Father's Weekend: PART IV (finally!)

I thought since it's been more than two weeks, it's probably time to finally write my last Father's Day post about, well, Father's Day.

The day started with Dylan saying "Happy Father Day, daddy!" while we're all still in bed. Traditional parents will guffaw at our admission, but we'll do whatever will keep the kids -- and us -- asleep. When Matthew is in his crib against his will, his cries get gradually louder until Quyen or I -- ok, usually Quyen shakes off her sleep to fetch him. Sleeping our bed, Matthew and mommy and daddy get much more sleep. Everybody wins.

We've been working with Dylan to get him to sleep in his own bed, but he'll climb in our bed long after we're asleep. Dylan has two sleeping habits that kind of drive me nuts. First of all, he's not one to sleep under the covers. This kid can kick off the covers in his sleep. And when he does, the person next to him, usually me, will have his covers kicked off too. Any attempt to return the warm covers to their original position, which cannot be done unless Dylan is covered as well, is met with Dylan's kicking legs which move as he's riding an imaginary bicycle. His other bad bed behavior is that he likes to sleep perpendicular to the rest of us, but parallel and adjacent to the pillows. That usually means someone is going to have a face full of feet (usually me) and only one bun on the bed.

Sleep disorders aside, we got out of bed Father's Day morning. Quyen gave me a wonderful card, as did Dylan and Matthew. My new travel coffee mug has pictures of Dylan and Matthew emblazoned on the side. The kids' daycare ladies framed a xeroxed copy of Matthew's footprint and Dylan's teachers helped him make me a personalized pot holder perfect for the grill.

Later that day Quyen took me and the kids to dinner at Houlihan's, a new restaurant nearby. It's part of a chain but it's a new favorite for us because the food is good and the cocktails are tasty. We ordered tuna wontons for an appetizer, which were excellent (we ate them the last time we were there, too).

My main course: stuffed chicken breast with a side of mashed breast of potatoes.

For the main dish I had a stuffed chicken breast filled with a few cheeses, and a side of green beans. Quyen ordered the gigantic Chicken Asian Chop Chop salad.

Quyen's Chop Chop salad. (Isn't Quyen beautiful? She hates this pic. I love it.)

Quyen said it was quite good. We also got a free desert for Father's day that we all shared.

Matthew and daddy.

Dylan cleaned his plate.

We all had a great day, even Mr. Napkinhead.