Anything you can do...

...I can do too. This seems to be the motto Brynn lives by. From Mason to me and even Scott, Brynn thinks she's just as big and capable as all of us, and in a lot of cases she is. This girl just watches everyone around her and then jumps right in and gives it her all. Since she was a baby it has been very apparent that physical development is a strength of hers. She started crawling before 6 months, walking at 9 months, and hasn't slowed down since. She has unbelieveable coordination for a little girl her age. Not only is the ability there, but she loves anything that is physically active and challenging. This is one of the biggest differences in Mason and Brynn's personalities. For example, let me describe an actual scene from our backyard. Scott takes Mason out back to play some tee ball...Brynn follows. Scott gives Mason the bat and shows him how to swing. Mason takes a big swing and misses the ball. He then continues to swing the bat back and forth in a motion like he's sword fighting and says, "Look there's a dragon, I have to get it." And he is off in his own imaginative world using the bat to fight dragons that are attacking our yard. As Scott is trying to draw Mason back into the present, Brynn walks over, picks up a bat that is as tall as her and swings it over and over until she hits the ball. She then puts on Mason's glove and plays catch with Scott back and forth never wanting to stop. We could repeat that same scene with Soccer or Basketball. If I'm being completely honest, Brynn's coordination in catching balls of all sizes is far better than Mason's. I'm not saying one personality is better than the other, they are two different children and we wouldn't change a thing about either one of them. It's just interesting to watch how each child comes in their own package.

So this weekend both kiddos got new bikes. Mason wasn't a huge fan of riding a bike last year. Remember that part of him that doesn't like doing things he's not good at? Well, learning how to pedal was challenging for him and when he coudln't do it fast enough he would just give up and refuse to ride it anymore. He only had is tricycle and looking back I wish we would have gotten a real bike for him because I think he would have liked it more. This year, however, he is excited to have a big bike and learn how to ride it like all his friends (that's the power of peer pressure for you). He has already made a lot of progress on his new bike and is getting more confident every day. Brynn wants to ride everyone else's bikes all the time. The problem is her little legs won't reach the petals. We found out she can reach the petals on little 12" bikes and started looking for a used one on KSL for her. Then we came across this brand new Handy Manny one on clearance for as cheap as the used ones and decided to by our little girl a boys bike. Is that horrible of us? In our defence she does actually like Handy Manny. She is still learning how to pedal on her own, but we have no doubt she'll figure it out soon. Scott and I joked today that Brynn will be riding without training wheels before Mason does. The funny thing is it might be true. I don't say that to put Mason down, it 's just to say how determined Brynn is.
I'll have to do a post sometime on the strengths Mason has that Brynn doesn't to equal this out. Let's just say she might not be reading like he does by the time she's four.