After two weeks, we finally sent little Cu Dao back to daycare yesterday. His teachers were very excited to see him again. He still cried, but made some progress. He was doing fine when they took him outside for a stroll, but cried when they brought him back into the room. I hope that he’ll adapt soon even though one of his sweet teachers is leaving to go back to school.

Over the weekend, we spent most of the times with just the three of us. We went for a little train ride around the park and he went on the carousel for the first time. I bought this cool ride for him at a garage sale for $5. The little guy is loving it. We’re loving it too because we don’t have to bend over to push him like this one.

Some notes I jotted down while reading Ruth Yaron’s Super Baby Food. I thought these tips might be helpful to first-time parents; therefore, I post them on here.

First food (p.14): Whole grain cereals, banana, avocado, cooked sweet potato.

High chair (p.16): Never leave baby alone. Buy JPMA-certified products.

Best time for meal (p.23)
– Morning or early afternoon
– Introduce new food at breakfast or lunch, never supper
– Feed when he’s not too hungry
– Relax, confident, tolerant, smile at meal time (p.25)
– NEVER force baby to eat

Leftovers (p.26): Throw food away if contacted with baby’s saliva

Food Allergies (p.28)
– Wait four days to introduce new food (one at a time)
– Cow’s milk, soy, egg white, wheat, peanuts
– Honey, corn syrup (p.36)

Prevent burns in the kitchen (p.43)
– Pack your table cloths away

Prevent Dental Problems (p.43)
– Drink water or rinse after meals
– Clean teeth with Q-Tips
– No sleeping with bedtime bottles or while breastfeeding
– Soak toothbrush in Listerine and rinse well before placing in baby’s mouth

NEVER FORCE A BABY TO EAT (p.53)
– No shoving!
– If baby doesn’t eat certain food, don’t push it (p.56)

Baby’s bottle should contain only milk (p.61)

Water
– Tap water only. No bottled water (p.62)
– Use only cold tap water. Boil for hot water

Juice
– Must be pasteurized (p.65)
– To pasteurized: boil for 3-5 minutes to kill bacteria. Refrigerate immediately. Discard after two days.
– Juice should be diluted (p.65)

Vitamin Supplements
– Give with food and not on empty stomach (p.68)
– Baby needs iron. Not enough iron may cause serious health and development (p.69)

– Praise the good, ignore the bad (p.73)
– No toys during meal (p.71)
– Save a favorite toy when dine out

Food Hygiene
– Keep a spray bottle filled with water mixed with a few tablespoons of antibacterial dishwashing liquid near the sink (p.155)

Cu Dao birthday party turned out well. He was too excited so he didn’t want to eat or sleep. He picked a pair of scissors and a bottle of pills at the same time. My guess is that he’ll cut you up and prescribe you some medication. So he’ll end up being a doctor. I hope.

Last night, he coughed his lung out and threw up too. He caught another virus so we couldn’t send him back to daycare. Grandma was suppose to go back to New Jersey after Cu Dao’s birthday, but she extended her staying to look after him until he recovered. Duke is very attach to grandma. Every time we try to put him to bed, he would crawl over to grandma’s room and knock on the door. If she opens the door, he would immediate hold on to her leg and jump onto her lap.

Seeing him sick makes me depress even more. I am feeling a bit under the weather today as well. Can’t wait to go home and rest and the little guy.

For some darn reasons I kept thinking yesterday was Thursday. When one of Cu Dao’s teachers called to check on him, I told her that Duke most likely going to stay home for the rest of the week since I thought it was already Thursday and we’ll send him back next Monday. His teachers are wonderful and caring. They called me each day to find out how the little guy is doing. Cu Dao still has some running nose and mild fever. His birthday is this weekend anyway so we don’t want to take another risk of him returning to daycare and get sick again.

Cu Dao has yet to walk on his own. He would push his music station or the little stool around the house. Sometimes he would walk with his hands touching the wall. Nowadays he crawls with his feet instead of knees. He looks so funny with his butt all up in the air. Cu Dao enjoys clubbing music these days. His favorites are Thanh Thao’s Remix 2010, Ung Hoang Phuc’s Greatest His (remix) and Hoang Thuy Linh’s Vol. 1. Yesterday, he rocked his body while nursing when I played Hoang Thuy Linh’s album. He was so cute.

