Love Arguing With Đán

These days I am in charge of taking Đán to daycare in the morning and picking him up in the evening; therefore, we spend sometimes together in the car ride. Đán has this peculiar habit. Whenever he likes a song, he would ask me to repeat it over and over again when we were riding in the car. The latest one is Nguyên Khang’s rendition of “Sầu Đông.” As much as I love Nguyên Khang, I can’t hear that song for 25 minutes straight, twice a day, and everyday. So I have to find something to break Đán off his habit.

Đán loves to argue even with his limited vocabulary. For instance, the other day I picked a fight with him, rather than turning on his favorite song, to distract him from wanting to take his seatbelt off as I was driving. I pointed him to the squirrel and told him that if he doesn’t stop yelling “the squirrel gonna bite his butt.” He replied, “No daddy, the squirrel gonna bite your head.” I said, “No, he’s going to bite your butt.” Then he saw the tractors at a construction site and said, “I am going to use the mighty machine to crush the squirrel.” I was laughing my ass off.

Then we drove by houses with decoration of skeletons for Halloween and I told him, “The skeleton gonna eat you.” He replied, “But I am sitting in the car. The skeleton can’t get into the gate.” He referred to the window as gate. I said, “But the skeleton can jump into the gate and eat you.” Then he said, “The skeleton is not going to eat me because he’s my best friend.” I was like, “Huh?” He went one, “Do you understand?” I replied, “I guess so.” I thought to myself. He’s either going to be a lawyer or a politician.

Around 10:30 pm, I came home from class and he was still up. Grandma couldn’t get him to sleep. I came up and lay down next to him. I asked him, “Why don’t you sleep?” He replied, “I am waiting for you. I am so glad to see you.” I gave him a kiss, held him in my arms and he fell asleep 5 minutes later. Man, I love this kid.