I am no scientist nor psychologist, but being a father who witnesses his kids grow everyday allows me to conclude that kids are born with personality. What do I mean by that? Let’s get back to the beginning.

When my wife and I were married, we knew we wanted to have kids, but not right away. We want to enjoy our time before diving into the parent thing. At the same time, we had no obligation not to. Well, Dao didn’t let us wait. He didn’t let us decide when he should be born. He decided to come out on his own term. We were a bit unexpected, but very joyful nevertheless. So now everything he wants to do, he does it on his own. One day he decided to sleep overnight. One day he suddenly decided to walk. No matter how many times we tried to get him off his diaper, one day he just did it on his own. We fought everyday trying to brush his teeth. Now he just does it all by himself. The hardest part about this personality is that he is very hard to control.

With Dan, we had a clearer plan because we knew that we wanted a younger sibling that is close enough for Dao to play with. As a result, Dan is much more cooperative (at least for now). He doesn’t fight back when I brush his teeth. He just bites my finger. He doesn’t refuse food when we feed him. He doesn’t demand much like his older brother, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a badass. Still I predict that we won’t have as much time with Dan than Dao. Let’s see when he reaches his terrible-two stage.

We finally figured out Dan’s first love. When he was grumpy and sleepy, he wouldn’t take milk, water nor snack. The only thing that would calm him down was Thanh Thao’s Nonstop. As soon as he heard the music, he would not only stop crying, but also go to sleep. Not sure how he found the club beat to be so soothing. He was actually sleeping with his right foot still tapping. Unbelievable.

We went to the mall today and grandma told us to swing by my sister-in-law’s house for dinner. Her house is about 10 minutes from the mall. I put on the album a bit loud to jam on our way over. By the time we arrived, he was also knocked out. So I stayed in the car catching up my reading while he was sleeping.

When we first arrived to the mall, Dao took a nap so I waited in the car and read. Before that we went to the grocery and Dan was sleeping. So I stayed in the car and read. It’s always a good idea to bring a book along when traveling with kids. It’s a waste of gas to keep the car running, but it’s definitely worth it.

Mấy bữa nay khao khác thèm đọc sánh. Sáng thì phải trông hai thằng nhỏ. Tối khi nó đi ngủ thì tôi cũng mệt mỏi. Cầm quyển sách Mastering Type mà mắt mở không lên. Những tháng ngày tự do thong thả đã qua.

After being forced to brush his teeth, Dao complained: “Daddy, I don’t like that. You’re not nice. You’re not listening. That’s why I am not your best friend. You will be alone… all yourself.” Wow, five sentences at once. I was a bit shocked, but then realized that if he fails at whatever he pursues in his career, he could always make a decent living at the fish market.

As we walked upstairs to go to bed, he slammed the safety gate and woke up Dan. I ordered him to go into his room and I went into Dan’s room to sooth him back to sleep. Then I heard him cried in the other room shouting, “I want my mommy. I want my best friend.” He ran out to the gate and creamed, “Mommy, please come up here with me.” He didn’t hear any response so he peaked into our room. I felt bad so I told him to come and join us. He ran in, lied next to me and said, “Daddy, I lost my best friend.” All I could do was holding him tight and said, “Your best friend will be up soon.” This little guy is a heartbreaker.

My nose has been bleeding daily. Getting out of the heated car to the outside temperature could easily trigger the breakage. I felt the blood flooding down my nose this morning as I dropped Dan off to grandma. For a second I almost passed out.

It’s definitely caused by the dryness of the cold, but the cough syrups and coffee might have made it worse. My cough is gone so I am not taking any more syrups and I am trying to take it easy on the coffee, but it is so damn hard.

For the past week, Dan woke up almost every two hours. He’s probably teething or his allergy is bothering him. I can’t wait for him to see the allergist next week. When he got up he rubbed his face against the pillow to the point that made electric static; therefore, I had to pick him up to sooth him back to sleep. He slept much better on my shoulder than on the bed.

The first few nights I was quite cranky, but now I am getting used to it. The only problem is that I really need caffeine in the morning to get by, but then this whole nose bleed is giving me no choice. I don’t want to go back to cauterization, which helped for a few ears, again. It burns like crazy.

It occurred to me today that Dan had not worn a pair of shoes yet even though he already started walking for a week. Because of the weather, he had been walking mostly inside the house barefoot or with socks. This late afternoon I took him straight to Stride Rite to get his first pair of shoes.

