I can see the zoo.

Today Jonathan wrote, from memory, all by himself:
I CAN SEE THE ZOO.

Isn't that amazing? He spends at least an hour after school, beyond his homework time, working and working on his letters and numbers. Our house is a paper-rific mess. Anna and him both spend most of their time drawing and coloring and writing. Anna is trying her darndest to catch up to Jon, and she does not seem to take into consideration that she is a whole 26 months younger than him. I keep thinking, I will use some of these skills that I am learning at my job to help Jonathan learn to read, but he is learning to read faster than I can learn to teach him to read!

I got these fantastic tools off of Amazon called Hot Dots. Anna started with Reading Readiness, and Jonathan started with Consonants. They are just these flashcards that are compatible with these special pens, and when you press the right answer it lights up green and says something positive. Anna is super insulted that I got her the "baby ones" and she wants to do the ones that Bubba has. Well! Excuse me for thinking you were still only 3! She really can get most of the answers in Bubba's stack, just not the ones that ask about sounds in the middle of words. I can't believe how smart she is, and how much her learning is fueled by competitiveness. Especially since Jonathan is so NOT competitive. He does nothing to egg her on. I wonder where she gets it from? I guess it is the nature of the baby of the family to either act like the baby to try and get everything done for them, or to try and catch up so they can shake off the baby identity. Anna likes to do both, whichever works to her advantage at that particular moment.

Dave was standing in the kitchen at my Mom's house last night, and he said something so true. He was holding Anna (as always, it's a good thing she has stayed so light!) and she was holding his ear. He said, "This right here, this sums up the difference between our two kids. When Jonathan was nervous, he always held onto his own ear. When Anna is nervous, she holds onto my ear!"
So true! Anna is so social and craves interaction and attention and touch so much. She needs so much affection and time, and Jonathan has always thrived so well on just a little bit... In fact, he has long been able to express his need for "alone time." They are so different when compared to each other. But when you take them out into the world and compare them to other kids, they are SO much alike. It is funny...They seem so different to us, but other people are always making categorical statements about "our kids." Like, "your kids are so quiet!" Um, yeah...
I know we aren't supposed to compare our kids, but I think noticing their differences is just part of knowing them and understanding who they are. I am not trying to pit them against each other. Usually I am just marvelling at how different they are and always have been, right from the start, how unique and completely their own they came into the world, just being. Anna is Anna and Jonathan is Jonathan, and they are both marvelous little beings, and I love them both so much. But figuring out how to parent them both at the same time every day is a challenge, because they are both so different.