Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Learning Styles

Having twins can be such a cool thing for many reasons.  One of them is that I tend to pay more attention to the little things about them that I wouldn't notice if I had a singleton.  Since they are identicals, I think it's fun to try to find the differences in them.  It ensures that I treat them as individuals rather than as a unit.  I was recently telling someone about some of their differences when I realized that I already know their individual learning styles and I have really known them since they were very young.  I just didn't put it all together until this recent conversation.

When the girls were learning to roll over, Amelia tried and tried and tried.  Julia never did.  One day Julia rolled over.  The next day Amelia did.

Amelia took her first unassisted step at her first birthday party, but really didn't perfect walking until about 13 months.  Julia was happy to use her walker to keep up until she just started walking (quite well) one day when she was 13 months.

Since we introduced the potty (around a year old), Amelia has wanted to practice sitting on the potty and can now use it when she wants to.  Julia didn't show much interest in it until recently and she has begun using it at will.

It's probably not as obvious by reading this as it is having been there watching it happen, but Amelia most definitely learns by doing while Julia learns by watching.  I feel like I can parent so much smarter just by having realized this because now when I teach them I can do so by showing Julia as I do it with Amelia.  Okay, in all honestly, I've been doing that pretty instinctively anyway just because Julia doesn't want to do things right away.  So this really just means I can be more intentional now.

1 comment:

  1. Very cool. Halla's alot like Julia. She's always been content to hang out where she is until she's fully capable of moving on. Congratulations on the potty training! Halla wasn't even interested until she was almost 3!

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