Impressing the ladies :)

Our little man is almost 4, and he absolutely LOVES getting the attention of older kids, especially older girls! He'll do just about anything that he can think of to impress the ladies - showing off his ability to hop on one foot, saying in a very loud, commanding voice, "I'm so strong that I can lift a chair" or "I have very sensitive eyes, like a cat," or flexing his little arms and saying, "Look at my muscles, grrr!" Usually this elicits a roll of the eyes from the older kids, although some of the more sympathetic girls do give C a half-smile or a "wow, that's neat". But C doesn't give up there - oh no, he wants the older girl's full attention - so he proceeds to follow the poor child around and talk her ear off until either they have to leave or it's time for us to go.  Even at that point, C makes sure to blurt out some last-minute remarks in a last-ditch effort to win the her affection.

Once in a while I try to talk with C about the fact that some older kids just want to play with each other, just like he doesn't always want to play with kids that are younger than him, etc. I do this in an effort to help his social awareness skills, which are still developing :), but I also don't want to squash his personality at such a young age. One time, after a play-date with a little girl who was clearly annoyed and not interested at all in having C follow her around the entire time, I said, "Well, C, sometimes girls have lots of feelings inside of them and they just want to be alone for a little while." He thought about that for a few minutes and said, "Yeah mom, sometimes I...Um, mom, do boys have feelings too?" To which I nodded, yes, boys have feelings, too :) "Yeah, I thought so. Sometimes I want to be alone, too, because I have lots of feelings inside of me, too." Funny words from the mouth of a little boy :)

With a growing baby sister in the house, I think that C will get a taste of his own medicine soon, since baby Maria seems to be interested in everything that her older brother is doing! I'm sure she'll have a similar affection for all of his friends when they're over to play, which will probably annoy them to no end! I can't wait to watch, though ;)