Unlike your distance “twin,” you understand the meaning of “cay” (spicy), but you don’t believe us when we tell you so. At several Pho houses, you kept pointing to the Sriracha hot chili sauce bottle and say ketchup. You insisted on dipping it with the meatball. Mom finally let you tasted yesterday at Pho 495 and now you know not every red-looking condiment is ketchup.
The other day, I poured out some wine and said “ru” (my southern style for “ruou”). You repeated as “lu” and pointed to the pomegranate, your favorite fruit for the moment.
Yesterday, you broke the music box and told mom “uh oh.” Mom said in Vietnamese “I have to ask grandpa to fix it.” You heard the word “sua,” which means fix, but you associated with, “sua, sua, sua, sua” and pointed to the refrigerator for your milk.
You recognize family members through pictures. If I point to my mother, you would say “ba noi.” If I point to your mom’s mother, you would say “ba ngoai.” If I point to mommy, you would say “ma.” If I point out your baby pictures, you would say “baby.”
Not only you know what you want, but also you know who can help you to get what you want and you do it in the way that is hard to refuse: by holding the person’s hand. Whenever you want milk, you would hold my hand, walk to the refrigerator and say “sua.” Whenever you want to read, you take me to the bookshelf. When you want to go to sleep, you grab mommy’s hand and say “ngu” (sleep). When we go to Bac Tram’s house, you would pull out fish’s food, grab Bac Ky’s hand, point to the fish tank and say, “fish an.” When you want to play with the train under the Christmas tree, you grab Bac Tram’s hand, point to the controller and say “chocho train.” The first thing you wake up in the morning when you’re at grandparent’s house is running over grandparent’s room. You grab grandma’s hand and point to your favorite ginger candy. At your other grandma’s house, you grab her hand and point her to the pomegranate. When it comes to pomegranate, you do not need any personal assistant. You just pick out each piece one by one. When you want juice, you would say “juice” with your lips stick out longer than Angelina Jolie’s.
At this stage, you already know what you want. You prefer your milk cold. Last night, mommy warmed up your milk. You took a sip, returned the bottle and said “nong.” Whenever we give you Raisin Bran, you would pick out the raisin from the cereal. With sneakers, you prefer to pick your own even though you only have two choices. In reading time, you come to the bookshelf and pick out the book you want me to read to you. I usually read in English and then quickly translate the text to you in Vietnamese as well. Right now you use both languages simultaneously and I hope that you will maintain your bilingual skills. You sure are a good communicator. You mean “no” when you say it out loud and clear. The best thing you do now is putting away your toys when you’re done. The teachers at the daycare train you well. The thing you still need to improve is brushing your teeth.
Unlike their first met up at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Dao and May enjoyed each other’s company much more at Longwood Gardens. The weather was gorgeous, the place was not too crowded, and the “twin” (someone asked if they were) hit it off as soon as we buckled the two in the stroller together.
Once May’s mom gave Duke a piece of dry persimmon, he didn’t mind that May was leaning on him. He was just indulging himself with the fruit snack. Whenever Dao is interested in something, he is very focused. When he was playing with the water fountain in the children garden, he was just concentrating on what he was doing all by himself. In the mean time, May was running all over the place and splashing water all over herself. I thought Dao was active, but May was like a bunny energizer. She was interacting, laughing and talking the entire time. Love her smiles and the way she “wow” and “ah” the whole time I was pushing her on the stroller. Even at end of the day, May was still running on spare battery. The shot of her resting on the stroller is priceless. The lil babe was adorable.
Before we headed out, Duke and May gave each other a kiss even though they were both exhausted. Isn’t that so sweet? Thanks to Linh for joining us as well as the dried fruit, pasta and chicken for the kids. Duke was eating the entire time, which was fantastic. It was indeed a great playdate.
Yes you, my lil hot boy. You love to throw around the word “nong” (hot) lately. Trying to put you into the bathtub, you’ll say “nong.” Trying to feed you some soup, you’ll say “nong” even though I made it warm. Trying to wash your butt, you’ll also say “nong.”
At night I want to hold you in my arms, but you just stick to your mom like a leech. The other day you woke after an afternoon nap and still hanging to mommy. I walked in and asked, “di tu tu train khong?” You jump over and hang on to me.
It seems like you no longer interested in toys at home. Instead, you find something else to play with. You went into the kitchen cabinet, took out a pot cover, rolled it around the house. You play with anything you could get your hand on except for your toys. I guess we can stop spending on toys. We actually don’t buy much toys for you. Grandparents, aunts and uncles always get something. You’re a lucky boy.
The Lil Devil was back because he looked so darn cute. Comparing from last year, he looked much more evil this year and of course cute too. The Lil Devil went out treat-or-treating last night. He ran off on the first two houses, but got into the groove afterward. After getting the treat, he blew a kiss back. What a sweet Lil Devil.
You turned 18 months a couple days ago, but already behaving like a terrible two. We went out for dinner on Monday and not only you refused to eat, but also acted up when we didn’t let you play. You did the same on Tuesday when we were at a Vietnamese restaurant. You did much better when we were having dinner at home yesterday. I take that you enjoy staying home more so we’ll stay home from now on.
You talk and babbling quite a bit these days. You mix both English and Vietnamese. We’re trying our best to speak exclusively Vietnamese at home, but you also pick up English at school. Words you use the most are: “ball,” “bóng,” “more” and “Bac Tram”. “Ball” is your favorite word and you associate any rounded object to it. You call out “bóng” whenever you spot a balloon. We just love the way you accent that diacritical mark. You say “more” when you want more milk, which is your favorite diet. You can drink milk the whole day without food. As for “Bac Tram,” you just woke up one day and repeat the words for an hour or so. I can see why though. Bac Tram treats you really well; therefore, she must be your favorite auntie.
I am sorry that I can no longer dropping you off or picking you up from school. I have to leave before you wake up and I can’t make it back on time before you get out of school. I rely on your mom to handle both and I am feeling guilty about it. I deeply appreciate all of her work and you should be thankful as well. I am looking into moving you to a daycare near work so we could ride the train together. JCCVA is a great daycare and you are enjoying it. Your friends like you and your teachers adore you, but the location is not so convenience for me. We’ll see.
This is our first night apart. I am not sure if I could sleep tonight. Coming home from work not seeing you and mommy already feels like I am missing a part of me. The house is so empty without you. I already miss hearing you talk, watching you sleep and holding you. I am sure you’ll have a good time with mom and grandparents. Be good, eat a lot of food and please let mom brush your teeth. I can’t wait to see you again tomorrow night.
The two kids who were born on the same day finally met in real life. Dao and May seem to get along well. They even held hands. We also got to meet May’s parents who married on the same day as us. We met up at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. With the $5-special admission, the aquarium was packed with more human than fish. Dao enjoyed his visit, but he got tired around 8:30pm so we headed home. It was a nice play date for the kids and we would love to arrange something like this again. If you come to D.C., let us know.