The differences between raising the first and second child are beginning to become clearer to me. I'm surprised by some of the things I've let Amelia have/eat/do that I'd never dreamed of doing with Asher. I just know he'll throw this in my face one day. I've even resorted to having imaginary conversations about this. However, they usually end with me forgoing all attempts at reason and screaming "just wait til you have kids mister, you'll see!"
But for Amelia, while being a little sibling has it's perks, it's not all rose colored life all the time. We'll exchanged letting go of some quirky rules for tightening up in other areas of life. And as hypocritical as it may sound, we'll probably end up raising our son and daughter differently based not only on their personalities but also on their GENDER. (Yep, I said it...let the stones fly.)
All those big scary parenting questions are still a ways off thank goodness, but at least for now, however I've come up with three things we've allowed Amelia to do, that we would have never dreamed of doing with Asher.
- Eating - Amelia really got the delicious end of the stick in this area. I can absolutely guarantee that Asher didn't touch McDonald's until after he was two. And it wasn't even me who gave him his first bite of this horrifically addictive, yet delicious fast food. Amelia, on the other hand, eats McDonald's when Asher does. She's learned that if she screams loud enough and long enough we'll give her almost anything that's on his plate. This also explains why Asher called plain Cheerios "O's" and Amelia's "O's" are Honey Comb. Some nights Amelia just spends dinner time walking around the table asking for "bites" from our plates. I realize at some point that this is going to come back to haunt me, but right now, I just want to eat in peace.
- Television - That's right. The good ol' idiot box. When we moved to Oklahoma Asher was about 18 months old. We didn't have a television in the living room before then so he never had an opportunity to watch cartoons. Around two we allowed him one Wiggles episode/movie a day which he watched while I made dinner. We have always made an effort to tightly control his screen time, however, based on his love for all things screeny (TV, internet, movies, iPhone, Leapster, etc.) I fear that might have backfired. Amelia, on the other hand is already watching TV. If Asher's watching a movie I can't blindfold her as she wanders around the living room. Unfortunately, I can't just blame Asher for her television watching, I have used the television as a mother's helper at times, even for something as non-emergent as checking e-mail. And do you honestly think she's nappy while I'm writing this?
- Exploration - Asher walked later than Amelia and definitely fell less often. If I wasn't two inches away from him at all times, I think my head would have exploded. Amelia absolutely gets more freedom in this area. In some ways, I think it's good. She has had more opportunities to explore the world and enjoys our walks around the neighborhood and park. However, with that freedom also comes consequences. She's had skinned knees and more tears than I recall Asher ever having. Plus, it seems to us that all her practice isn't doing very much good. She is just as clumsy as ever.
