We received a reminder in the mail a month back that Anthony’s passport would be expiring soon. We applied for a new one and it took just over a week for the application to be processed.
We collected his spanking new passport today and I couldn’t help but compare the two passport photos. Four years ago and now.
He doesn’t even recognise himself in his earlier photo – “That’s ME? No… I don’t think so.”. *LOL*.
How time flies!
********
“I-P”.. that’s short for iPhone… can be extended to refer to iPad. And no, it has nothing to do with Intellectual Property.
This code name was coined by our friends’ child and it rolls off the tongues of the little ones whenever we meet up with this group of friends, which is most Sundays. That’s when Anthony & Audrey and their friends get together to swop and play iPhone/iPad games.
So Anthony’s very active imagination continues to project I-P virtual reality to the real world. First it was Plants vs Zombies.
More recently, he decided that there’s more use for his green dinousaur belt than just to hold up his favourite jeans. The belt holds – unbeknownst to most of us especially adults - the secret power to transform its wearer into CC Ninja. That’s short for Chop Chop Ninja. I was given a quick introduction to this interesting character - yup, that’s him on the right. Ant is the green version, for most part because he loves green but also because of this green belt.
………………What will he think of next, we wonder!!!!
********
When you have a 7yo daughter and a 4yo son, there are many moments when they don’t play together. It’s usually just a matter of preference and interest. There are of course a few common ‘spaces’, like Lego – though she tends to want to make gardens and houses while he prefers trucks and construction sites. Playing ‘masak-masak’ or restaurant/kitchen/home is another – again, she’s older and prefers more structured play from providing menus and customer service to cooking elaborate dishes, while he just wants to stack cups and plates and potter around the kitchen doing stuff randomly. You can imagine the bossing around that happens with these scenario. And then, of course, there are board games – which isn’t always ideal since the 3+ year age gap creates some chaos that game rules do not cater for.
That’s why today was extra special. After dinner, when I suggested to them to pick out something they could play together, for some inexplicable reason, they decided to settle for this: Audrey’s Princess Jewellery Collection game!
It’s a simple little game. Players spin the wheel and move their tokens around the board and collect the specified piece of jewellery in their own colour. There are some penalties as with any game. The winner is the one who completes their set first.
They must have played at least 10 rounds, having a good laugh with each and adding variations to the game to keep it roaringly funny. And they each had their turns winning. They were game to put everything on… and let me take pictures!!! Here are their Crowning Victory photos with the works: crown, earrings, bracelet, necklace, ring… I think I got them all?
It was just precious seeing them have such a fun together over such an unlikely game!
*********
The traditions of celebrating Mother’s Day and the role of a mother vary so widely because of individual circumstance and from family to family, place to place. But it seems the universal message is the almost same: for most part, we are who we are because of our mothers (yes, fathers have a big role too – more about that on Father’s Day!)
My Mom and maternal grandma especially taught us many extraordinary life lessons – love, compassion, charity, selflessness, faith, determination, optimism, hope, fulfillment. They have always been firm in their belief that true beauty is seen by the heart and in the quiet elegance visible in simple details. Likewise, true wealth consists not of what one possesses but in the sharing of what one has and in the togetherness of family and loved ones.
This Mother’s Day, I’m reminded of the God’s amazing blessings in my life. I’m grateful that these perspectives and lessons have shaped my own worldview. And I’m grateful for my loving family – wonderful husband and 2 beautiful children – and for the opportunity to celebrate being a mother and to do the things that I love and enjoy with them, every single day.
Here’s a toast to true beauty and wealth to all mothers – Happy Mother’s Day!
*********
General Elections is no laughing business, we are told. Well, there certainly wasn’t much to laugh at for my kids, though I had a good chuckle over this. I’m tempted to call it POLITICS 101: Why Politicians need to listen to The Little People…..
ME, listening to news radio in the car and the Big Announcement of the day: "Oh, May 7 is Polling Day!"
DAUGHTER: "What does that mean?"
ME: "We vote for a new government..blah blah blah."
DAUGHTER (very excited): "So teachers have to vote too? Is it a holiday?"
ME: "Yes, it should be a holiday.. but it may be a Saturday, so I guess it really doesn't matter."
DAUGHTER: "(WAIL) So bad! Why did they choose Saturday... the government is so bad, I hope no one votes for them!"
SON (who was listening intently and is in the echo-whatever-Big-Sister-says stage of life): "Yes, no one will vote for them, so bad!"
Now I can’t wait for Polling Day and the GE2011 results...!!!
*************
Audrey finally developed a loose tooth and it dropped today. I guess it was just a matter of time.
