Week ending Jan 27, 2008: This week we had our first parent-teacher conference. The teachers said that the kids like school, interact well with the other children, participate in the activities, and have good behavior. I asked about areas in which they could use improvement and we talked about how Alex doesn’t always know the names of shapes. They suggested we read books together to reinforce the shape learning. I was glad to hear that the kids seem well adjusted.
This week I learned that Chloe didn’t know how to operate a screw. I was helping Alex put together a project with his erector set (he and I LOVE the new erector set, thanks Uncle Billy and Aunt Laurie!) and Chloe came over to help. She’d turn the screw driver counter-clockwise for a little while and then clock-wise for a little while never fully screwing or unscrewing anything, so I had to show her how to do it. Alex figured out how to operate threaded connectors when he was 11 months old. We were on vacation in Bethany and he was playing with a bottle of suntan lotion. Casey was going to take it from him but I said it was keeping him quiet, so let him have it. Then Alex unscrewed the lid and started spreading lotion everywhere. Since then he’s understood how to screw thing on and off. Also this week one of his trains needed new batteries (according to him) and I was finally getting to eat my breakfast so I said he’d have to wait until after my breakfast for me to do it. He found a screw driver on an end table (we’re bad at putting stuff away), unscrewed the battery door and pulled the old batteries out and handed them to me! That’s the first time he’s done that. So, in the whole nature vs nurture argument, the twins are showing pretty clearly that Alex is interested in mechanical stuff regardless of what opportunities we provide, and Chloe isn’t interested in mechanical stuff unless Alex is getting attention and she isn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop providing her opportunities to do stuff that boys traditionally like more!
This week I learned that Chloe didn’t know how to operate a screw. I was helping Alex put together a project with his erector set (he and I LOVE the new erector set, thanks Uncle Billy and Aunt Laurie!) and Chloe came over to help. She’d turn the screw driver counter-clockwise for a little while and then clock-wise for a little while never fully screwing or unscrewing anything, so I had to show her how to do it. Alex figured out how to operate threaded connectors when he was 11 months old. We were on vacation in Bethany and he was playing with a bottle of suntan lotion. Casey was going to take it from him but I said it was keeping him quiet, so let him have it. Then Alex unscrewed the lid and started spreading lotion everywhere. Since then he’s understood how to screw thing on and off. Also this week one of his trains needed new batteries (according to him) and I was finally getting to eat my breakfast so I said he’d have to wait until after my breakfast for me to do it. He found a screw driver on an end table (we’re bad at putting stuff away), unscrewed the battery door and pulled the old batteries out and handed them to me! That’s the first time he’s done that. So, in the whole nature vs nurture argument, the twins are showing pretty clearly that Alex is interested in mechanical stuff regardless of what opportunities we provide, and Chloe isn’t interested in mechanical stuff unless Alex is getting attention and she isn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop providing her opportunities to do stuff that boys traditionally like more!
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