Our beloved and favorite little man, Derek Thien, turns 3! The past year has been another big one with leaps and bounds of changes and growing.
(Height and Weight Stats pending December doctor's visit)
When comparing him to his just turned 2 picture, he looks almost gigantic. He's left those toddler steps behind and blossoming into a full-fledged 3 year old. Here is the full food report:
Foods he loves still/ or has grown to love:
Spaghetti, rice anything (noodles/milk/white/brown), pho, sardines, salmon, apples, grapes, sweet potatoes, adobo chicken, spring rolls, steak (so posh, I swear), turkey sandwiches, plantain chips, coconut yogurt and pricey goat cheese.
Foods we gave into giving him, and he loves or he gets while at grandma/autie's houses:
Fish sticks, dumplings, siopao buns, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Popsicles
Foods he won't touch:
Anything remotely green, though we are still successful in sneaking in kale shakes here and there.
We're still figuring out his food allergies, his 3 year old tests came back with a touch of more
Skillz - Though he's clearly demonstrated a preference for English given that its the majority language he hears at school and while Mike and I speak. He is still speaking a fair amount of Vietnamese, and some Tagalog, when prodded. He started noticing that I would respond to him better if he talked/ordered me around in Vietnamese, for example, I'll hear "Mommy, turn on the light... (pause). ME OI! BAT DEN LEN!") Of course, the Viet has to be super loud which Mike just loooves. He also surprisingly picks up syntax and grammar (Mike: "Derek, you have to take a bath, being dirty is not an option. Derek: "No, dirty IS an option!"). He also told me in Viet that he and dad saw a fox while biking, even though I only taught him the word for fox many weeks ago when pointing it out on a book once or twice. He's figured out who in the family knows Viet, so with grandma and aunts, he's getting better at putting together sentences though its still a bit more basic than his English since he hears English all the time.
Motor skills wise, we can't stop him from running or jumping. Though his ability to listen to directions has improved significantly, we is just one wiggly worm still. He is kicking balls, running up stairs, riding a bike (started peddling around 2.5), and can climb some of the really large structures at the playground now. He's still not really into the arts and crafts scene, which I lament, since coloring was a great past time as a child, but maybe next year.
