Heed

This is neither an optical illusion nor a trick of 2D perspective. 

Vansen's head is just about the same size as Huelan's. 

Sibling Rivalry

I just mentioned that Vansen is a beat off the pace set by his sister, and he must have heard me because this weekend he made a couple of significant firsts. After a number of efforts over the past few days, he started sitting up on his own. He's still prone to occassonally slow-topple, but he's in much better control now and I think he's enjoying the change of view. 

This earned him a spot in the high chair, where he has figured out how to grasp snacks and get them to his mouth (most of the time). He'll still fumble a little and sometimes the food ends up in his lap, but this is a big developmental step and he'll be motivated to hone his motor skills  because, of course, there are snacks involved. 

Baby Log

I think that it was Gosia who had the idea of keeping Vansen's baby log right on top of Huelan's old one and just use red ink. The principal benefot being that we can compare and contrast their development at about equal times (she's maybe a week older on her pages).  

They say that girls mature and develop earlier than boys, and from what we see that rings pretty true. Whether it's sitting, crawling, or even just awareness, Huelan definitely has the edge. Around this same age- 7.5 months- Huelan had just cut her first tooth and was pulling herself up to standing. Vansen isn't quite sitting up yet (top heavy= slow motion topple), and has just started to scoot in reverse (belly drag slows him down). 

When it comes to food intake, however, Vansen definitely takes the cake. Some of his meals are fully double what she was eating at about the same age- he'll easily house an 8oz. bottle, and if you short him a half ounce he'll know just by feel (gets that from Ba).

Jumpy

We recently broke out Huelan's old jumpy habitat.  At first he just kind of sat there, but he's got it figured out now- jumping, spinning, music and dangling chew toys.

Bo Cua

Speaking of gambling....

Tet

Tet is the Vietnamese name for the celebration around the lunar new year, a time for family, food, drink, fireworks, red envelopes, and gambling. Stanley Kubrik aptly describes it as "New Year's, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one."  Today, here, it's not the crown jewel of holidays like it was when I was a kid, but we try to make a big deal of it. Who in their right mind would want fewer reasons to get together with family to eat and gamble?

Like many holidays, it's also a marking of time. Though thankfully we seem to age only gradually, the kids just explode year to year. This time last year rang in the Year of the Snake (my birth sign), and it brought us a handsome son. Looking  forward to what the Year of the Horse has in store to try and top that. 

More pics will come when I'm able to get them off my camera....