Dan’s first day seems to be good. He didn’t cry at all when we dropped him off. It was a busy morning and the teacher just took his hand walked to the playground. Dan is in Ms. Ester’s class. She was Dao’s previous and favorite teacher. I am sure he is having a blast.

Dao is also back with Ms. Chantel who is also his previous and favorite teacher. He was a bit whiny when we brought him in, but then completely content when he sat on her lap. I came over to see how he was doing and he said, “I want to see my baby.” Ms. Chantel promised that he would get to see his baby brother later on.

Can’t wait to pick them up in the evening and treat them to Baskin-Robbins.

I envy those parents who stay home with their kids. I know a handful of moms are doing that already, but I also found out the other day that a friend who is a web developer quitted his job to be home with his first daughter. I whined to my wife every once in a while that I wanted to be a stay-at-home dad as well. I told her my plan would be to spend time with the boys during the day and work on freelance projects during the night. The problem is that I am really suck at doing business. I only take on side jobs that I like and I only take on projects that come to me. I despise going out of my way to pick up clients; therefore, I won’t be able to pay the bills if I do my own business.

As much as I love my kids, I realize that I am not the type of guy that could handle constant craziness. Dao and Dan are at the age that they could go on all day long without getting tired. They both are super active. Dan alone is a handful. He climbs, runs, yells and he loves to do anything except sitting still. He has yet to listen to what I say. In fact, whatever I tell him not to do, he would do it. For example, whenever I say, “don’t put that in your mouth,” and he would put it in his mouth. He’s starting to pick up Vietnamese words like dirty, car, hand, mouth and so forth. For now, he learns mostly Vietnamese.

With Dao, he could watch TV all day long if I let him; therefore, I have to play with him as well to keep him occupied. Dao is such a witty kid, especially the things that he said. For example, a couple of days ago, he told me, “Daddy, my ‘cu’ (penis) gets bigger when I eat a lot.” I replied, “You are absolutely right, son.” I must admit. I don’t give him much attention as I should. For instance, if I take both of them to the playground, I constantly have to look after Dan. This little fellow has no fear. He climbs and does things as if he doesn’t think he would hurt himself. On the other hand, Dao is a very cautious kid and he knows his limitation; therefore, I let him do anything he likes without much of my supervision. This is one of the reasons, I always want my wife to join us so that each of us could give each kid our attention. I can only focus on one kid at a time.

In any rate, stay-at-home dad is not going to cut it for me. I can’t be looking after two kids at the same time. Spending just a full day with them is already exhausting. I can’t do it day after day. As much as I would like to be home with my kids, I simply can’t. I am not cut out for it.

Cu Đán hể nó thân thiện với ai là nó đứng đối diện với người ấy và nhìn chứ không đụng đậy gì cả. Hôm nọ nó thấy thằng Mỹ con lớn hơn cu Đán vài tháng đang ngồi chơi với ba nó thì cu Đán chạy đến trước mặt thằng nhỏ. Thằng nhỏ cũng hơi ngạc nhiên nên quây sang ba nó. Tôi liền bảo, “Đán, say hi to friend.” Đán vẫy tay thì ông ba cũng bảo thằng con chào lại. Thế là hai đứa chơi với nhau được vài phút.

Hôm kia cu Đán thấy một em Mỹ nhỏ hơn nó một tí đang ngồi trong xe đẩy nó cũng đến gần nhìn. Tôi cũng bảo, “Đán, say hi to friend.” Nó cũng vẫy tay và con bé vẫy tay lại. Nó nhắm con bé đã rồi thì lại bỏ chạy đi chỗ khác.

Cuối tuần vừa qua, cả gia đình đi ăn sinh nhật con của thằng bạn chơi với nhau ở trung học. Đến lúc cả đám con nít đứng vào để chụp hình. Thàng Đạo thì không chịu. Còn thằng Đán thì tôi cũng đưa nó vô đứng chung. Nó liền chạy đến thằng nhỏ bận áo cam và đứng trước mặt. Thằng đó thì lớn hơn nó vài tháng thì phải. Thằng đó nhanh chóng lấy tay đẩy Cu Đán. Cu Đán vẫn đứng yên. Tôi định bảo Cu Đán chào bạn nhưng chưa kịp thì thằng đó đẩy mạnh làm cu Đán bị mất thăng bằng và ngã xuống.

Tất cả cha mẹ điều đứng xung quanh. Tôi liền chạy đến đỡ thằng con mình lên. Còn cha mẹ của thằng đó không lên một tiếng để nhắc nhở thằng con của mình.

Lúc hai cha con trong tiệm bước ra, Đạo nói, “Daddy, I see smoke. Why is there smoke?” Tôi nhắc nó, “Con nói tiếng Việt đi.” Nó hỏi, “Tại sao có khói?” Tôi trả lời rằng, “Thì người ta hút thuốc nên ra khói.” Nó hỏi tiếp, “Daddy, tại sao người ta hút thuốc?” Tôi ngập ngừng chưa biết phải trả lời như thế nào thì nó tự trả lời lấy, “Because người ta bị bệnh.” Tôi mỉm cười trả lời, “Ừ thì chắc là như vậy.”

