Four (again).

When you have a baby you are not supposed to compare your baby to all the other babies.  You and your mommy friends are supposed to support each other and not secretly freak out when other 10 month-olds are already walking and yours is barely crawling.  And when you have a second baby you are not supposed to compare him or her to their sibling.  Every child is unique and individual and develops in their on way at their own pace.

But that's impossible.  Of course we compare them.

Quynh is turning four, so I felt compelled to go back and re-read this post from when Tai was the same age.  And I am struck by how different they are.  That's not to say that one is better than the other.  Just different.  While four-year-old Tai had a voracious appetite for facts and figures about the world around him, Quynh does not.  Just this morning Tai and I were discussing the different types of lightning (fascinating topic, right?) and Quynh interrupted us with, "I don't like the way you are talking, Mama.  When people talk like that it is so boring."

That is not to say that Quynh isn't smart.  She is.  She is a keen observer of what's going on around her, an articulate (usually) speaker, and never afraid to ask questions.  It seems like every day she is asking me what a new word means or how to spell something.  She is very invested in her writing, carefully printing out each letter.  And she beams with pride when she holds up three fingers on each hand and announces that 3+3=6.

At age four Tai was also learning to use the computer and very interested in any sort of video game.  I'm not sure Quynh has ever touched an actual computer.  She does use the ipad, but she basically treats it as her own personal TV, using only the PBSKids application.  She simply prefers watching shows to flinging birds across the screen.  (Tai is, of course, an expert bird-flinger).  

While I didn't blog about it, I do remember Tai being afraid to ride on a carousel horse at his fourth birthday party.  He liked the carousel very much, but would only ride on the stationary bench usually occupied by senior citizens.  Four year old Tai was also relatively reserved, preferring to sit on my lap when other children were dancing at a concert   Quynh, on the other hand, loves carousel horses and other rides as well.  She is bold and daring and always ready for audience participation.  She makes new friends easily and is so fearless that she has a habit of taking off on me in public places.  Just last month at a children's museum she purposely  left our family and joined a school field trip as they filed by in their matching t-shirts, because it looked like they were going to do something fun.

Quynh draws, she colors, she builds, she imagines.
Quynh runs, she climbs, she splashes, she digs.
Quynh yells, she argues, she compromises, she shares.  
Quynh sings, she dances, she poses, she smiles.  

Quynh is four.