Raising a Boy vs. Girl Part 1

Even though my kids are still young and I'm a mom of a boy only for the past 9 months, I can already tell a lot of differences between raising a boy and a girl.

Amelia walked already at age of 9 months and didn't crawl till she was 10+ months old and I only had to childproof my outlets for her. She didn't really care about the glass vases on the table or the picture frames. But her brother on the other hand is crawling since he is 7 months old and it's his mission to get in to everything. He climbs up on the furniture (which scares me often), pulls himself up to the table and pulls everything down that is in his reach. He also tries to open every drawer near his reach and so far he has been successful a few times. Of course, an adventurous boy wouldn't be complete without any bruises on his face. And we had several of those already.  We have also lowered his crib mattress twice already as he is standing up in bed and trying to get out. Amelia was never inclined to do that. She rather cried for her staff, aka mom or dad, to get her out.

 

Elliot is such a boy. He is in to everything electronic:  trying to pull all kinds of cable from behind the tv or computer and when I vacuum clean the house, he would love to ride on top of the vacuum cleaner whereas Amelia still doesn't like the vacuum near her. For that matter, she doesn't like any noises, such as lawn mowers, blow dryers, or other household items.  Also, he loves watching the washing machine or dryer do it's work and can sit in front of my front loaders for 10 to 15 minutes just watching them spin. He is in to cars and says vroom, vroom while she is a girly girl and loves dressing up and playing with her horses. Also, Amelia is quite the drama queen and sometimes I feel like I'm having an argument with a 13 year old girl instead of a toddler. She is constantly pushing my buttons and I'm not looking forward to puberty. It will be a rough road.

 

Elliot, 8 1/2 months old

Amelia, 9 months old





Princess Amelia

On the other hand, Amelia ate mostly pureed foods till she was two years old (except for snacks) whereas Elliot doesn't care much about pureed foods and rather eats Leberwurststulle (bread with liver pate), apple cake and other chunky food he feeds himself. Of course, making a mess is a must for a boy but not so much for a girl. She doesn't like to be dirty or have food stuck to her fingers. My little princess loves her napkin and constantly wipes her fingers and mouth during mealtime.  While Amelia stopped nursing on her own when she was 21 weeks old, Elliot still loves his breast milk and is a true Momma's boy whereas Amelia is very independent and Daddy's girl for sure. He always loved to cuddle way more than his sister and loves being held and kissed and rocked to sleep.

Amelia eating by herself at 8 months



Elliot eating yogurt by himself at 8 months



For sure we can see the difference between a boy and a girl already. Even though I'm sure some of the things I described are not gender typical but rather based on their individual personality. But man, he is so much more active (it may also has something to do that he is kid #2 and wants to do everything his bigger sibling is doing), and in to everything. I constantly have to pull him away from something (he loves my flower pots) and I can't wait to see how much more trouble he can get in to once he starts walking. It shouldn't take too much longer. But either way, boy or girl, I love them just as much. And they love each other.