Here’s my littlest. Ian. He is 17 months old.
My biggest is Lawrence, my husband. He really is one big kid! He’s playing Xbox 360 right now. Need I say more? 😉
Ian is playing with bristle blocks. It’s like the new Legos, except you can build it from all sides. It’s super cool. My almost-4-year old plays with it too!
I love studying how different my kids are — be it gender differences or just very different personalities.
With bristle blocks, Ian likes to stack tall towers and then run around the house while swinging or thrashing them until they break apart. Then he’ll kick them to see how far they’ll go. He may then get upset when he looks on the floor to see that his blocks are now no longer easily acceptable. He may get frustrated, and if no one comes to his rescue, he’ll give up and play with something else. Later, he will run across the floor and will slip on one of the bristle blocks. Melia likes to take her time and build flowers. Sometimes she’ll build houses and airplanes, but they’re usually built for a princess.
Anyways, I love these toys and think every child between 10 mos and 8 years old should have a set!
They’re great for the imagination and developing their creativity. And for little tykes, like Ian, they’re great for developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
“ARRRRRRRRRRR!” he yells out of frustration because he can’t get the blue block to join the tower of power!
Onto Jieh Jieh’s dollhouse. (Jieh Jieh means “big sister” in Mandarin.)
I don’t know if dads prefer that their sons not play with “girl toys”, but I believe all toys are free game. That way, we don’t socialize them to believe they are “suppose to” think/dress/behave in certain ways based on their sex or gender.
Just recently, Ian started trying on Jieh Jieh’s tiara and hairclips. I let him. But I don’t publicize this to my husband. Shhh, don’t tell him. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but who knows what goes on inside a guy’s mind!
A Siamese Strawberry.
I asked my daughter if she wanted to eat it. She stared at it for a minute and replied politely, “No, thank you.”
