Musikgarten

Musikgarten is a sort of early childhood music education. He has joined the Musikgarten over one and a half year. Movement and music activities are perfect for child development. Music immerses the child in language, evokes movement, stimulates the brain and fosters physical coordination.
Leon loves it as you can see.

Leons 3rd Birthday

I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. There are no excuses...so enjoy my new pics of Leons birthday. OMG, my son is now 3! I'm feeling like it was yesterday when he was a baby and cried every two hours. Now he is 3! He can walk, talk, contradict, lie ("the monster was it, not me!") and even flatter "i love you soooooooo much, mommy!".


This is the cake I made at his birthday for the kindergarten.


Valerie is his girlfriend in the kindergarten. They are so cute together.


Look at Leon's surprising face expression when he got a new fairy tale book. :)


We celebrated his birthday with his friends a day later at a playground. They had a lot of fun. I was so glad that it hasn't rained, otherwise I would not know what to do with 18 people at home!

In my next post I'll show you Leon's birthday party with my family.

My generous son!

The name of my blog is mangolady, because I love mangos. The mango is the king of fruits (the durian is for me just the vice president!). But I just like mangos from Southeast Asia. The imported mangos you get here in Germany are not delicious. I'd rather not eat them, because the sorts in Germany and the sorts in Vietnam...they are like different fruits, like apples and pears! My Dad was on vacation in Vietnam and brought 2 mangos for me. They are so precious...more than gold and silver for me. :-) I like Terri's blog post about mangos best. She wrote: "When I eat a good mango, I understand Adam's temptation. I'm sure that forbidden fruit must've been the mango! How can it be a bland fruit like the apple?!" She is absolutely right!

Look at this video. Leon is eating the mango my dad brought from Vietnam and he is really charitable!

Easter!

I love tulips in spring. They make me feel happy. The hard cold winter has gone finally. Today it's about 19°C!


Easter wreath at our door.


Leon is painting an egg.


He likes it.


I'm sexy, baby!


He is watching "Shaun the Sheep". (He is not allowed to watch TV so often. 15 Minutes a day are enough.)


I'm so shy.


Cute.


Mischievous!

From today on I'll post every single Tuesday. Why do I have a blog if I don't blog? So I said to myself, I have to do it regularly even though I don't have much time. But blogging is fun, so please subscribe or post a comment. I would be happy to read your comments! :-)

Scale & Alphabet

Leon singing the scale and the german alphabet. In this video he is 23-month-old.
At the end the garbage is more interesting.

Summer in the city

The weather has turned to autumn weather: wet and cold. So I like to show you what a nice summer Leon had some weeks before.

He is taken a bath on our balcony. He loves to splash around!

He always grins this way when I say:"Smile, Leon!"

Splashing with some friends: Hanna & Felix

He is looking so lovestruck at Hanna.

I can't believe it. I'm so happy my orchid is blooming again!


Leon and his Grandpa are helping me to plant flowers on my balcony.

Since I grew lavender on my balcony I don't have gnats in my flat anymore. Hubby hates mosquitoes...and my brother, too! Maybe it's a specific men problem in my family???

We have a dog!

Thanks Chi & Mai for this big soft and cuddly dog! Leon really likes it.

Leon tries to sing the alphabet, part 1

He is cheating at the end... ;)

Leon recites a Vietnamese Rhyme Du Xa Du Xit

Leon sings Happy Birthday / Car Names

Leon (20 month-old) sings Happy Birthday and seems to take after his Daddy. He is interested in cars. He knows which cars his Dad, I and his uncle drive. He even recognizes these car models on the street...he's better than me!

First time sledding

About 3 weeks ago there were snow again for nearly a whole week. We took the chance to go sledding with Leon. It was his first time!

I like it most when winter looks like this: a lot of snow, bright sunshine with a perfect blue sky!

At first Leon is watching everything unemotionally.

It's the park near our home.

