Friday after work we took Dao to the mall. He loves table train and we love to read; therefore, Barnes and Noble is the happy spot for all of us. As we were driving, Dana realized that we didn’t have Dao’s backpack with us. We left it in the new minivan. I told Dana that we could buy some diapers for him at the mall.

Five minutes at the train table and Dao did a number two. I told Dana to watch him while I go get some diapers. I looked up the mall directory and couldn’t find a convenience store. I checked the bathrooms to see if they have some sort of vending machine for diapers, but couldn’t find any. My last resort was to ask for one.

I went to the kid’s playground and check out the mommies to see if they were approachable and the kids to see if they were closed to Dao’s age. I spotted an Asian mom with a little girl on the stroller. I went up to the mom and asked, “Excuse me, do you happen to have an extra diaper to spare? I couldn’t find a store in the mall to get one.” She must have understood the feeling; therefore, she quickly responded “sure” and pulled out the exact same one (size and brand) we used for Dao. I thanked her and headed back to Barnes and Noble. I told Dana I couldn’t find a store and she said, “I told you so.” Then I pulled the diaper out of my pocket and said, “I told you I could get one.”

Since we don’t get to spend too much time with Cu Dao during the week, we want to spend as much time as we could with him on weekends. We usually take him out of the house even when we don’t spend time at grandparent’s places. Weekends are our bonding time.

Saturday morning Cu Dao woke up at 7am and demanded milk as usual. I washed him, changed his diaper and brushed him (with force). I gave him some breakfast while tried to organize the rooms, but he wanted to helped me instead. Cu Dao loves to help out Daddy around the house. So we out things away and did some laundry and dishes.

The little guy got tired around 9 something and wanted to join his mom in bed. I sent him upstairs with another bottle of milk and they didn’t get up until 2pm. In the meantime I cleaned up the house and vacuumed the cars. After that I spent some time on the laptop and rest a bit before all three of us headed to Costco and H-Mart for groceries. We then went over to my sister-in-law’s house dinner. We didn’t get to out on Saturday, but we got most things done around the place.

Sunday morning, I dragged them both out of bed before 8am. We had breakfast and hang out until 10:30. We decided to visit the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. We took the Metro in instead of driving because Dao loves trains. He sure enjoyed the ride even though couldn’t keep his eyes open. He finally fell asleep in Dana’s lap around 11:45; therefore, we made a detour to Chinatown for dim sum.

Dao woke up as we tried to placed him into the stroller so he only napped for about 15 minutes or so and that when I knew we’re going to have some fun. He misbehaved a bit in the restaurant, but managed to sit still for a couple of minutes for us to enjoy dim sum. After brunch, we strolled straight to NMNH hoping he would nap again, but he didn’t.

Once in the museum, we let him roamed free and was like a drunken little guy. He enjoyed running around the place more than staying at one spot so we sort of skipping through the museum. I would love to come back for some more thorough walkthrough. He did enjoyed the little butterfly room. Instead of taking the elevator up to the third floor, he wanted to take the stairs. By this time, he was running on reserved battery. He finally felt asleep when we headed into the orchid exhibition. By this time, we were also tired so decided to walk back to the Metro. We stopped by Barnes and Noble to rest while letting him sleep. We shared a venti mocha frappacino, something I haven’t ordered for years.

2/22: “Learn the word ‘aqua’ in Portuguese (water).”

2/24: “He is a great soccer player. Great control of the ball (great coordination). Played with flashlight project on the wall. Very happy :)”

2/25: “Sometimes when he wants something he grabs us by the hand and ‘direct us’ to whatever he wants to do. Very playful.”

You didn’t want go into your class yesterday. You looked a bit grumpy until Brit, your classmate, came up and gave you a hug. You smiled and joined the class. You’re a lucky boy!

Mood: happy, chatty, playful
Enjoy: Story time, outside

Notes and reminders: had fun during project of ripping paper and making balls. Fine motor skills. Very sociable. Great sense of humor.

I dropped you off to school today and noticed your painting posted outside your classroom. While your classmates splashed paints all over the canvas, you had three dots in yours. You must have picked up your minimalist style from me.

You’re using more Vietlish nowadays:
“fish an (eat)”
“chocho xe lua (train)”
“more nho (grapes)”
“mo (take off) jacket”
“red xe (car)”

You also learned to count: mot, hai, ba, sau (one, two, three, six)

Dao and May hung out again over the weekend. We dropped by Linh’s place on Sunday for the kids to play together. As soon as Dao saw May, he yelled out her name, ran toward her, gave her a hug and kiss. We had lunch and stayed for about two hours before the kids were winding down for nap time. We drove back to m sister’s house and Dao napped.

