The night the undertakers took grandpa to the funeral home, Dao was still up. He ran into my lap and asked, “Where are they taking grandpa?” It then struck me how should I tell a three year-old that his grandpa is gone forever. I replied to him, “Grandpa is going to a better place.” He pressed on, “Why?” I didn’t know what to say to him so I told him the truth, “Because he was sick and…” He interrupted, “The doctors take him away to make him feel better.” I replied, “Well, yes” and he said goodbye to grandpa.

The next day at dinner table, Dao asked his mom, “Mommy, grandpa is missing. He’s sick and the doctors took him away to make him feel better.” His innocent words put tears to all of us, especial his mom and grandma.

Dao had played a special role in grandpa’s heart. Dao was his first grandkid. Grandpa used to pick Dao up from daycare and he recognized how articulate this kid was by just talking to him. Of all the grands, Dao would be the only one that has the most memory of grandpa. We will certainly keep grandpa’s legacy alive.

My little guy will be one at the end of the month. Damn, a year already? I spent a whole day with him yesterday and realize how much he has developed in such a short time. In additional to food, I learned something else that he liked. As we were stuck in morning traffic, I listened to some political talk on the radio and he screamed. I switched to classical music and he stopped crying and fell asleep. When he woke up I tried again switching from political talk to classical and he listened without a sound. This is definitely a good sign, not like Dao at all. Dao is so funny. Anything that he doesn’t like such as 80s rock and classical music, he would say, “that music is old.”

Before having a second kid, my biggest concern was that I would prefer one over the other without realizing so and that I wouldn’t pay much attention to Dao because of the second baby. Fortunately both are boys and so they could relate to each other. Now it is actually more fun with the boys. Once Dan is a bit older I could just sit back and watch them play. Obviously every once in a while I will have to be the judge or referee.

Yesterday while Dan was sleeping in the car, I browsed a bit on my iPhone and watched a clip of judge William Adams beat his daughter for using the Internet. (Don’t watch this, kids.) Not only he whipped her with a belt, but he also used the “F” word repeatedly. Man, the clip is too brutal.

Three Words to describe student:

• Loving
• Talkative
• Imaginative
• Fearless

Likes to play with

• Cars
• Trains
• Nathaniel and Aidan
• Legos or blocks

Child’s strength are:

• Retains information
• Very verbal
• Imaginative
• Fine motor skills

Areas that we are working on:

• Using words when disagreeing with a peer
• Self-soothing methods
• Interest in art

The feedback overall was positive. We still need to work on his anger management. He made tremendous improvement when he started this new class. We’re on the right direction in guiding him to calm down.

Dao: Daddy, can you tell me a story?
Dad: Once upon a time, there’s a boy named Dao and he loves train. He plays with nothing else but train all day. At school, his teachers have to put all the trains away so that he could do other activities. They gave him a book to read and he imagined the book as his train. He drove the book around like it was a train. His teacher told him, “A book is for reading, not for playing.” He threw a tandrum at his teacher. Why did he do that?
Dao: Because he’s not nice.
Dad: Exactly.
Dao: Can you tell me another story?
Dad: Once upon a time, there’s a boy named Dao and he loves candy. On Halloween night, he dressed up as a dragon and he tried to fly.
Dao: But that’s impossible.
Dad: That’s right. So he hopped into his train with his little brother Dan and they went around the mall treat-or-treating. They came up to the people and what did they say?
Dao: Happy Halloween!
Dad: That’s right. Then they gave them lots of candy. They even met an alien.
Dao: No, a pirate.
Dad: Oh yeah, a pirate and they stopped by the water fountain that has lots of…
Dao: Clouds.
Dad: Yes, and they had lots of fun and candy. The end!
Dao: Daddy, can you tell me the candy story again?
They repeated the story for five times before the daddy passed out. Not sure when Dao went to sleep.

I am so glad Sandy is gone even though she was not so cruel to us. On the good side, I got two extra days to catch up with my school projects and spent time with my lovely boys and girl.