I picked out three pairs for him. Getting him to tried them was not hard at all. I remember trying get Dao to put on the shoes took quite a bit of efforts. Dao is very resistance. He wouldn’t do anything I asked him to. Dan, on the other hand, would do anything I would like him to. He trusts me completely. The funny thing was that he didn’t know what to do once the shoes were on. He just looked at his feet and wondered why he was wearing them. I would never forget that expression on his face.

I couldn’t get him to walk so I picked the pair that I liked the most. After paying for it, I held his hand and we walked together. He started out walking on his toes, but once we got to the big water fountain he began to walk on his feet. I let go of his hand and we walked like a little drunk kid. Five minutes later he was speed-walking all over the mall. I was too excited as well as too anxious that I forgot to film his first walk.

After we left the mall, he drank regular cow milk and slept. Today I am transitioning him from breast milk to cow milk. He took the first sip of cow milk and tossed the bottle. Five minutes later I gave it to him again and he drank it all.

I really enjoyed spending my last day of the long holiday break with him. I will never forget this fond memory with my lil Dan.

Unlike her exceptional Lênh Đênh Nhớ Phố, Giang Trang opted for a new sound on her follow-up Hạ Huyền. Still covering Trịnh Công Sơn’s music in her minimalist delivery, but she replaced the simple violin-guitar combo (Anh Tú and Anh Hoàng) for more complex quartet consisted of guitarist Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, flutist Sương Mai, cellist Lê Thanh Long and percussionist Trần Xuân Hòa.

While she gains more textures in the arrangements, she completely loses the interpersonal interaction with the instrumentations that made Lênh Đênh Nhớ Phố so damn intimate. On most tracks, particularly “Còn Tuổi Nào Cho Em” and “Như Chim Ưu Phiền,” she seems to be fighting with the flute. The percussion adds no rhythmic value to the arrangements. On “Như Chim Ưu Phiền,” the flute is indeed sounding like an annoying little bird keeps tweeting in her way making me wish I could slingshot that sucker.

Setting the flute as a main melodic accompaniment is the arranger’s biggest misstep for the album. Perhaps the only outstanding track on Hạ Huyền is “Vết Lăn Trầm.” With the flute and percussion out of her way, she delivers Trinh’s heartfelt lyrics like she lived it.

Please put down that iPad, iPhone, iPod, laptop or any Internet-connected device and play with your kids. That goes for yours truly as well.

Cu Dao is obsessed with train. He plays with train all day. Even when we took him shopping today, he looked for train. When he couldn’t find any, he looked for his best friend aka mommy. Now he’s watching train on my iPhone while his mom is surfing on the iPad. Dan is the only one sleeping right now.

We’re spending the last few days of 2012 in New Jersey with my in-laws. Cu Dan is now walking all over the house. He walks like a little drunk dude falling and tripping all over the place. Whenever he gets a hold of my iPhone somehow he manages to turn on Thanh Thao’s 2012 Remix and dances to it.

My days have been filled food and kids. I definitely need to change my eating habit next year. I am eating way too much and feeling like shit most of the time. When the kids go to bed, I stay up to work on a side project. Even though I turned down quite a bit of projects in the last few months, I can’t turn away one of my favorite clients. I love the clients who give me complete freedom to shape the site. I am very excited. The site is coming along well. I hope to launch it early next year.

I am rereading a few books on typography because I didn’t get to learn much in my Advanced Typography class. Sofie Beier’s Reading Letters: Designing for Legibility is such a pleasure read for such a technical topic. Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type (2nd edition) is a great preview. Jost Hochuli’s Detail In Typography is a little gem.

I’ve also learned that I have two very young, loyal readers. I have to be careful with my word choices. It was strange and a bit embarrassing to hear my nephew read out loud my posts on parenthood.

I came down with a cold in the past couple of days. I hate coughing; therefore, I try to prevent it as soon as possible. Been taking NyQuil to get rid of it. Tonight should be the last night taking it. My head is getting a bit heavy. The drug is kicking it. Goodnight everyone.

Spending the last few days of 2012 eating donuts, drinking coffee, watching the snow, being with family and reflecting on the past year. 2012 was rough. We lost our main man. We struggled emotionally, but we maintained. We stayed together to raise our lovely kids. They are growing up fast. We’re deeply thankful for the family support.

As for myself, I was busier than ever. In addition to holding a fulltime job, I started grad school despite having two toddlers. Now I could see why people can’t finish school when they have kids. The demands on both sides are impossible to keep up. I going to take it easy next semester.

For 2013, my goals are to manage my time and my appetite. I need to balance my time for work, school and family. I also need to balance my diet. Eat less and get back to jogging. That’s all. Happy New Year my lovely readers.