EXTENDED ARMS part 2 - to Rhino and Hippo from Mummy

Me Ngoc and Rhino & Hippo

TO RHINO AND HIPPO FROM MUMMY

By mumy Ngoc (Ta Xuan Ngoc Dung)

Translated by auntie Doan T. K. Khanh

My dearest Rhino and Hippo,

The idea of making this collection of poems and paintings is Uncle Vinh’s. Thanks to it, you and your cousins will have something to refer to as a lively reminder of childhood. This letter is Mummy’s contribution to the collection, on behalf of you two.

To the “elder one” (as Daddy often calls you),

Your name is Doan Quoc Huy Eric. At home you are Rhino, the name given to you by chi Minh Thu. But to Mummy, you are “He”. “He” was born on the 29^th of October, 1999. Mummy remembers that day very well. In the presence of both Daddy and Grandma, “He” made his entrance to Life with a hand on his chin and two turns of the umbilical cord around the neck. God bless that hand! It kept “Him” safe from any tight twist of the cord. So “He” came to us all, in good health. Indeed, he is always in good mood and often all smiles.

When “He” was three months of age, “He” said his first word “Bà”, then the second one “cầm” (literal meaning: hold, practical meaning: I want to hold my milk bottle). At 22 months of age, without speaking any word, “He” was able to identify all the 26 letters in the alphabet. The first word “He” spelt was B-O; since then “He” called Daddy “B-O” instead of the usual “bố”. After that, “He” called Mummy “M-E”, Grandma “B-A”, aunt Thanh and uncle Giao “B-A-C”.

“He” has a passion for books and words, then words and books. Going shopping with Mummy, “He” always heads for places with books and sits down on the floor and reads them all for hours and hours without getting tired or bored. In his eyes, letters are everywhere, in a dead branch lying in the garden or in a plane flying in the sky. “He”can even read out of a crack in a cement block.

When “He” was 3 years and one month old, “He” went with Mummy and Daddy back to his homeland. It is Saigon, Vietnam. He didn’t know a Vietnamese word, then. Two weeks later, “He” started speaking Vietnamese, thanks to Mummy Huon. On the streets of Saigon, “He” said “tam giác” when he saw a triangle, “hình tròn” for a circle, “hình thoi” for a diamond and “hình chữ nhật” for a rectangle.

One week before his trip back to Sydney, chị Na, taught him 26 letters in sign language. Mummy didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking “He” wouldn’t remember the lesson anyway. But only some days before the trip, chị Na said Mummy should learn it, too, to play it with him. Thanks God, Mummy is not yet the Great Absent-Minded Meditator (“Đại Lãng Thiền Sư” . in bác Liên’s words)! Mummy learned it two or three times and remembered it. Now, “He” and Mummy still play with each other in sign language.

At the beginning of this year, “He” started going to a kindergarten called Kermis Kindy, every Wednesday and Thursday. “He” cried the first two weeks, missing Mummy. But now everything is OK. In class “He” obeys his teacher; back home “He” reviews his classmates’ names with Mummy. “He” brings home his “art works” and Daddy teasingly says “He” probably gets this awkward skill from Mummy!

My dear Rhino -that is, Eric Huy-, this is what I remember of you in your first three years. Besides your passion for words, your amazing memory, you have the qualities of a wonderful son and a loving brother. You care for Mummy and Daddy, for your brother and also for everybody around you. I hope this will always be the way you live your life.

To Hippo, my younger son

Mummy just wrote for your brother, Rhino. Now it’s your turn. You were born on the 11^th of November, 2001. You didn’t enjoy GrandMa’s presence as you came on that day, only Dad’s. GrandMa had to stay home with Big Brother. Mummy and Daddy named you Doan Quoc Dang Ethan, and, again, chi Minh Thu nicknamed you Hippo. Unlike your Big Brother, you don’t often smile. When you do, you do it half way and with a cheeky look in your eyes.

At five months of age, you started crawling, slowly but very deftly. At seven months of age, you met Uncle Hung again and aunt Hoa for the first time. At eight months, to Mummy’s delight, you grew your first two little teeth and developed the “skill” of snatching toys from Big Brother’s hands. This inspired him to say three new words: “share with Baby”. At nine months, you made your first steps, still with one hand holding to a chair. At eleven months, you could remain standing without support and grew your third tooth. Two weeks before your first birthday, you started walking, just a few steps. At one year and two weeks, you accompanied Mummy and Daddy and Big Brother on the trip back to our homeland. There, during the entire four-week stay, you ignored your ration of milk.

Uncle Giao’s heart melts as he predicts that you won’t have an easy life. (You like doing things by yourself.) Mummy loves the way you run into the room for a clean napkin and then, without being told, dump the dirty one into the dustbin. You are not only hardworking, you are also as caring as Big Brother Rhino. You don’t forget Mummy in the kitchen while playing in the bedroom. From time to time, you run to Mummy, embrace Mummy’s legs with your tiny arms, then go back to your toys. In fact, you prefer to linger around where Mummy is.

Worst of all are your regular fits of tears. When they come at dinner time, Mummy and Daddy take turns cuddling you and won’t eat at the same time.

My darlings Rhino and Hippo, I am writing these words on Mother’s Day. I just want to show how grateful to God I am for being granted such wonderful children. I am so proud to be your mother.

“I’ ll love you forever

As long as I’m living

I’ll like you for always

My baby you’ll be.”

Bo Hien and Hippo