What Had Dao Learned In Summer Camp?

Dao’s summer camp ended last Friday. His teachers sent some photos of him singing, dancing and playing with the water. Dao made some impressive progression over the summer.

Dao no longer cried when we dropped him off in the morning. He could sing the entire “ABC” song and six bars of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” He also mastered “The Wheels on the Bus.” He could count in Vietnamese from 1-8 and 10 (he still leaves out the 9). In English, he counted “1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16.” I am sure he’ll fill in the missing numbers one of these days.

What impressed me the most is his manner in communication. For example, when he wants to play with the iPod, he would ask, “Ba, ba cho Dao muon iPod, please” [Daddy, daddy, let me borrow the iPod, please]. As much as I try to restrict him from using the iPod, I cannot say no to that. When I handed over the iPod to him, he would response, “Thank you, daddy.” We no longer have to reminded him that.

Whenever one of us sneeze, he would say, “bless you.” When I coughed, he said, “Ba, ba, be careful.” Earlier today, Dana expressed some pain and he asked, “Mommy, are you ok?” I rested my leg against the table, he said, “excuse me,” as he tried to walk by. Whenever he needed me to do something for him, he would tell me, “Ba, ba, help Dao.” The other day I spilled milk on the floor. He ran into the kitchen, picked up the towel, wiped up the milk and said, “Dao help daddy clean up.” The only thing I could do at such moment was held him tight and gave him a big kiss. What a sweet boy.vSure there are sweet moments like that as well as not so sweet moments that I just wanted to spank him, but kids are kids.

I am really glad that he’s picking up quite a few good manners over the summer. I also think that he’ll be a great big brother. He gets along well with other kids and has not have any problems like fighting for arguing with his peers. As seem in this video, his treated his six-month cousin with love and kiss.