Nó cũng có lý. Hút thuốc cũng là bệnh mà là bệnh nghiện. Một hồi tôi mới nghỉ ra tại sao nó nói thế. Thì ra là mỗi khi nó bệnh, tôi điều nói với nó là phải uống thuốc nên nó nhớ thuốc là liên quan đến bệnh.

I was watching some video of Dao’s classes and came across a clip in which a doctor came to his class to talk about healthy choices. Unlike everyone else who sat on the floor, he sat on one of his favorite teacher’s lap. The doctor asked the kids what are some of the everyday food and Dao yelled out “corn.” Then she asked, “What are the choices that sometimes food, but not everyday food?” Dao responded, “Ketchup.” Then one of his teachers who was filming busted out laughing and said, “He eats it everyday.” The teachers know him well. He eats everything with ketchup or “tuong den” (the black sauce that you put in Pho).

Sadly both Cu Dao and Cu Dan inherited by nose blood symptom. They both have their shares of bleeding nose in the past few months. Cu Dan, in particular, is much more severe. Last night he bled quite a bit. I have bleeding nose for almost all my life. I went through many treatments including cauterization, which helped for a while. Now it’s back again every once in a while. I haven’t have it lately, but my kids have. I am hoping that they are not getting any else bad from me like keloids.

Next month Dan will join his brother for the summer camp. I am sure he’ll have a much easier time adjusting to the new environment than Dao. He seems be to be less emotional than his big brother. I still recall the days Dao cried every time I dropped him off to daycare. It took him almost a year to get over that issue. We’ll see how Dan do.

I used to have to fight with Dao every time I brushed his teeth. On the other hand, Dan is a breeze. Each morning he gets up and greets me with a smile. I take him to the bathroom, brush his teeth, change his clothes and diaper and let him go over to his mom and brother’s room while I do my things.

As soon as we go downstairs, he goes to the shoe rack, picks up his shoes, sits on the steps and waits for me to put his shoes on. We go outside and I let him roam around for a bit before putting him into the carseat and go over my sister-in-law’s house. Once we arrive, I take him out if the car and let him walk around enjoying the beautiful morning before taking him into the house. I really enjoy those moments with him. Once I take him inside, his little cousin is very happy to see him. Then I stay with them for a few minutes before heading to work. Dan doesn’t seem to even notice that I am leaving. He’s very closed to his grandma and cousin.

Next month that routine will changed. Sending him to daycare is good for him and for us as well. The only problem is… there goes $2,600 each month for both kids.

We met with Dao’s teachers and counselor to discuss his uncontrollable tantrum. When he doesn’t get what he wants, he loses himself. He does, however, feel remorse when he calms down. He then realizes what he had done wrong and apologizes.

For his fourth birthday, we gave him a really nice train set. He can only play with it when he’s being good. We had been firm; therefore, he wouldn’t get to play it if he misbehaved that day. It worked so far.

The counselor suggested that we continue using that method, but also take a step further. Giving him stickers when he’a good and use a calendar to keep track of how many days he’s being good. Be more specific with him. Tell him what had he done well. When he’s not behaving, tell him that we love him, but we don’t love what he did.

When playing with Dan, he often takes toys away from his little brother. Dan now can defends himself; therefore, he doesn’t easily let go of what he has on his hands. His teacher suggestion is to assign ownership to each boy. Write their name on the toys and they have to share if one wants to play with the other’s toy.

The teachers and counselor gave us many advices to help Dao controls himself. We are very grateful and deeply appreciate their love and support for Dao.

Thấy trên report nói Đạo không ăn snack nên hỏi Đạo sau không ăn, Đạo trả lời, “Đạo giận nên Đạo không ăn snack.” Mà ai làm Đạo giận? “Cô Chantel and cô Lauren làm Đạo giận.” Cô làm gì mà Đạo giận? “Đạo không muốn wake up.”

Thằng con trai cả này khó tánh quá. Trưa nay có hẹn với mấy cô để làm cách nào giúp cho nó tự kiềm chế bản thân mỗi khi nó không được như ý muốn. Tuy nó lằm dữ lúc đó như rồi một lúc sau nó biết và xin lỗi.

We were at a festival in Delaware last weekend and spotted a vendor from Pampers. The truck displayed nothing but diapers. Then they had a long table with several changing mattresses. Parents could use them to change their kids. They provide diapers, wipes, sheets and sanitizer all free. What a great way for Pampers to promote its products. I loved that concept.

Speaking of diapers, Đán uses at least three a night. He sleeps on his tummy and he pees quite a lot. I have to remember to change him or else he would pee all over his clothes and the bed. I rather change his diaper than clean him up, change his clothes and wash the sheets. Though he sleeps well at night I have to get up to change him.

One night, I must had been quite sleepy when I change him; therefore, his thing was not tucked inside. About half an hour or so, he suddenly got up really fast and rested on my tummy. Then I noticed that he was completely wet. I had to clean him up, changed his cloths, threw the towel where he left his urine and went back to bed.

The nice thing about Đán is that he never wakes up when I change his diaper.