Waiting...

Yesterday, Thien Nhan underwent four hours of medical tests and was declared healthy enough to undergo surgery tomorrow. The operation will start at 2pm Vietnam-time on Saturday January 29th. The surgery is expected to take around eight hours.

"Today we will rest around the hotel," says Thien Nhan's mum, Mai Anh, who admits that waiting is tough.

"Thien Nhan knows that the operation will hurt and be bloody," says Mai Anh. "But he told his brother Big Minh that he isn't scared. He said that everything will be fine and he'll have a penis like his other brother Little Minh's."

Brave Little Soldier

Late Wednesday night, Thien Nhan fell off a chair in his room and hit his knee on a door frame, cutting it deeply. His mum, Mai Anh, used chopsticks, a ruler and some fabric to create a splint, then took Nhan to Viet Duc Hospital's Emergency Ward.

"The doctors all laughed when they saw his splint," reports Mai Anh. The cut required five stitches, which Thien Nhan endured with great bravery, although he did cry for his big brothers.

"When we got home, he stood outside of our front door and yelled: "Brothers! I love you!" reports Mai Anh. "He was like a little soldier who'd come home from the war, he was so grateful to be home and with his brothers again!"

Stair Master

Last weekend, Thien Nhan's family moved into a new house down a small alley near Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake. Nhan's mom, Mai Anh, was worried that Nhan, who will turn 3 in July, would have trouble negotiating the steep, narrow stairs, as this house stands 3 storeys tall. "Within a day he could race to the top," she reports. "I caught him standing at the top of the stairs and daring his brother [Little Minh] to push him down! He isn't scared of anything!"

Once they were settled into their new home, Mai Anh took the three kids to the circus. Thien Nhan watched the acrobats for some minutes, then turned to his mom and said: "They're boring! I can jump, fall and roll so much better than that!"