Yesterday, we met again at The Playhouse Cafe in Harrisburg. Twenty minutes later the kids got bored so Linh suggested that we hit Port Discovery. What an awesome place for kids. There are tons of activities for them to do. I can’t wait to take Eric, my little nephew, to it. I am sure he’ll enjoy it.

We only get to know these cool places through Linh who discovers all these spots for May. The more time we spend with the Linh and May, the more we admire them and the more we enjoy their company. We’re very grateful to have them as friends and definitely looking forward to the future getting together.

Mood: happy, chatty, playful
Enjoyed: story time, outside/gym

Notes and Reminders: “Lots of words, sentences, great coordination kicking and spinning balls.”

Glad to see you’re enjoying your time while away from us. Ms. Ester gave you great complement. She told us that whenever she takes you guys outside, you say car, truck, snow, ice and so on. You know all the name of your classmates as well as the names from another class. She also said that you gave everyone a hug.

This morning, I took you to the new car. You didn’t see the old car so you said “mat xe cu” (old car is lost). This evening, I took you out of the car to go into the house and you said “too lanh (cold).” You have already speaking Vietlish?

Mood: happy, chatty, playful.
Enjoyed: story time, outside/gym

Notes and reminders: “Whenever we do anything and requires getting dirty he cries and don’t want to do it. We still try to keep him interested so he will get to play with different things.”

You must have picked up your grandma’s gene. You even refuse to play in the snow because you afraid of getting dirty.

On a different note, today is Vietnamese New Year. You received gifts from Co Tam. Although she is not your primary teacher, she loves you and takes great care of you. She is a very sweet teacher.

You also received your first “li xi” of 2011 from Bac Quyen tonight. Let’s wish bac and her family a prosperous new year.

You talk nonstop nowadays. You talk as soon as you wake up in the morning and your first word with your eyes closed is “sua” (milk). You talk throughout the day at school and you talk before you go to bed. Your last word of the day is also “sua.”

Keep yakking away, baby. We take great pleasure in hearing you talk and building up your words. You started out with “xuong” (down). Then you added “xuong lau” (downstairs). Mom was surprise that you could say three-syllable “di xuong lau” (walk downstairs). She didn’t realize, however, that you had already mastered five syllables: “The train is coming.” I am still not sure where you get that from.

Bedtime reading is a bit different now then before. You pull out the book and read to us. You read the pictures instead of words. No wonder you’re a son of a visualgui.

Isn’t she a sweet teacher? We’re very glad that she’s your teacher. She’s energetic and very caring.

One morning I dropped you off to the romper room (small indoor playground at school), but you clung on to me and didn’t want to take off your jacket and shoes to join your classmates. She sang you something and both the shoes and the jacket went off. You crawled yourself into your favorite spot.

Another morning, she got about 8 kids in the room with another teacher. You came in, didn’t want to stay and clung on to me. She held you in one arm and made the phone call as the same time to get some help. She often referred to you as “my love” and gave you a kiss on your cheek. Seeing her taking good care of you makes me feel very safe to leave you with her.

Another morning, you were holding a truck in your hand. I asked you to give it to me before we leave the car, but you refused. I let you held on to it. As soon as you see Ms. Ester, you showed her your toy. She asked you to hand it and you did. You had learn a great deal from Ms. Ester who holds a degree in Psychology, worked with special needs children for 15 years and speaks Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew. You’re very lucky to have her as your teacher. Treasure every moment of it, my son.

The last couple of days you spent most of your time with grandparents while your mom and I were at work. We got wonderful reports about you. You took naps with grandpa and behaved yourself. Grandma told us that you spotted a popcorn bag in Bac Tram’s house. You brought it to grandma and asked her to make you some popcorn. At first grandma didn’t even know what the bag was, but you insisted that you wanted it. After she read the label carefully and realized what it was, she made you some. You sat back watching TV with grandma and enjoyed your pop-corn.

We’re still trying to figure out how did you know about the pop-corn bag. We do not have any popcorn in the house and I don’t recall making you one. Did you learn it at school? Did Ms. Ester, your favorite teacher, make you some? In any rate, you’re very glad that you’re learning many new things. You already learn how to count from 1 to 2. That’s not bad considering you’re not even 2 years old yet. You’re already counting ahead of your age.