Ky-An and Ai-Vy's Development

Please note that whenever I made a reference to comparing Ky-An to Ai-Vy's development, it's merely for observation purpose and not to mean one is better than the other. I adore both my kids and their all the differences. They are individuals and I respected that since I carried them in my stomach. ^_^

Ai-Vy

• Ai-Vy is more and more stable on her feet. She likes to stand and bounce on your or jump off the ground. She is getting more stable so we can hold her hands and let her walk around. She's so cute as she grinned widely whenever she walks. If you fold her arms together in front of her chest, she'll know to bow down and "a" people. It's a respectful greetings that we teach little babies before they can talk.
  
  
• She can pull herself up and walk around while holding on to things. She can stand on her own for a little bit but as soon as she realize that, she'll sit down or starts kneeling.
  
  
• She will finally hold her own bottle to drink.
  
  
• She LOVES Ky-An's magnetic toy that's on the fridge. One day our babysitter told Hieu that Ai-Vy did the oddest thing and she couldn't figure out why. One of the other mom brought the empty plastic baby food containers for the kids to play with. Ai-Vy keep taking them and hold it up to the fridge. When the container slides down to the ground, she'll pick it up and do it again. After several attemps, she starts screaming! Hieu started laughing and explain to her of Ai-Vy's favorite toys at home.
  
  
• Ai-Vy now has 4 teeth that poked through, so no more gummy smiles. She has 2 on the bottom and 2 very large ones on top.
  
  
• She still likes to roll around before and while she's sleeping but I've learned to just leave her alone and eventually she'll find a comfortable position and goes back to sleep. She sleeps on her tummy and her side a lot. This is something Ky-An never did. She hates it when I hold her to go to sleep, she'd rather roll around on the bed on her own. Ever since she was born, we joked and said she's Miss Independent and we see it more and more everyday. Just today Hieu said he can see Ai-Vy and I butting heads in the future because we are so similar. I can see that too but hopefully that will also cause us to be close.
  
  
• She is getting more and more into things and starting to put stuff in her mouth. We have to be extra careful with the small parts on the Ky-An's toys because I've caught her with them in her mouth more than once. Luckily for us, both her and Ky-An will just have stuff in their mouth but never try to swallow it. I constantly scan the room to make sure there is no small parts of Ky-An's toy on the ground.
  
  
• She also is more responsive on our directions and repeat the sounds that we make. She will know to answer when we call her name or if you fold her arms across her chest, she'll bow down to people. Everyone recognizes that she understand more things than Ky-An at this age.
  
  
• She loves to imitate whatever sounds you make.
  
  
• She know to wave bye-bye
  
  
• Whenever she doesn't like something, she'll close her eyes, wrinkle her nose, and scream.
  
  
• She's already starting to throw tantrums and will lay down and put her head down on the floor if she doesn't get what she wants.
  

Ky-An

• Ky-An is talking more and more everyday. He can actually answer us and carry on small conversations. We are just amaze everyday of the things he can say. One day I took him to CVS with me and he was sweating in the car. I took him in the store and asked "are you still hot?" I didn't really expect and answer but he surprised me by saying "not hot anymore."
  
  
• Today he woke up from his nap and walk on the bed towards me. He fell and said "An down". Then I asked him to bring me his sippy cup and he said "it spilled" in Vietnamese.
  
  
• He can understand directions and he just amazes me everyday. Today we were in the car and there is a chapstick next to him on the console. I said "An, passed mommy the lip balm." He stopped what he's doing, looked around on the console and hand it to me. It's just so awesome seeing him interact more and more with us everyday.
  
