, I have come to see that its just their unique personalities that are expressing themselves in how they develop. It is definitely interesting to watch and I now know that our daughter will be the one with the terrible temper, the renegade, the troublemaker, and daddy's little girl. (I know that our son can never be daddy's little girl, but he is a momma's boy if you catch my drift). I have seen on at least two occasions now, situations where our son and daughter were playing together with a single toy, and when my son tries to take it away, our daughter gets over come with utter rage to the point of shaking and vehemently tries to get the toy back from him. I know I am in trouble with her, so now is when I have to start building up my patience. And yet, while she may have more inner rage (or gusto I guess could work), there is a flip side to her that is unimaginably paired with that rage. She loves to color more than our son ever did. She will scribble away with whatever type of writing implement she is given whereas my son at her age would more simply play with them and hand them to us to draw. Another big difference that I have noticed is the development of their motor skills. Our daughter's fine motor skills, or her ability to pick up and manipulate small items, is far ahead of where my sons was at the same age. He was always better with, for lack of better terms, "manhandling" things than our daughter is. And while they were both keen observers, he was more opt to jump right in and try things where our daughter will watch until she thinks she knows how to do something, and then try, without any help of course. If you ever try to help her with something, she pulls her hand away. While cute most of the time, it can get just a tad bit frustrating.
The difference that touches me the most, however, is her desire to be in my arms over her mommy's about 75% of the time. Unless she is getting her milk, is overly tired, or just doesn't know what she wants, she wants to be held by me most of the time. Our son always tended to seek out my wife when he wanted to be held. With our daughter, its me, and I couldn't be happier. I never thought it bothered me that much when our son, if presented with the option of me or my wife, would choose my wife 9 times out of 10. But I guess it always did, just a little. I never actually resented him for it, I don't think I ever could go that far in my feelings, but there were times where I would wish that he would climb into my arms instead of my wife's. But that is life. He comes to me to play with tools and toys and goes to my wife for comfort. I can deal with that. Now, it seems our daughter is leaning the opposite way. While she will still go to my wife for comfort, she will choose me the majority of the time as the one she wants to hold her. There is definitely a distinct difference between our son and daughter, and while there was a point when I wanted two sons, I now love the fact that we have one of each. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if we would have been able to handle two sons. With my wife's and my personality, two little boys running around would have been insanity. But I have my little girl now and everything is right with the world. Its funny to see how when children reach that 1 year old mark, their personality blossoms, and that is just what is happening now with our daughter. She is 15 months old and there are aspects of her personality that fit in perfectly with her being daddy's little girl. She has her little coy look that she pulls out when she is trying to be cute. She loves to scream and cry when things don't go her way. But perhaps the one that melts my heart every time is when I'm holding her and she just buries her head in my for a few minutes or looks up at me and touches my nose with her nose. Any worries I have melt away when she does that. She just is and always will be, daddy's little girl.
Yet, while she may have her little cute moments and act the part of being a little girl, she has her tomboy side which also warms the deep recesses of my heart. She loves to play with our son's cars, trucks, and buses. She loves being outside and sorting through rocks and sticks. And while this is not a tomboy aspect at all, she loves to read (just like our son). She absolutely loves books, and in fact loves ones that are way above her age range, but it doesn't matter to me. Whichever book she grabs and carries over for me to read, I will read to her. The same holds true with our son and any book he brings me. My son or daughter could bring my a 300 page book from our bookshelf and I will start reading it. I know they won't make it long, but I will at least get one paragraph in before they realize there are no pictures and the book won't be much fun. One step at a time I guess. My biggest joy is that they love reading. But back to our daughter. One other big difference that I noticed between her and our son is their development of walking. Our son started trying to walk early, about 9 months, and took about 3 months to really get the hang of it and start moving everywhere. Our daughter started walking consistently on her own about 2 weeks ago and is almost on the verge of running now. She started later, but picked it up 10 times quicker than our son did. There is her observant nature coming into full effect and I love it. I love both of them, and while I may get frustrated, at the end of the day, I let it all go and start back at square one. It is easy when you can sit with them, be attuned to their needs, and let them guide you. Everything builds from there.
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