Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Questions!

My online friend Alice (no blog for a link) posted some questions for me in the comments on this post. She asked...

Over the past few days I have come up with a few questions for you... I hope it's alright to go ahead and post them here.

A long time ago (I don't remember exactly when) you wrote that you felt that the mean age level in your house was (I believe) around 3. What would you say is the mean age/developmental level now?

How is N doing with her bike? I thought that your no-pedal teaching technique is pretty neat. I will do that when I have kids.

Two related questions (with some preamble): In my family I grew up as 'the baby'. By the time I was T's age, I HATED being called 'the baby'. Is T experiencing any of this? Does she identify herself as a 'baby' or a 'big girl'?

Related to this topic, I was wondering about K. You often hear people speak of 'middle child syndrome' and the like. Does K find it difficult to be stuck in the middle? Do you notice 'middle child traits' in her?


Last but not least, the little girl I babysit has recently begun potty training. I was just wondering where T stands with regards to using the potty. And what techniques (if any) do you use when potty training with your girls?





First, let me say questions are always welcome! They help me think about things from new perspectives. Please, if you have questions, ask them!

I'll start with the easiest question.

How is N doing with her bike? I thought that your no-pedal teaching technique is pretty neat. I will do that when I have kids.

I can't take credit for thinking up the no-pedal technique. The bike store guy told us about it. N (5.75) and her bike... She is riding really well. She got the bike on 9/29. She learned to balance really fast without the pedals. She was riding (coasting around our driveway and balancing) on the first day.

She'd push with her feet to the "top" of the driveway and then coast down. She was steering and it took probably a week or two for her to master steering. She asked for the pedals on 10/26 and MWH put them on 10/27. Within 5 minutes of him putting the pedals on she was riding. No training wheels! We were delighted! I think it was a great way to build her confidence. I think she would have been ready for the pedals sooner, but she was in charge and she wanted to wait. We listened to her wisdom. I'll be putting up videos documenting her learning on the other blog over the holiday break.




A long time ago (I don't remember exactly when) you wrote that you felt that the mean age level in your house was (I believe) around 3. What would you say is the mean age/developmental level now?

This is a harder question... I wrote the mean age in our house was around 3 in February. The mean age now, if you calculate it, is 3.83. Recently, I wrote


We're definitely entering a new era around here with new bigger kid activities now. The three little girls are so different than they were last year. It's nice to have it be a little less stressful when we go out, and to be able to do more!


I think the mean age is probably close to 4. N is acting so much older than 4 (most of the time) though. She's not a little kid anymore. Age six is the start of Middle Childhood. She is seeming so much more mature. I know six is very young still, but she's my biggest girl. I'll be writing more about this soon.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm not sure what the average age in our house is now. Sometimes close to four seems right on, and sometimes it seems like N isn't part of the average. I will come back to this one later. Maybe MWH will play along and make a comment and give his opinion....



This question Two related questions (with some preamble): In my family I grew up as 'the baby'. By the time I was T's age, I HATED being called 'the baby'. Is T experiencing any of this? Does she identify herself as a 'baby' or a 'big girl'?

T calls herself the BABY. She is proud of her status as the baby. She likes the attention it gets her. I think K would have been delighted to have stayed the baby and T knows that she won the title from K. Seriously. I honestly think T knows she displaced K and she's proud of having done that. (I realize that's a pretty sophisticated concept for a 2.25 year old to have, but I honestly think she sort of has it.)

As to part 2 of that question Related to this topic, I was wondering about K. You often hear people speak of 'middle child syndrome' and the like. Does K find it difficult to be stuck in the middle? Do you notice 'middle child traits' in her? She is such a middle child. I will devote a whole post to this someday ... (Haven't I done this in the past?... Let me dig.) There's some here and there's a lot more here too. I am sure there will be more!




Last but not least, POTTY TRAINING! .... I'm going to set aside a whole post for this one really soon. I'm exhausted right now.

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