  
• Ky-An is now in the big boy swim class where he swims by himself with the instructor. All the parents has to stay in a one-way mirror room so the kids don't get distracted. He is not a happy camper and has been crying the entire class the last two times I brought him there. Sure brings back old times! He keep pointing at the door where I left him and said "Mommy!! Mommy!!" the entire class. Needless to say it's very hard to watch. No matter how many times or how many ways I tried to explain to him that mommy will be in the room watching you while you swim. I even showed him the room and how we can see other kids swimming. I don't think he can grasp the concept. I even tried to talk to the director today about my concern and she basically told me he'll get used to it. I sure hope so because last time it took him 3 months to stop crying. At least last time I was in the pool with him giving him some comfort, now I am in a separate room watching helplessly. Ah..the joy of letting go when your kids grow up.
  
  
• He knows our names and can refer to himself by his name. Everytime I lay him down to change his diaper or hold him like a baby, he goes "An baby". If he doesn't want to do something or is getting tired, he goes "An sleep".
  
  
• He likes it when we say his name wrong and he gets to correct us. We'll call him "Ky-Blan, Ky-Man, Ky-Gan..whatever and he'll giggle and then goes "Nooo, Ky-AN!"
  
  
• He is still the sweetest boy and the most wonderful big brother. I now put them both to sleep in the same room, no more carrying poor Ai-Vy upstairs and downstairs. Ai-Vy will go to bed first and then I put Ky-An in. He usually scream our name, sing, and talk loudly every night before he goes to bed. Ever since I put him the same room as Ai-Vy, I whisper to him before I leave the room to not scream because little sister is asleep. He'll always whisper back with "Scream, little sister cries." Then he rarely make a noise after that. He'll just drink his milk, then quietly roll around and goes to sleep. In the rare occasion when he forgets and yell out, he'll quickly scamper over to see if Ai-Vy is still asleep then falls back to his pillow with a sigh or relief. Very sweet.
  
  
• This morning I was holding Ai-Vy in the rocking chair trying to put her to sleep. Ky-An ran in and stood at the arm trying to snuggle with me. Hieu came in and tried to hold Ai-Vy so I can have him on my lap. He screamed and goes "NOOooo, little sister stay." It's so cute. He wants to snuggle with me but doesn't want to take Ai-Vy away just so he can. Ai-Vy also always look at him with adoring eyes whenever he is around. I just feel so bless that we have two wonderful kids who are so affectionate towards one another at such a young age.
  
  
• His favorite movie now is Cars. He think it's hillarious and watches it everyday. We have to fast forward some scenes because they scare him. He was into Nemo, Thomas the Train, Land of the Lost, A Bug's Life, and Monster's Inc. for a while.
  
  
• Ever since we moved most of the toys upstair, we've been encouraging him to go upstairs by himself to play. He still doesn't do it much but we are hoping he'll get more used to going upstairs on his own. One day we are moving him to his room upstairs but we want to make sure he's comfortable with the upper floor first.
  
  
• He won't get off the bed whenever he wakes up from his nap or in the morning. Even after I encouraged him to do it, he still won't. He just lays their quietly or sits on the bed until one of us come and help him down. One day I let him lay in the bed thinking he would go back to sleep but he just lay on the bed quietly for 30 minutes! At least I got one calm one..haha.
  
  
• He would go to bed even if he doesn't want to. He'l initially kick and scream but once I sing him my Goodnight song, he calms down and will go to bed quietly. Once in bed, he won't move unless one of us said it's okay. One day after he wiggled for over an hour, I came in to let him out. He was excited to see me and look at me hopefully as I wave my arms for him to get off the bed. He looked at me to make sure it's okay several times before excitedly get off the bed to go outside.
  
  
• Yesterday Ai-Vy fell asleep in the car as Hieu picked them up. Ky-An whispered to Hieu "Daddy, daddy, little sister sleep". Then he whispered and stayed quiet the entire ride as not to wake up his sister. That's extremely rare for an active toddler to do. When he saw me coming out to get them, you can see on his face that he was super excited to see me. I put my finger to my lips and he did the same and goes "shhhhh". He managed to stay quiet while I brought Ai-Vy into the house even though he was so excited. I am so proud of my little guy and just amazed at how considerate he is.
  
  
• Everyday after I read him a book, I'll cradle him and carry him to the bedroom. He always say "An baby" whenever I hold him like that.