Elijah was born in August of 2002. The last three years with him have provided me with much concern, frustration, and entertainment. The last three months have been especially entertaining. Much of the increase has come about due to Quinten interacting more with him. Quinten was born in July of 2004. The two of them together make quite a pair.
Quinten has already figured out how to provoke Elijah in such a way as to cause serious retaliation. This, of course, results in Elijah's punishment... and a smug look of satisfaction on the face of the younger brother.
If ever two boys could be opposites, these two are. Elijah is very spacial and logical in his play. He has always been the “puzzle king”. He gets so bored with age appropriate puzzles that he will turn them over to do with without the help of the picture. The idea of pretending anything is so foreign to him that he will stare at you as if you had two heads for even suggesting such things. Quinten, on the other hand, is quite creative. Dance time is met with squeals and smiles from Quinten. Elijah will watch us sing and dance around for about 2 minutes before proclaiming, “This no fun. Going to play in my room.”
Quinten still has trouble with shape sorters, but he can recreate most any adult action. Handing him a pocket screwdriver is enough to make his face glow as red as the ringlets on his head. He will rush over to whatever my husband had fixed last and get to work.
Elijah did pick up a flare for the dramatic, presumably from his mother. When told no to any given request, he will plead, “Please? Oh Please.” Occasionally, when really desperate, he'll add in a few more “oh”s to sounds extra pitiful.
If there is something that Quinten wants, he won't even bother asking for it. He'll stack, climb, and do whatever else is necessary to get to the object of desire. Baby gates are no match for his superior problem solving skills.
Lord forbid, however, that you make him mad. He has the Irish temper to go along with his flaming red curls. He often reminds me of the baby on Family Guy. When scolded, he will stomp off to hind under the fish tank. That's when the glares start. The glares that say, “One day, woman, I'm going to take over the world... and you won't be in it.”
In a classic case of 'opposites attract', Elijah has latched onto my artistic husband. If daddy is home, mommy doesn't exist. If I try to do anything for him, I immediately hear, “No! Daddy do it.” I think Elijah sees me as the person left to take care of him when Daddy goes to work. Quinten, however, is a momma's boy. Not so much so that I worry about him getting beat up (although, his stature alone will ensure that doesn't happen), but he definitely favors me.
With two sons as different as the sun and the moon, I can't help but wonder which celestial body will categorize the soon coming Alexander.
1 comments:
As the mother of 2 girls and best friend of the author (thank you very much) I can say with certain experience that my girls are the same way. One is the girlie girl playing dressup and dolls, the other is a TOM BOY through and through. From her dinosaur set to her bob the builder trucks. I try to convince Amie that Quinten was born with the same genetic mutation as my daughter and cousin...Second Child Syndrome. My Aunt and I have both said, "If the second one came first, there would BE NO second." They're more mischeivious, fearless, defiant and abusive at times. But as with all mom's I wouldn't trade em for the world!
Post a Comment