Looking after Dan is quite exhausting. His licking issue seems to get worse. Can’t leave him alone for 15 seconds without him licking something. He licks the carpet, the drawer’s knobs, the wheels, the chairs and anything else that he’s curious about. Even a toy book with buttons, he would press it repeatedly and like the sound that response to his action. Still he has to lick it to explore it. The licking is really driving me insane.

Dao never had that problem when he was around one. If he saw something he liked, he would touch it and look at it very carefully, but never put it in his mouth. Then again Dao doesn’t like anything in his mouth including food. Each kid has his own uniqueness I guess.

Dao is now could play all by himself, but he also wants us to play with him, which is nice. He’s still obsessed with trains and cars. His mom spoils him so much that everyday he asks for something special. You know your kid is spoiled when he expects a box infront of his doorstep everyday. His mom orders everything online. He’s actually surprised when he doesn’t see a box infront of the house.

So he asked me for something special and I said to him, “You want something special everyday. DO you think I just pull them out of my butt?” His response was, “That’s not a good idea.” My jaw dropped. I had never heard him said that before.

When brushing Dan’s teeth this morning, I held his face next to mine and looked at the mirror. Holy crap, the kid looks so much like me from his spiky hair to his big head to his cute smile. Yet the biggest common we shared is food. Unlike Dao who hardly has an appetite for food and is obsessed with cars and trains, Dan is all about food. Whenever he sees me eating something, he would crawl to me, pull himself up and try to snatch whatever on my hand. He seems to have quite a bit of food allergies so we have to be careful what we give him.

At 11-month, he already has 12 teeth. Because of his big appetite, he seems to be happy most of the time. All I have to do is giving him food whenever he gets fussy. At night, when he gets up and cries I just hand him a bottle of milk and he feeds himself back to sleep. The major problem with his good appetite is that he would eat anything he could get his hands on. This morning he even tried to eat styrofoam while I was trying to iron my clothes. We can’t leave him alone for 15 seconds without him putting something in his mouth.

Dao never had that problem when he was at that age. We could let him play with beads and not afraid that he’ll put them in his mouth. Dan is the total opposite. From car toys to pennies to pieces from his play mat, everything gets on his hand would ends up in his mouth as well. On the good side, feeding him is an ease. He would finish a bowl of cereal or baby food in less than five minutes. He would scream if we don’t feed him fast enough. I used to get bored feeding Dao because he took forever to eat. He would do anything to distract us from feeding him.

I have to say having two kids is quite a joyful experience. Each gives me a different appreciation. Before Dan comes into our life, one of my worries is that we won’t be able to spend time with Dao, but that has not been the case. We still do many things together like we used to and Dan seems to enjoy the experience as well.

After picking Dao up from school last Thursday, I informed him that we go to George Mason to purchase some tickets for “Disney on Ice” show and he could go with his mom and grandma on Saturday. His response was, “You, betcha.” I asked him, “Who taught you that phrase?” He said, “Mickey Mouse.”

We pulled into a parking space next to a car that played some 80’s music and Dao told me, “Daddy, that music is old.” When we got to the box office, the doors were opened for the show. I warned him, “We’re just going to get the tickets ok and then we go home.” He pulled my arm and said, “But daddy, I am too excited. I can’t go home. Can we go in?”

It turned out that Mason only gave 4 tickets for employee discount. I needed 7. So I called my wife to inform her that and told her to just come by when we she gets home and we just watch the show for the three of us and then get the 4 tickets at another time. Dao’s excitement didn’t last too long. He just wanted to see Mickey Mouse. He didn’t care much about Disney stories. He got bored and we left at the second half of the show.

Another funny poop-related incident over the weekend. Dao was playing at the table train at home and suddenly he pulled down his pants and pooped in the potty. I cleaned him and told him to put on his pants again, but he didn’t do so. He played at the train table again without his pants. A few minites later, he said, “Mommy, mommy, something is coming out.” We were like, “What come out. You just pooped.” Then he ran over to the potty and did another number two.

