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.

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.