What's special about our kids

Amy is a girl who appreciates structure and having responsibility. Where perhaps we did too much for Reed since he was our first kid and there are so many instances where it's easier to just do something for him rather than wait for him to work his way through something....with Amy our expectations were higher. We'd learned that it'd really be best to let her do things on her own, that way she'd learn faster. I guess that's where it's not so fair to be a second child! (Don't I know it!)

But ultimately I think it suits Amy well. She is quick to jump in and do for herself what Reed is content to have done for him a lot of the time (pouring a drink is one example). She likes having jobs at home and will even get upset if someone does one of her jobs for her (like delivering drinks at dinner time). She works to solve problems when she runs into them, rather than throwing her hands up in surrender. If she can't figure it out, she'll keep working. Her problem-solving skills are terrific.

This has carried over into school as well. Her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Mitkowski, knew that if she allowed Amy to be an authority in the classroom, it would benefit everyone - they often joked that if they forgot something they needed to do or remember, they could just ask Amy and she would know. They let her help kids who were having trouble, they let her give direction. She thrived in this environment.

Now, Reed...he is becoming much more self-sufficient as time goes by, and it's great to see. Now he can reach the higher cabinets (or he'll drag a chair over so he can reach), he fixes his own lunch (mostly)...but we probably didn't do him any favors by over-doing things for him. We're working on it, though!

Reed is great at recognizing the structure and rules for things – I think is why he's doing well with chess. He can explain the rules of a game very clearly and completely. In third grade, his teacher says he's doing everything he's supposed to...he gets his work done (really) quickly and then has time to read while other kids are still working. He even reads while the lessons are going on, but when Mr. Heenan asks him a question about whatever they're discussing, he's prepared with the answer despite it appearing that he wasn't really paying attention. He's a great multi-tasker, hopefully that will benefit him. Somehow it's still astonishing to us how fast the kid can read. He got books for Christmas that he'd read within 15 minutes of opening them. I guess some people might think then the present wasn't really worthwhile, but what they don't realize is that he'll read the same book a dozen times more. Reed is also someone who doesn't follow the norm – he thinks on his own and doesn't do thinks just because other kids are doing it. I hope that's something that continues since it will serve him well in pursuing his own happiness.

Our kids also genuinely seem to enjoy each other's company too. Which is not to say that they don't fight and drive us nuts, but they have a lot of things they both like. They are both big into Pokemon and Club Penguin, and for Christmas they got a Wii game called Skylander that they've spent a lot of time playing and talking about – discussing strategies, favorite characters, favorite moves. They also worked together on a big Lego set that Amy got for Christmas – that is a new shared interest for them that I'm happy to see.

So overall I'd say that they're keepers. Happy New Year!