I took you down to the basement to help me with laundry. I flipped up the light and let you walked. You walked toward your own shadow, got on your knees and touched your shadow. It was one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. You were so innocent and I love that so much about you.

You still cry every morning when I drop you off at the daycare. When I walked out the door, I sat outside, tied up my shoes slowly and listened for your voice. It took about five minutes for you to calm down. You’re making good progress, buddy. Even though I was not around when you were in daycare, I always thought of you. Mom told me that you were dancing with your teacher, Ms Natalie, when she picked you. Ms. Natalie must be your favorite teacher. You didn’t want her to go on break so you stood at the door yelling when I came in to take you home. Ms. Natalie told me that you were holding a girl’s hand when she took you guys on a buggy ride. Good choice, boy. She’s a cutie with the big eyes.

A bunch of us, five couples and five kids, went camping over the weekend. All we did was BBQing, chit-chating, hanging out by the water, sleeping in the tent and watching the World Cup through my laptop. As you can see, Duke was having a wonderful time playing with the water. Here is an adorable rendition of “Hom Qua Em Di Chua Huong” by Susie, one of our friends’ daughter.

It’s about time the little guy starts to walk. Two nights before, Duke discovered that he could walk on the mattress instead of sleeping on it. Through walky talky, I could hear Duke and Dana laughed out loud instead of settling down to sleep. Yesterday he began to take some drunken steps while clapped his hands. He has been able to stand on his own for about a month now when he’s into something exciting and forgot to grab onto something.

Cu Dao still cries every morning at the daycare drop off. Fortunately, he only lasted for about fifteen to twenty minutes after I left. I came to pick him up last Wednesday and he was playing with his classmates until he spotted me. The teachers continue to be very patience with him. They also figure out his schedule or his eating and sleeping habits. Duke is getting into the groove of things except for the crying in the morning.

Cu Dao is very aware of his environment and he knows exactly what he wants. He would keep on pointing his finger until we give him what he has in mind. At meal time, he wouldn’t eat until he could get something on his hands to explore. The more complex the object the faster the meal gets done. He eats well and drink lots of milk. In fact, milk is currently his favorite food/drink. He could drink milk any time and under any circumstances. We are very glad that he loves milk.

Duke got kicked out of daycare yesterday after vomited twice and could not return in 24 hours. Dana had spent a whole week with him yesterday so I could do my work. She also picked up him yesterday at noon and spent the rest of the day with him. I got caught up with my work so I took the day off to watch him. I also need to catch up some sleep and recover from coughing and soar throat.

My day had been just feeding him, watching a bit of World Cup and relaxing with Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection. I am currently listening to Davis’s live and unreleased materials. The more I listen the more I am hooked on the way he plays. He doesn’t play a whole lot, but what he plays worth waiting for. I told my wife I’ll open a “Relaxin’ With Miles” Coffee Shop so I could drink coffee and listen to Miles all day. Even Duke digs Miles. He is sleeping with Miles on and daddy is typing this while enjoying Miles Davis at Newport 1958 with his all-star band: John Coltrane, Cannonall Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.

If you’re going to listen to Miles Davis, might as well invest in Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection. It comes out to about $6/pop and most of Miles’s albums are classic even his unreleased records. I am really digging his fusion direction. The more I listen to Bitches Brew the more I love electric Miles. His executions on these tracks are beyond beauty.

This morning Cu Dao didn’t get up until 7:30. He was an hour and a half late, but I am still on vacation so we let him slept in a bit. After feeding him and all, I took him to daycare. He started to cry as soon as we got to the door. After checking him in, I realized that I forgot his food. So I went back home to get it. When I returned, he was still crying (though not as hard as in the morning) on one of the teachers arm while the rest of the kids gather around playing. I just handed the food and left without him knowing I was there.

Since Duke started daycare, he had more time off than being in class, which makes getting used to daycare a bit more challenging. I feel bad for the teachers and I hope that they are not frustrated even though they seem to be very patience. Even though I am still on vacation, I still need to send him off to daycare so that he could make the transition faster.

Besides, I need to organize the house, something hard to accomplish with Duke around. The place is now neat and clean as a result of a whole day spent. It’s time to kick back with Miles.

I am pleased to announce that Cu Dao had slept through the night for the past couple of weeks. The little guy put in ten hours straight without waking up. After more than a year of sleeping interruption, it sure feels like heaven again. He also has a very good appetite and willing to try anything we give him even though he doesn’t pay attention to food. As long as we have something for him to focus on (a remote control, the iPod Touch, or some sort of electric device), he is willing to eat until he gets bored of that object.

