Yesterday Dao and his buddy Aidan had a small party to say goodbye to their teachers and their little growing-giraffe friends. It has been a great year for Dao. The teachers were so wonderful, especially Ms. Ester, Ms. Tam and Ms. Tiffany. Dao won’t get to speak Vietnamese with Ms. Tam anymore. This morning when I dropped him off, Ms. Tam said to him in Vietnamese, “Only two more days until you get to the upper class. You’ll have to be courage (dung cam len).” I hope that he would still get to see her often to practice his Vietnamese. As of now, his Vietnamese is stronger than his English and we would like to keep it that way.

When Dana and I dropped by yesterday, Dao switched to Vietnamese when he talked to us. Aidan’s mother was there as well so Ms. Ester introduced us to their new class, which called Ladybug (not sure why). The playground was right outside of the classroom so the two were running around up and down the slides having a good time. Maybe that’s the reason it called Ladybug. At this age, they don’t stand still. They were hopping around like two ladybugs.

Aidan is a couple months younger than Dao and he already has a little three-month brother. We still not know if Dao will have a little brother or sister yet. I am trying to tell him about his new sibling, but he doesn’t seem to register yet. We have been warned about jealousy between the siblings, but I think Dao will be good being an older brother. Yesterday, Aidan leaned over the stroller and gave his baby brother a kiss. It looked very assuring that Dao will also be a great big brother.

Cu Dao and his mama are now inseparable. If she’s not in sight, he would ask for her even if she has to go to the bathroom. On Monday, she was in the kitchen cooking and he was in the living room, which was about three feet from her, and yet he still asked, “Daddy, mmmmmommy dau roi?” [Where is mommy?]. He has been stuttering just for the heck of it. I pointed to him where his mommy was, but he kept on asking repeatedly as some sort of a game. So I played along. I asked him, “Cccccccu Dao dau roi?” [Where is Cu Dao?]. He pointed to his private part and said “Ccccccu Dao day ne.” [Here’s my penis]. That was not what I meant, but technically he was right.

Dao loves to be wrapped inside Dana. He holds on to her arm any chance he gets. Yesterday he wanted to hold her with both of his hands. Last night he kept crawling onto her body and wanting to be held. Dana was grouchy because he kept waking her up. After three or four times, I kicked her out of the room so she could have an uninterrupted sleep.

When he turned and couldn’t find his mom, he got up and looked for her. I put him back down and stroked his back a bit. He liked it and went back to sleep. He didn’t get up again until the next morning. I guess, we’ll just have to kick mommy out of bed.

Three days ago, we took him to school, he pointed to a Hyundai Tucson and said, “Football xe (car).” I thought that because the Tucson has a rounded shape; therefore, he associated it with a football. Two days ago, I told my sister-in-law what Dao said and she told me that he was referring to the logo that looks like a football. My sister-in-law has a Sonata and he already pointed out to her the “football xe.”

I like the way Dao associates things based on what he knows. I think he’ll be very imaginative when he grows up. We were looking at a children book that has an illustration of a train. When I asked him about the smoke coming out of the train, he said, “popcorn.” Looking at it again, it does look like a popcorn.

We were watching American Idol Finale and Dao wanted to play his Alphabet Train puzzle. He has yet to learn ABC, but I can tell him what animal is next to fit into the puzzle. So if I say “con voi (elephant),” he would look for the elephant piece and put the puzzle together. Because I was distracted by American Idol, I called out the wrong animal. He picked it, but couldn’t fit it into the puzzle. He went back to me and said, “lon roi,” (wrong one).

By the way, our second child is eleven weeks. The doctor said the kid got a big head. I couldn’t tell from looking at the first photo yesterday, but this is getting exciting all over again. Our family will take a week off to enjoy the beach. So hope you all have a nice Memorial weekend.

While we were on the road and a truck passed by, Dao said, “Xe truck chay nhanh” (The truck runs too fast).

As he was crawling down the steps, he stopped and realized that he left his Thomas train upstairs, he said, “Dao quen Thomas roi” (Dao forgot Thomas).

I carried him out to the car and didn’t put his shoes on, Dao said, “Dao mat giay roi” (Dao lost shoes).