Poor Leon: Daddy has absolutely NO experience with sledding with a kid!
Leon is functioning as a brake! His feet are on the snow and it looks very uncomfortable.
At this pic you can see Leons girlfriend and her mother.

Daddy seems to have more fun than him ;)

Yeah, that's better! After a while he realizes that it's funny and enjoys sledding very much!

That is cute. Next time we'll try a bigger hill!

Some days later...
Auntie Oanh wants to share time with Leon.

The sled is a present from her.

Mommy and Leon.

Valentine's Day & Lisa's 18th Birthday

This is the cake I made for my cousin Lisa, who became 18 yesterday!


18 is a wonderful age. You are yet an adult, but still can affort to be childish! In Germany you are almost allowed to do anything from now on. Drinking alcohol, going to the casino, driving a car, even being a chancellor (comparable to a president of the US).

Making the cake was very very very time-consuming, for I'm a really greenhorn in making cakes and cake decorations. So I had searched for recipes and how-to-videos for several days/weeks before I began to start making fondant and modelling blossoms. It has cost me 6 evenings to make the cake for Lisa! (Of course I baked the cake fresh that day, but there were so many steps of preparations the days before). For Lisa's 18th birthday the cake have to be very special. I suppose that Lisa doesn't really realize my effort. She'd just think: "Oh, a nice cake. ...Ok, where are my shoes? Do I look pretty tonight? Do I have enough booze for my friends?..."
The recipe for the cake I'll post another day.


"Selbst ist die Frau!" (german proverb). Self-reliance is the thing!


Nice atmosphere!


The party food was good. Many fingerfoods, yummy sushi, egg rolls, bread nibbles, etc.


Schöfferhofer Grapefruit is a good german beer mixed with grapefruit juice. Very refreshing even though I'm more a wine and champagne fan.


So many young people...Hubby and I, we felt so old. But our "age compensation" son was there, too. He had a lot of fun with balloons and his aunts and uncle.


Vivi:"Do you want a balloon? Then give me a kiss!" - Leon thinks:"Oh, no, that stuff again....

...But ok, it won't hurt."

smack!

For aunti Lisa, too!
He does it right: He closes his eyes whenever he kisses somebody. Very emotional :-)


We were just for more than one hour at Lisa's party, cause Leon shouldn't go to bed too late. And 11pm is very late!


Last but not least...this bouquet I got his morning for Valentine's from Hubby. He didn't forget ;)

Leon, the bookworm

I like reading!

Must have a closer look. Is that really a dog?

Mummy, I've finished reading! I want my "ti" (soother).

New words of Leon:
ăn (eat), bánh mì (bread), vớ (socks), dầy (shoe), Schuh (german: shoe), cà phê (coffee), Kroko (german Krokodil: crocodile).
Apart from Mama (german: mommy) and Papa (german: daddy) he also says Mami and Papi (familiar form).
Bà Ngoại (grandma, but Ngoai is still difficult for him)
Teddy (gấu)
Vivi (his aunt, not vơ vơ anymore)
Lisa (his aunt)
Wau Wau (means dog)
Mio (Leons word for a cat)
mehr (german: more)
giúp (help)
Ja ja (german: yes, his favourite words!)
Hoppa ("Hoppe hoppe Reiter" is a famous nursery rhyme in Germany"...and is Leons word for to dandle)

old words:
Ba (Leons word for to have a bath)
Du (Leons word for to take a shower)

Now he understand almost everything I say. If I say something he tries to say it, too.

Visit from South Germany

Aunti Thao and Uncle Tam from South Germany were here some weeks ago.
Mum served grilled duck and prawn with vietnamese spinach (I don't remember it's name).

Leon is so happy playing with them. Usually he's very shy.

If you think Leon is always laughing...Wrong! At this pic he is in a do-it-yourself-store with us...while he has high temperature...He doesn't want to go further and is sitting there the whole time...incapable of moving...of speaking...of doing anything! He is really tired. I felt so sorry for him, but I thought going out would help him to get better faster.