boys vs. girls

I never really put much stock in boys and girls being all that different.  I figured most of it was conditioning.  If all you bought your daughter was baby dolls and dress up clothes then of course that's what she'll play with.  Right?  Then I had a boy and a girl.  Quinn is like Godzilla and my house is Tokyo.  If it can be knocked over, thrown, pushed, hit, bitten, and generally destroyed it will be.  In fact, Quinn will dump out a tub of Lego's and gleefully spread them all over the house.  Then he'll pick them up and put them back in the tub just so he can dump them again.  He'll do this over and over - dump, spread, pick up, dump, spread, clean up- until I get fed up and wrestle the Lego's away from him.


I now know how football was developed.  It wasn't by a group of men sitting down to figure out a game.  A bunch of boys got together got a ball and started tackling.  When Quinn is trying to get Megan out of the way he'll drop his shoulder and go barrelling at her chest.  That's right my 16 month old instinctively knows how to tackle. 


Quinn will run up give you a big hug, lean back, smile then hit you.  Yup, that's my son.  Aggressor.  Here is what I imagine Quinn thinks-.  "I want that toy.  I think I'll hit you in the face to get it.  What I can't hit?  Oh, I'll bite you instead.  It's OK, I like biting better anyway.  WHAT???  I can't bite?  Now that is just completely unreasonable.  I'm going to throw myself on the floor and SCREAM like I've never screamed before.  Now repeat this 100x a day.  Reasonable yes?

Now I'm sure lots of things play a part in this - Quinn's a little brother.  Goodness knows Megan loves to push him down and grab his toy, or shove him out of the way so the boy had to learn how to stand up for himself whereas Megan didn't have any competition when she was a toddler.  He's a toddler.  Toddlers destroy.  It's not as if I haven't dealt with this before.  Megan was, and still is, aggressive. Yes she loves her babies, but she's usually wrestling with the boys at daycare.  But I swear Quinn is bringing it to a new level.  It'll be very interesting to see what skill my little lineman will develop as he grows up a bit.