Dao sure loves my iPod, but he loves my sister-in-law’s iPad even more. He refers to iPad as “iPod bu” (big)

We were in DSW looking for shoes. He kept wanting to be carried. I took his hands and danced to distract him, but he demanded, “No nhac, no nhay, no dance.”

My sister-in-law, her husband and I took Dao to our friend’s party in Maryland. Dana didn’t feel well so she stayed home. I didn’t really wanted to go without her, but I figure, we should give her a bit of time to herself. During the ride he asked, “Mommy dau roi?” (Where is mommy?) two times before we leave the house and before we leave the party.

Those are what I could recall for this weekend. We also mowed the lawn together. I used to despite cutting the grass, but now doing it with my little boy is actually fun. He apparently loves to mow the lawn with his lawn-mover toy. Dana bought it for him when he started to walk and it is still one of his favorite toys. It’s the best $5 she spent at K-Mart.

When we got home in the evening yesterday, Dao noticed an army of ants marching in the house. He showed me the spot and said, “Daddy kien (ants).” I took out the vacuum and sucked them up. As I turned off the vacuum, he spotted more ants and said, “More kien.” Once he didn’t see anymore ants, he said, “diet kien roi (got rid of the ants).” After I was done vacuuming, he told me “cat lai (put it away)” and pointed to the closet where I usually keep the vacuum.

He pooped after dinner so I changed his diaper. I opened the diaper and said, “Oh Lord!” Then he kept on repeating “Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Oh Lord!” Ms. Tam as school told us that Dao is like a recorder. He would repeat anything the teachers say so they have to be careful what they say around of him.

Around 9:30 p.m. we tried to get him to sleep, but I wanted to sneak out to watch American Idol (Go, Haley!). Every time I stepped out of the bedroom door, Dao would ask him mom, “Ba dau roi? (Where’s dad?)” It’s very intriguing to hear him say new words almost everyday.

Yesterday after work we stopped by Korean store to pick up so groceries. As Dao and I were playing the game of naming the fruits, a Korean boy who is a bit bigger and chubbier than Dao ran up to us. He pointed to the Thomas train Dao was holding in his hand. The boy was also holding a Thomas train on his hand. He wanted to play with Dao, but Dao was holding on to me tight with his left hand and holding on to Thomas tight with his right. I said to him, “Choi voi ban di con. Ban muon choi voi con.” (Play with him. He wants to play with you.)

Dao sort of wanted to play, but he was probably still being shy. The Korean boy was quite friendly to Dao. He ran off on his sisters and mom to be with two strangers. So I took him to find his mom before she gets worried. After we found his mom and he waved goodbye to us. Dao waved back and said to me, “Ban di roi.” (Friend has left.) I responded, “Con khong choi voi ban thi ban di thoi.” (You don’t play with him so he went off.)

Last Sunday, we dragged home a Panasonic VIERA 50-Inch Plasma HDTV from Costco just out of the blue. We meant to get a new TV three years ago, but we kept on pushing it off because we don’t really watch much TV. The decision was made simply because I was too tired after two and half hours of driving and a cup of margarita from Chipotle. I hope we made a good choice.

After setting it up and test it with Curious George, Dao said, “George bu quaaaa.” (George’s too big). His reaction was just hilarious. I watched Three Kingdoms last night through Netflix and was very impressed with its high quality streaming. Sorry Redbox. I am now rolling with Netflix.

I was wondering how the teachers, staffs and students at JCCNV could say Dao’s name with correct Vietnamese tone. Almost everyone gets it right whenever they greet him. I finally found out the person who is responsible for it. Yesterday I dropped Dao’s off as usual and he was greeted by quite a few new faces in his class. His new classmates said, “Hi Dow.” Ms. Tam quickly corrected them, “It’s not Dow. It’s Đạo.”

Isn’t it nice to have a Vietnamese teacher around? I think Ms. Tam plays a big role in his Vietnamese speaking. Dao will be moving up to an upper class at the end of June and he won’t have Ms. Tam around anymore. That’s going to be a big disadvantage for us.

Dao is picking up a lot of words now and he uses them in unexpected moments. Last Friday, we stopped by Pho Hoa Binh in Maryland on our trip to Lancaster. As I was feeding him pho, he kept asking for more (“nua”). I gave him a spoonful, but he spat back out and said, “nhieu qua” (too much).

