In the first moments, your new little one seems more like an alien than a bundle of joy, but after a bath for baby and a few deep breaths for the new parents, your little angel looks their part. Their little red face is all scrunched up, and the sounds that voice from their puckered little mouth are the most precious notes you could ever hope for. You ache any time the nurses take them for tests, and you deny offers from well meaning friends and family who offer to hold them while you get some sleep. All you want to do is be with your new baby, and you'll forego food, water and sleep to do just that! All Pink or All Blue
I am one of the lucky mothers who have what they say is “a million dollar family” in that I have been blessed with a boy and a girl. The greatest pleasure of my life is watching my young son and daughter develop and become their own person each and every day.
What has amazed me the most is how different a boy and girl are even at such a young age. My son was born when my daughter was 18 ½ months old. One of the first questions I was asked was, “Do you find there is a difference between having a boy and a girl?” At first I replied that there was no difference.
Then my son became three months old and I started to respond differently to that much asked question. At three months of age, my son started to show the traits of a true boy. As he gets older the gap between genders is surely noticeable.
The following are my experiences and may not be the experiences of other families:
- Girls from a very young age are gentle creatures. They treat their toys with gentle ease whereas a boy is aggressive with their toys, bashing them and throwing them around like a baseball.
- Boys are fearless and take risks regardless of the possible outcome. My daughter was very cautious at every step of her development from crawling to walking. I laugh at my son as he goes down two flights of stairs. He slides down them like a toboggan on an icy hill.
- Boys from a very young age are louder and more temperamental. As a baby, my daughter did not cry very much even when in pain from teething or when she was really sick. My son is a whole different ball game and has a set of lungs!
- Girls are nurturers and this is noticeable in them at a very young age. My daughter loves to take care of her babies and her baby brother. She is almost like a mother figure. My son, instead of pushing a stroller with a baby in it, he pushes it with a ball in it.
- The first few words my son learned and says the most frequently is “ball” and “broke.” Yes, he is already an athlete and a fix-it boy!
- Girls no matter where you are want a parent by their side whereas a boy is exploratory and goes off without a parent in any location.
- Amazingly enough, boys at an early age don’t like to sit and watch television. My son doesn’t sit still for a moment and is very energetic and always into something. Whereas my daughter can sit and watch a television show for hours over and over again.
- Boys are generally mommy’s little boys where girls are generally daddy’s little girls. It’s amazing how children tend to put a bit more favoritism on the opposite sex parent.
- Boys show analytic thinking at a young age. They will sit and look at their toys and try to figure out how to take them apart or put them together. A girl sees their toys as the way they are.
- Boys and girls choose their toys according to their gender. Boys will choose balls and cars where a girl will choose dolls.
These are the traits I see that differentiate my little boy from my little girl.
Of course, there are a number of similarities. Each baby and toddler, regardless of their gender, needs love, affection and attention.
Celebrate the arrival of a new baby with baby gift baskets that can be customized in pink or blue.
