The Instigator and the Aggravated

Since Sonia has been mobile, Jack seems to see her as a nuisance. It used to be that if she had a toy, he would take it from her and there wasn't much she could do about it. She didn't seem to care. Now if Jack is playing with something, Sonia will take it. Always. Then she runs away. Jack tries to fight with her for the thing but she hangs on. If he is successful, she is relentless, she will try to take it again. Usually in the struggle Jack hits her. He doesn't usually hit her hard and in the past, she didn't seem to notice. Now if he does anything she finds aggressive, she screams very loudly. I would say that Sonia seems to have a strong personality .. but one could make the argument that all of this behavior is just learned. Maybe Jack would have been exactly the same with an older sibling?

Needless to say, they don't get along right now. I am hopeful that one day they'll get along. I don't intervene that much in their conflicts. I know that soon Sonia is going to start hitting back and then I'll have bigger problems to solve.

Speaking of problems solved, Jack really digs his new school. I like it too. He seems to fit right in. The teachers are nice and the classroom is very laid-back. No strange montessori rules. They also do fun things like build Christmas trees out of green frosting and ice cream cones and decorate them with gum drops. They also mention the words Christmas, Hanukah and even Halloween and Valentine's day (all taboo in our montessori school). No one has strange food allergies so I can pack anything I want to for Jack's lunch. All very exciting. Every allergy was represented at the other place. Seems to be working out well. I feel fortunate that I was able to change schools mid-year.

Lastly, Sonia has developed a new love for reading. We always read to Jack but Sonia hasn't seemed that interested. Now (maybe because she is fighting to be the focus of attention) she picks out a book, brings it to one of us, and (if we are seated) she will hand us the book then turn around and back up into our lap. It's really cute. If she tries to hand you a book and you tell her you can't read it, she gets VERY upset. She screams and sometimes she bangs her head on the floor in case you weren't sure which emotion she was feeling.

I try not to compare them but it's hard not to notice how different they are. Jack was mellow. Sonia is not.

Example of Sonia wanting to be where Jack is .. after we took this picture, she sat on the book Ryan was reading.




Jack enjoying a hot chocolate at the coffee shop with mom