Although he hasn’t talk yet, he knows exactly what he wants by pointing to it. He won’t stop pointing until we get him the right one. He is also very alert. He knows exactly where things are. Whenever he goes into grandma’s room, he would go straight to her jewelry box, take out all the pieces, flip the box upside down, dial the winding button, flip it back, pop up the top so he could hear the music. Duke dances to the beat every time he hears a club beat song. He bounces every time Thanh Thao’s “Lien Khuc Nguoi Yeu Cua Toi” comes on. Every time he goes into the car. He has to do his dance before he let me sit him down and buckle him up.

Duke is no doubt a very hard-headed kid. He screams every time I brush his teeth. Even though he knows that he would not get away with it, he still doesn’t cooperate. Every morning and night, I have to hold him tight to brush him. He bites my figure so many times I am getting used to the pain. The same goes with daycare, he cries every morning when I drop him off. Monday morning, he started as soon as we walked into the room. Tuesday morning, he began as soon as we took the elevator to the room. Today, he began as soon as I got him out of the car. Tomorrow, he’ll probably cry on the way to daycare. Can’t blame him though because he only attended daycare every other week. I can’t wait until the day that Duke just waves goodbye daddy when I drop him off. I am sure that day will come.

Still I can’t be any prouder. Here’s Duke at 13 months. And here is Cu Dao rocking in his car seat, per mommy’s request.

Last night, everyone slept well including Duke. He pulled through the night for the second time since the day he was born. Yesterday I packed quite a bit of fat food inside my body. In the morning, I had a coffee and a coffee cake at Starbucks. At noon, I had a hamburger and fries at the Foggy Bottom Pub. Around 4PM, I had a big piece of cake at our student worker’s farewell party. At dinner, my sister-in-law’s husband brought over a box of Popeye’s chicken. I had a Corona to wash down the fried chicken. After dinner, I felt mad sleepy. After giving Cu Dao a bath around 8:30pm, we went straight to bed. I woke up around 1:00am to cleaned the dining table and do the dishes. After that, I went back to bed again. Duke and Dana were still sleeping. I was surprise that Duke didn’t make any sound at all the whole night even though he moved around like the hand of the clock.

To cope with the previous night, I had three cups of coffee yesterday. One in the morning, one at noon and one at night to complement the last piece of chocolate cheesecake that had been sitting in our freezer forever while watching Glee, which has becoming my favorite show. Still, I was ready to catch some sleep by midnight.

At two in the morning, Duke started to fuss. His infection bothered him and he couldn’t sleep. I woke up and felt like I had a hangover. My head was pounding. I tried to calm him down, but didn’t work. I picked him up and wrapped my arms around him. He slept on my shoulder once again. Unlike the previous night, I could barely walked. I tried my best to keep him sleep in my arms for half an hour. I thought that he was already deep asleep so I put in down. The little guy woke right up.

I gave up and handed over to mommy. Duke continued to cry and woke up grandma as well. Grandma took him over to her bed, his mom followed, and I just got knocked out. This morning, Duke looked so scrawny that his eyes appeared to be big.

I got a call from Duke’s teacher checking on him. It turned out that the daycare closes next week, not this week. Dana had looked at the wrong calendar. I might have to take off a couple of vacation days look after Duke since grandma will be gone this week.

Last night, Duke had rashes on his behind, which caused him to be feisty all night. Poor little guy tried to sleep, but he was so itchy that he rubbed his butt against the sheet and cried with his eyes shut. Nothing we could do to calm him down. We gave him some Tylenol and took off his diaper, but nothing helped.

The only way for him to sleep was to hold him in our arms. Dana and I took turn carrying him around. He slept like a little puppy on my shoulder for a couple of hours. I tried to catch some sleep on the couch with him on my lap, but it was too uncomfortable. My head was pounding and I needed to take a leak, but I had to hold off because I didn’t want to wake him up, so I did some reading on my iPod Touch to kill time.

The next morning I called the pediatrician immediately, but the earliest appointment was 2 o’clock. It turned out that Duke has caught up with some bacteria, which he might had picked up from his toe.

Cu Dao stays home with grandma for the week since daycare will only open for today and half a day tomorrow. Besides, grandma will return to New Jersey the end of this week so we thought they could spend some times together. I am sure Cu Dao will miss his grandma. She is now the closest one to him. He clings on to her every chance he gets. He laughs whenever she laughs. He eats the most when she feeds him. Grandma always takes her time with him. Will see how Cu Dao do without grandma starting next week.