While having dinner at Bac Tram’s house yesterday, both Dao and Dan fell asleep. They played the whole day; therefore, both got really tired. As we were driving back home, Dana told met to take care of both kids when we get home. I was like, “What do you mean? What are you going to do?” She said, “I have to go. Something is coming out.” I was laughing my ass off. Now that line becomes our inside joke.

Dao: Daddy, you hurt my feeling.
Dad: Huh? How? Why?
Dao: Because you’re not listening.
Dad: I am not listening to who?
Dao: To me.

We stopped by Jerry’s sub because I was hungry and “Gangnam Style” played on the radio. Dao busted his moves and sang along: “Oppa is Gangnam style.” It was just hilarious.

We went to mexican grill yesterday. Dao took his first bite of the nachos and said quite loud, “It’s terrible.” Both my wife and I were shocked. We glad that the place was not too crowed and the employees didn’t hear us. Then later on he liked the corns and wanted more. I took him to the register and he spoke to the lady, “More corns, please.”

Yesterday he came and sat next to me. Then he asked him mom, “Mommy, do you want to sit next to me?” His mom said yes and he told me, “Daddy, you need to get out.” Though the was inappropriate, the way he said it kind of hilarious. That’s my troublesome Dao.

He always loves visiting his cousins Eric and Sammy. He and Eric could run around the house playing hide and seek all day. Sammy has been playing and teaching him stuff on the iPad, which he really likes.

As for Dan, his appetite has been increasing. He drinks more milk and eats much more. Feeding him is a joy because he could finish a bowl of whatever in five minutes. If I don’t feed him fast enough he would be fuzzy. He continues to use the word “đi” (go) and always wants to go somewhere. he could not sit still for even one second. He still likes to lick things, but he could tell when we disapproved his action. When he’s about to but a toy car into his mouth, I said, “hey hey hey…” and he stopped. If he’s crawling and I come after him, he would crawl quicker or climb up the steps much quicker. I call him “Dan Lật Đật”.

I can’t believe my baby Dan is turning one next month. It seems like yesterday that we welcomed him into our world. He has been quite a special addition to our little family. He’s playful and cheerful most of the time even when he wasn’t feeling well.

Dan has been exploring the world quite a bit. Not only with his eyes and hands, but also his mouth. Although he could play all by himself if he has toys, we have to keep an eye on him constantly. Anything he could get him hand on, it would also go into his mouth.

He has not been able to stand yet, but he already wanted to walk. The result is bruising cheek and eye brown. Still he has not learned. He keeps on letting go of his hands whenever he’s standing up.

Dan loves food. Today a fed him a bowl of chicken porridge and he ate everything. He would eat pretty much anything we give him. Unfortunately he seems to have pretty bad case of allergy; therefore, we also have to monitor his diet. He also threw up every formula his pediatrician gave him to try. Mother’s milk is the only thing that he could drink.

One of my favorite things about Dan is his positive attitude. He smiles often and interacts with anyone who responses to him. I could play with him all day and he would smile all day. Unfortunately I can’t keep up with his energy. He could never sit still for even just one second. He could crawl everywhere to find things to put in his mouth.

Unlike Dao, Dan has not developed any obsession for anything. He plays with everything for a bit and then moves on. If I remember correctly, Dao developed his obsessions with Curious George, cars and trains very early on. One of the funny things about Dan is that he dances to everything. Even when an “ABC” song comes on, he would move his feet.

Dan is also fearless. Dao still wouldn’t ride the little horsey Bac Tram gave him for his second birthday. Dan already sits on the horse without supervision. Another thing I love about Dan is his consistency. He goes to sleep on quite regular hours. He doesn’t scream when he wakes up and we’re not around. Even til this day, Dao would find his toy and then scream if we’re not sleeping with him.

There are so much things about my baby Dan. Life has been quite hectic for me these days; therefore, I haven’t have much chance to record on his progressions. School takes quite a bit of time away from this part of my life. I am still debating wether this is worth the commitment. School I can always go back as long as I work for a University. The time with my kids can’t turn back. I am really trying hard to balance work, life and school. Will see how this semester goes and then I’ll make a decision. Nevertheless, I am very proud of my baby Dan. He’s my heart and soul.