Day And Night/Black And White/Well, You Get The Idea

There is a vast difference between my two grandchildren. My four-year-old grandson truly is ALL BOY! He's a whirlwind, he's rough and tumble, he's climbing all over the furniture, he can't sit still, he leaves a trail of toys behind him, he loves getting (and staying) dirty, and he's loud and boisterous! And Jayden turns up his nose at most fruits and vegetables, tells me that he is 'too full' to eat, but then whines for dessert.
He loves monsters and he constantly wants to play 'fighting' games. All his make-believe play involves fighting of some sort!
This is what I hear from him all the time:

"Umma, I know you don't like guns, but can't you please play guns just this one time?"
"No, Jayden."

"Umma, I know you don't like swords, but can't you please let's play sword fight for just a little bit?"
"No, Jayden."

"Umma, I know you don't like light sabers, but please, just for a tiny bit can't we play that?"
"No thank you, Jayden."

And I hear a lot of this from Jayden:
"Umma, YOU ARE SO BORING!"




My two-year-old granddaughter Mia on the other hand, is the perfect little lady. She's calm, she's quiet, she's loves to have me read book after book to her, and she asks to please wash her hands before and after she eats! She was here the other day while Jayden was in school and that's when I noticed the distinct differences in them. Mia plays quietly with her little ducks, or her princesses, or her fairies. And the only climbing Mia does is that she loves to climb onto my lap for stories or songs, and when my friend Barbara stopped in for a cup of coffee, Mia quietly occupied herself. It was a far cry from Jayden interrupting our conversation every five minutes! And she's more than happy to eat almost anything healthy that is put on her plate.
This is what I hear from Mia all the time:

"Grandma, do you want to read me this book?"
"Sure, Mia!"

"Grandma, can you help me wash my hands now?"
"Of course, Mia!"

"Grandma, do you want to be Snow White and I will be Sleeping Beauty?"
"No thank you, Mia."
(As much as I don't like playing 'fighting' games, I'm not really into playing 'princess' anymore either!).

In spite of that, this is what I hear most often from Mia:
"Grandma, this is fun!"




Jayden has been in school full-time for a few weeks now. For six hours a day my home is silent. And amazingly the house stays clean during the week. He usually comes home and has a snack, then asks to watch a favorite TV program and falls asleep for an hour or two, school wears him out I guess!

I actually love that my grandchildren have such different personalities. And I love that somehow those personalities were actually beginning to mesh very nicely over the summer. Jayden no longer looked at Mia as the bothersome baby who would come here and take all his Umma's attention and interrupt all his fun. And to Mia, Jayden was no longer just the loud, rambunctious bully who used to scare her. They were actually becoming good friends, playing 'spy' together (a secret game that Jayden made up and they would allow me to join in), Jayden would read the map and Mia would hold the flashlight for him, and I would be the look-out (but I have no idea what I was on the look out for! I never did find out if we were the spies or if we were on the look out for spies!). And Jayden would invite Mia to play with her Disney Princesses and Fairies, and her ducks in the Bat Cave and in Spiderman's secret laboratory with him and his Super Heroes, and they had so much fun playing with the Play-Doh together, and in the sandbox, and with water toys, and Jayden would even play tea party with Mia.


And while it's very nice to have some one-on-one time with my granddaughter, I miss very much watching the two of them play together. So, I'm very happy for the weekends when Mia visits and I can watch them taking turns giving each other rides in a toy stroller, playing Princess and Super Hero, and plotting their latest spy caper together!