girls and boys

On the way to church this morning Caleigh said, "Mommy, Andrew likes bugs... and he likes trucks...  I like rainbows, and purple, and birdies."

Caleigh hit the nail on the head - Caleigh and Andrew are total opposites.  I love seeing such innate gender differences between Caleigh and Andrew.

Andrew loves all things boy - he is SUCH a boy which I am so thankful for and I so much adore - he loves balls, throwing things (which he is actually really good at - kid's got an arm), being loud, squashing bugs and picking up beetles and throwing them (at me - EW!), jumping off of stuff.  He does like books a lot right now - some of his favorites being Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon and Little Gorilla.  He hates being groomed - haircuts, cutting fingernails or toenails, brushing teeth - dislikes it all.  Although he is such a boy I am so thankful that he is also so sweet, so tender (at times) - he loves us and he loves his sister.  I am thankful that by God's grace we haven't had any hitting or biting issues at all or seen anything aggressive from him.  He is strong-willed and wants to get his way and gives a hilarious grouchy face when he doesn't or when he is disciplined (which makes it very difficult not to laugh when I am supposed to be disciplining him).  He is polite and becoming so verbal.  My sweet almost 2 year old boy.

Caleigh is such a girls' girl - so so girly which is an experience for me as I was such a tom-boy growing up.  She is so affectionate and so naturally nurturing.  She loves to come up and say, "I want to give you a big hug" or "Let me just give you a kiss real quick."  She is such a sweet sweet girl.  She loves babies, clothes - mostly dresses - I can hardly get her to wear anything else... she loves to help cook, she loves drawing and crafts and puzzles.  She likes quiet toys and LOVES books.  I love catching her with Andrew sitting in her lap and her reading to him.  She is so compassionate - genuinely caring so much about others.  She loves being groomed (unless you are washing or brushing her hair) - she loves haircuts and getting her fingernails and toenails painted.  She loves to dress up in high heels.  She talks all the time, though we have started speech therapy to work on pronunciation.  She is such a girly girl and we are so thankful for this sweet 3 and 1/2 year old.

So thankful for these sweet kids and the joy that it is to parent them.