He used to be able to watch his favorite “Curious George” in the minivan without the sound on so I can listen to music while driving. Now if he doesn’t hear the sound, he would say, “hong (no) work” or “hong tieng” (no sound).

Now he no longer wants to ride the old car. As soon as he sees the minivan, he would say, “Dao di xe moi… Xe cu nghi” (Dao wants to ride the new car… Old car is resting.”

Out of the blue this morning, he said to me as I tried to buckle him into his car seat, “May, May, May o nha May” (May stays at her house). I responded to him in Vietnamese, “Of course, May stays at her house. Where else could May be? Do you miss May?” He nodded his head, “Dao nho May” (Dao misses May). Let’s hope that he won’t be too attached or too emotional when he grows up or else the girls going to break his heart into pieces.

On Saturday, Dao and May met up for another play date. Many things have changed since the last time they were together, which were about three months ago. For the first forty-five minutes, May seemed to have forgotten Dao or she was overwhelmed that a bunch of strangers just marched into her house. Dao, on the other hand, called out her name, gave her a hug, a kiss and then helped himself to the toys as if he was at his own house. Then May felt comfortable again and they were back to normal.

Dao held May’s hand when we went outside. They walked and laughed together. We went to Fuddruckers for lunch and the cutest moment when May fed him. Whatever she puts to his mouth, he just took it, even with chip dipped in ketchup. After lunch we headed toward Port Discovery.

This time I took Samantha and Eric along. Not sure about Samantha, but Eric enjoyed the place. I was glad that we also get to hang out with these two who I love like my own kids. I have many memories with Samantha because I was around when she was born. I shared with her what I could remember when she was a little girl. It seems like yesterday that I was holding her in my arms. Now she’s all grown up. Twelve years have gone by.

Eric is seven now and still in his kid zone; therefore, he still likes to hang out with us. Every time I come to visit my mom, I try to take him out and spend time with him. Dao also loves Eric. He now does everything Eric does. Yesterday, I was sitting on the coach, Eric came, gave me a hug and said, “I love you.” He melted my heart. I really I wish I could spend more time with him and Samantha.

Back to Dao and May, the two that are opposite of each other, but get along so well together. I was looking forward to many play dates in the future, but May, Linh and Son will be moving to the West coast at the end of June. We’re very happy for them, but a little bit sad that we won’t have the convenience of meeting up anymore.

Thanks to Dao and May, Dana and I have found a wonderful couple that we could hang out with because we all happy to see our kids enjoy each other’s company. In a way, Linh and Son are our first friends together. Not that we’re unsociable, but we’re just not a very exciting couple who enjoys each other’s boring company. Unlike us, Linh and Son isn’t a boring couple. They just happen to share the “twin” with us.

Dao (Asian), Brit (Black) and Aiden (White) are the three musketeers in daycare. They play and bond together at school. They even share food and toys with each other. Isn’t it just lovely that kids don’t differentiate their color skins? It would be interesting to see how their relationship grow over the years assuming that they’ll be in class together. Dao is oldest among the three. Aiden is about a month younger and Brit is about two or three months younger. Their teacher told me both Dao and Aiden should move to the next class together since they are like BFFs.

On a different note, Dao received a booklet from school for his birthday. The cover features balloons and Thomas Train. Inside of the booklet is a collection of Dao’s photos and paintings. Dao flipped to one of the artworks and complimented himself, “Dao ve dep” (Dao draws beautifully). I am liking his confidence already. Once in a while, he would say to Dana, “Mommy dep.” No wonder he’s her favorite boy.

Dao now knows the different between his left and right foot. If I put on his socks or shoes, he would tell me if I am putting on “chan trai” (left foot) or “chan phai” (right foot). The other day, he dropped Thomas Train (the heavy one with the battery) onto his foot. I asked him, “Con bi gi?” (What’s happened?) He cried, pointed out to me and said, “chan phai dau” (right foot hurt). I sat him on my lap, gave his right foot a kiss and asked him, “Con dau khong?” (Does it still hurt?). He stopped crying, waved his hand and replied, “het dau roi” (no more pain). I love this method of treatment. A kiss was all that needed, except for when he gets rash on his butt. He would point to his behind and say “dau dit” (butt hurts). My response to him was, “dau dit thi di lai me” (if your butt hurts, go to mama).