Thanks for the welcome!
And, thanks for the reading material.
I have read that children are difficult, and often only e/i can be determined. I am curious to see if I can figure out more, though. My oldest children are 7 and 5. (girl, boy). I can tell quite plainly that my oldest is IxxJ. I suspect SF, though T is possible. It's hard to know because the whole environment piece. She's got me (iNTJ) for a mama, and I can't help but think her through every scenerio outloud. At times I can tell it's rubbing off. My boy is harder to tell because he is very quiet. Mostly, I just want to try to understand their general outlook, so I can speak directly to it. After reading about mbti, and seeing such strong traits in my oldest, I was able to "speak her language" and get through to her on some important points. When I do the child tests, by the way, both children come out ISJ. I really think my son is an ENJ, though.
Chawie...I'll take you up on that. What do you want to know?
Here's some info for starters...
He seems shy in public, but only because he really hates for people to make a big deal about what he's doing. If he is on his own, there's no telling what he'll do. Once, at 3.5yo, he walked into a house he had never been in before, in search of a man he had never met. And he did it without saying a word to me. As soon as I got into the room, he stopped talking and acted shy the remainder of the visit. He is energized by being with people, though. The more play with others the better. If he has a quiet afternoon, his boredom and lonliness make him a grump. I am confused about e/i because he insists he wants to be alone, he doesn't like to join in activities with other children, but he obviously gets tons of energy from being with others, and does not need recovery time. I think he mostly says he likes to be alone because he is very private, and will even lie, to keep his thoughts and actions to himself. (Even if he has done nothing wrong). Also, he hates to be told what to do.
He prefers to play with much older children, and doesn't enjoy the unpredictability of those his own age. He wants the big kids to make sense, and to build things and show him things that he isn't capable of doing on his own. He also does not want to do something in front of others until he has mastered it. He does like to run around and be crazy, but he also wants to be in control of the situation. In fact, he will do anything if it is his idea, or he is in control. If he feels a tiny bit of control belongs to another, he usually prefers to sit out. He said today that he doesn't care to lead, but he doesn't want to follow. He just wants to do his own thing. He also said that if kids were playing, he wants them to do his plan, and he doesn't want to be told what to do. Anywhere we go, even if he doesn't know where we are going or what we are doing, he will walk far ahead of the rest of us. He often gets far enough ahead to be out of sight, and around a corner. It doesn't strike me as leading, though. It's more like he is just not following, if that makes sense.
We joke about him leaving piles of himself all over the place, but actually he is very organized for a 5yo. I remember how determined he was at a year old to put the sidewalk chalk back in the box correctly. He went back twice, once to put the chalk in straighter, and again to shut the lid. I often find stashes of his things, neatly tucked in together. He does remember where he put them, too.
Okay, that's all I have time for right now. Questions?