Her first 3 teeth – 1 on top, 2 at the bottom – were surgically removed when she was 4. We had consulted our paediatric dentist early on and she spotted several areas that were decay-prone, most likely the result of slow milk-drinking using the bottle. It was a very hard decision to put a 4yo under general anaesthesia for surgery and but we did, figuring it would be the best thing to prevent unnecessary pain or discomfort over the coming few years. She came out of the surgery very well and quite oblivious.
Her two bottom primary teeth replaced quietly over the last year, like clockwork – it would happen the year she turns 6 or 7, the dentist had said. We were waiting for the top teeth to pop out. So she’s not had any real experience with dropping her teeth ‘naturally’….until now.
Over the weekend, she started feeling a strange sensation with her top front tooth. She kept wiggling it, moving it back and forth, “Mom, this is really quite annoying!” She was excited and scared all at the same time. She wanted it to drop quickly and in the next breath, wanted it to stay forever. Next thing you know, she would have a finger back on her tooth.
Out the blue, she also asked, “So is there really a Tooth Fairy who will leave you $10?…It’s the Mommy and Daddy right?” Who’s been telling her these things. To soothe her fears and make this rite of passage easier to accept, I told her yes, she would get a tooth reward.
At dinner at my parents’ place, the shaking tooth finally let go. Slipped out whilst she was chewing her food. Painless but she shed a few tears at its sudden departure. She decided she wanted the Tooth Fairy to grant her an iPhone game – talk about Generation Z.
Guess we’ve come to another ‘monumental’ milestone of growing up. Slowly but surely, she’s replacing the ‘baby’ bits. All I can think of is.. my baby girl is growing up so fast.
********
So I’ve been trying to get Anthony who’s in K1 into some regular routine of writing daily (I hope my experience with this 4yo isn’t anything too different from most other parents with 4yos!). Anyway, there are good days when he cooperates with me willingly and then there are those ‘other days’ when the only things that seem to work are threats and more threats…
I had one of the best days yesterday – at least from a laugh-o-meter perspective…
Me: (The usual prelude to “time to sit down now”) Anthony, you’re a big boy now. All big boys must learn to read… Must practice writing so you can write neatly…
Anthony: OK, Mommy… (sits down, chooses his favourite coloured pencil, starts putting pen to paper, erases something, writes/scrawls/scribble, occasionally asks for something to eat/drink, writes/scribbles/erases some more, stands up & walk arounds, ... repeat…)
When he was finally done, he brought his book to show me.
Me: This is good. Well some good, some you need to try and do more neatly?
Anthony: OK, Mommy. You know I *always* *really* try (SIGH)… I’m really very concentrated you know.
Concentrated. Wow. Nevermind that he didn’t use the work quite correctly, the thing is I didn’t even know he had an inkling what “concentrate” means. He must’ve been listening in and concentrating quietly during my conversations about focus & concentration with his big sister.
Alright, very concentrated accepted. You are learning lots at your own pace. Keep at it, you’ll master lots soon enough. Especially if you concentrate. Mommy loves every little concentrated bit of you!
*********
Last night, we heard strange Chomp-Chomp-Chomping noises and squeals of laughter coming from the bedroom. We looked in only to find this scene… right out of Plants vs Zombies!
Anthony had made a funny discovery: His plastic toy pail fit perfectly on his head and this would turn him into one of the creepy Buckethead Zombies from the game (see the resemblance to the ‘real’ thing on the right!?!). He even took pains to ensure that the pail-handle fell in front of his face!
Audrey very gamely grabbed a bunch of flowers and became the sunflower that the Zombie would chomp up greedily!!
Guess that’s probably a much better ending than this….
!!!!!!!!
*****************************
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” ~ Psalms 109:115
At the start of every school year, we as parents do the usual rounds to the shops to make sure our kids have uniforms and shoes that fit.
So a few days ago, when doing just that, we discovered that Anthony’s feet size has caught up with Audrey’s! That’s quite a lot of ground to make up, considering he’s 4 & she’s 7. Audrey is quite the Petite Princess and Anthony is growing in proportion to his “big boy” appetite - that probably explains it all.
As I was scrutinising the picture, I couldn’t help but say to Onz (the Husband), “Look, I think Anthony has flat feet.” (that’s his left foot on right side of the photo, Audrey’s right foot is on the left). Anthony, who was within earshot as we had just snapped the pic, was quick with his reply which came with a disapproving frown: “No, Mummy, it looks quite thick to me.” …*LOL*
Flat feet or not, my wish for you both is that you always have “Happy Feet”. Believe in and always be true to yourselves. Live your lives to the fullest!
