The Words Mitchell Can Say.

Everyone I know says that boys reach physical milestones first while girls reach milestones, like talking, first. I googled it and the few websites I looked at said the same thing. My kids fit that stereotype pretty well.

 

Quinn with her free sample of "Orange Julius" from Dairy Queen. She loved it!

 

 

Quinn, although technically on time as far as physical milestones were concerned, was on the later side of hitting them. She sat unassisted at around 7 months old. She started crawling at 10 months old. She started walking a week after her first birthday, but it wasn't her preferred mode of mobility for another 6 weeks or so.

Mitchell, on the other hand, sat up unassisted at 3 months old. He started crawling at 7 months old and he started walking, much to my chagrin, at 9 and a half months old. He totally nailed every milestone WAY earlier than what I was expecting.

 

Daddy sharing some of his pumpkin blizzard with an enthusiastic Mitchell.

 

 

This could be chalked up to the fact that Quinn was born exactly 4 weeks before her due date, putting her a month behind any of those milestones just because of her "preemie" status. Mitchell was born a mere 6 days before his due date, making him "just about on time." It could also be because Quinn was our first child, so maybe we didn't push her that hard. Maybe the fact that I worked while Quinn was a baby (and she was in daycare for about 6 months), but stayed home with the kids when Mitchell was born, played a part, too. But I think the biggest contributing factor is their gender. Way to perpetuate the stereotype, children!



Me, with my chocolate turtle blizzard, while Quinn nurses her "Orange Julius." We love ice cream for dinner on a rainy day!

 

That sums up their physical attributes. As far as the point of my blog post, their skills with the English language, Quinn is leaps and bounds ahead of Mitchell. According to her baby book (that I diligently filled out), Quinn could say 60 words at 18 months old. 10 of those words were multi-syllable words. Now at 3 and a half years old, she knows a ton of words. She can have meaningful conversations with just about anyone and they'll know exactly what she's saying. She tells me stories that she makes up every night before bed. She loves talking.

 

 Mitchell, at 18 months old, knows about 10 words. Of those 10 words, he can say a couple on his own but most of them need prompting from me. Anyone listening would need me to translate what he's saying. He's just not as interested in talking as he is in getting around. This is what the people around me tell me and what those googled websites said, too, so it should be no surprise that Mitchell, in fact is more physical and less talkative, while Quinn is the polar opposite.

He's so dang proud of himself! Lol.

 

I knew having two kids would be fun. I knew they'd be their own people, but I wondered how different they would be, especially since they're different genders. I am amazed at the differences so far. It makes my life really exciting because, so far, everything has been different.