I know, I know…I’m blogging less often…that will probably continue. There’s just too much to life with a 2 1/2 year old to allow blogging much more often.

This past weekend was busy, as usual. Friday we stopped by the Vietnamese grocery and got dinner – yum!

Saturday, I helped my cousin move in the morning, then had my lesson in the afternoon, and went to the park with Parker.

Sunday, we went to lunch with my parents and hung out for a while. Parker was being very funny. Sunday afternoon we went to the Vietnamese playgroup at the church – Parker enjoyed his time there and spoke a little Vietnamese to him…and, I said it all correctly!!!

I will be watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings all day on www.c-span.org – uninterrupted, no commercials! Let’s see what stupidity the Rs can come up with to justify not voting for this obviously qualified woman. Direct link: http://www.c-span.org/Supreme-Court-Sotomayor-Senate-Confirmation-Hearings.aspx

I don’t think I’ve updated on my progress with Vietnamese in a while, so here’s a little update. I think things are going well – it’s going to be years until I’m fluent, but I do see progress in certain areas. I now know enough vocab that when I read sentences I can usually at least figure out the subject matter and general tone…so, even though I don’t know enough to know exactly what is being said, I can get the gist of it usually. Vocabulary pick-up is an ongoing issue, but I know it just takes time and memorization and use so it sticks. Speaking is going pretty well, still certain things trip me up – dấu nặng – the drop-glottal tone is still the bane of my existence – truly – you would not believe that after a year I cannot get the proper pronunciation of this tone with certain words, especially words like cụ/mẹ (old man/mother) where there is no ending consonant, and words like lịch(calendar) where you have to end with your tongue at the top of your upper teeth. I need a voice coach to get this, I think…because it’s just not happening. Listening skills are improving some – I was watching a movie in Vietnamese the other day and I was picking out words more often than just a few months ago – but, if the speaker isn’t a clear speaker, it’s hopeless. So, the saga continues. Parker, on the other hand, being a child, picks it up like crazy. I have this one video where they have a song teaching the tones…and, for the past few days he’s being singing them and asking me to sing them, too.

And, a conversation I sort of had with Parker at 4:30 this morning.

P: Wake up! Daddy, wake up, daddy.

Me: Huh? What?

P: Go into daddy’s bed?

Me: Um, ok.

P (now wide awake for the day): Go to grandma’s house?

Me: No, not today.

P: Later go grandma’s house.

Me: No, not today…

P: Later?

Me: No, in two days…

P: In two days, on Saturday…

Me: No, Wednesday

P: We go to burger king? (we’ve been to burger once in this child’s life – several months ago)

Me: No, what do you want at burger king?

P: nuggets and hamburger and drinks and diet coke and water. (the child does not eat red meat)

Me: Um, ok…someday we’ll go to burger king again

P: Daddy cut my hair again (I cut his hair yesterday and mentioned to him I needed touch up a part of it the next day)

Me: Yes, later, maybe tomorrow. Let’s go back to sleep – it’s still dark out

P: the moon is out…it’s getting light

Me: No, it’s not.

P: Yes it is.

Me: No, it’s not, you should not be awake

P: Yes my am.

Me: No, you shouldn’t

P: Yes my am

Me: ok, goodnight (which then leads to us laying there and Parker babbling on for another 30 minutes)