Tung

His name is Tung.

Here are the things to be concerned about: he is malnourished in the first degree. (First degree being mild, Third Degree being extremely serious). He had meningitis as an infant, but, his hearing does not seem to have been effected and his motor and language and cognitive skills are on target. He vomits easily. He has three bottles a day - anybody know if this is normal for a 2 year old? (Gabe had two bottles a day of cow's milk at this age, because he refused to drink milk from a cup. But, it sounds like he is still getting a special formula prescribed by the HoChiMihn Center for Nutrition, to help with his weight, which is low.) (He was born in the 35th week of pregnancy, which the document describes as 3 weeks early. (By my calculation, this is 5 weeks early, unless they don't count pregnancy weeks until an actual menstrual period has been missed.) He was 5.06 lbs at birth, and now weighs 19.8 lbs.

Here are the positive things: He is loving and affectionate with his foster parents and foster sisters. He often gives them kisses. He is learning to talk, and can say "ma" and "chicken" and "dog" and "rice" and other words. When his foster mother calls, "where is Tung?" he calls out "da". (I'm not sure if this means "here" or something in Vietnamese.)

He can run fast and is able to walk backwards. He can climb on a chair. When music is playing he walks with a "swing" in his step. He follows simple instructions well. If a guest comes to the home he goes to call his foster mother to let her know. He likes to keep his hands clean and asks his foster mother to clean them if they are dirty. He likes to listen to music and play with toy cars. He seems to be on target for motor skills, and development, and language.

I called my sister last night (who has a two year old) and asked how many words N~ (my nephew) is using right now - he seems to have about the same number of words as this little boy.

I need to speak to our doctor, because I am concerned about the meningitis and the malnutrition.

Oh, he is cute. He looks like an elf. :-)