I am still very excited about his birthday and still can’t believe how fast time had gone.

Cu Dao is turning one in a couple of days, but he has yet to be able to get back to sleep on his own. For the past few nights, he woke up and just screamed his lung out. Nothing we could do to stop him. Maybe being sick has to do with it. Saturday night, he screamed so hard that he almost threw up again. After about an hour of trying to get him back to sleep, I was already wide awake at 4 in the morning. I told Dana, we failed. We failed to let him go to sleep on his own. Now we just have to live with it. Last night was not so bad though.

Poor little guy is still sick. Wednesday night, he threw up several times and fussed through out the night. His temperature shot up to 104F. I took him to the pediatrician Thursday afternoon. She said that he has stomach virus and should go away in a few days. Last night, he woke up and cried. He looked as if he was not comfortable. Dana tried to sooth and calm him down. This morning he still felt hot. It’s a good thing that grandma is still here. Let’s hope that he’ll recover by Monday so he could go back to daycare. I also hope that he won’t be sick on his first birthday.

Around 3 pm I received a call from Cu Dao’s teacher reporting that he vomited again after taking 5 oz of milk. She also said that his temperature was about 100.4F. I had to come pick him up and he won’t be able to return to class until Thursday.

I took him home and he seemed fine. We had some mango salsa with peach, which is Cu Dao’s favorite snack. We measured his temperature again and it was dropped to 99F. We fed him and sent him off to bed. Tomorrow he’ll spend time at home with grandma.

Around 4pm, Duke’s evening teacher called because he threw up. Dana took him him around 4:30. When I got home from work, he was too busy catching up with grandma that he didn’t even noticed that I was there.

Duke didn’t eat much and refused to take milk while he was at the daycare. He did sleep and enjoyed the ride outside. I dropped him off this morning and he started to cry as soon as I placed him on the floor. The teacher picked him up and tried to sooth him while I was stocking his food and filling out the form. I said goodbye to him and walked out. I could hear him screamed outside the door.

Last night I was so bummed out that I immediately went to catch a nap right after dinner. Dana gave him a bath, fed him and put him to bed. I got back up around ten to do some work and I was very productive.

Dana and I were up past midnight packing things and preparing foods for Cu Dao’s first day away from grandma. The anxiety of sending him off to daycare caused me not to sleep so well. I got up around 6 and went through the checklist one more time to see if we had everything covered. I came back to the room around 7 and Duke was still sleeping. I had to wake him up to get him ready to go. I am responsible for dropping him off and Dana is responsible for picking him up, but we both went since it was his first day. It turned out to be much less frightening than what I had imagine. The teachers seemed to be very nice and caring. He did cried when we left, but we just let him go. I am sure he will be alright.

Update: Duke is still crying. Poor little guy!

In two weeks my boy will turn one. It still feels like yesterday that we welcomed him into this world. Not a single day went by that I don’t look forward to spend time with him. I still can’t get over the fact that the tiny guy in a big car seat (the day we took him home from the hospital) is now can hardly fit in it anymore. I put him back into that old car seat the other day and he made the car seat looks tiny. His feet were sticking out and I could hardly buckled him up. If a year feels like yesterday, 18 years will be a breeze as well. Before I know it, he will be his own man.

In preparing for Duke’s first birthday, we’re trying to gather things for him to pick. I am not sure if it is the Vietnamese tradition, but on the child’s first birthday he gets to choose a bunch of things like stethoscope, mic, comb, scissors and so on. If he picks the stethoscope, he would end up being a doctor. Dana, in particular, would really want Duke to be a doctor. What parents wouldn’t? For me, whatever makes him happy. I will be supportive of him for whatever he choose to do in life.

Dana and I had been debating about this topic on many occasions. Her argument is not to force him to be a doctor, but to encourage him. If he could be a doctor, that’s great. If not, it’s fine. I understand her view completely, but I don’t want to set an expectation for him. I don’t want him to feel disappointed if he can’t make my expectation. I want him to do what he wants to do for himself and not for me. As long as he has the passion and works hard toward his goal, I will be behind him one hundred percent.

Anyway, we’ll see how he will turn out. I can’t predict anything from the future, but I am filled with joy to have him. Here are some of his latest snapshots.