It was before school, Calvin was changed and ready and waiting for me to send him to school. Upon hearing he had 5 minutes to spare, the boy decided to play *new game* with the brother. This was what I found/saw

All their soft toys were gathered at their bedroom’s door together with a toy car and a toolbox(Calvin made that at school for father’s day). I was rather cross at the mess, but I decided to ask them for their *story*. Well, apparently, the soft toys which they like to call, baby doggy, mama doggy and papa doggy were *bad* and *naughty* and so they could not get into the room. Yup, they were having a time-out! What about the car, I asked. Mr A said the car was *bad* too and so it had to stay outside. What about the toolbox? What has it done? Well, according to Mr C, the baby doggies were naughty and so they could not sleep in their bed (toolbox) ….. *sigh* What interesting imagination the boys have! I just wanted to laugh it off! The best part was, Mr A decided to be the *rescuer* of his toys. He scooped up as many soft toys as possible in his arms and took them away …. cute.

We were on our way home from day care when Mr Athan spotted a police car. This is what he said upon spotting the car:

Athan: Mum, the police is going to catch Ty. He is going to jail.

Me: What? Who’s Ty?

Athan: Ty is from my day care.

Me: Why would the police catch him?

Athan: Because he’s bad. He disturbed me.

Me: How?

Athan:He took my car away! He’s naughty.

Me: LOL!

Athan:Why you laugh, mum?

Well, truth be told, we have told the boys that policemen’s job is to catch bad people and put them to jail. Little did we know that or rather realise that, in their little world, “bad people” include those who have been naughty or mean to them. Interesting.

Continuing on our way home, Athan was talking non-stop. At one point, he said this:

Athan: Mum, can you buy that computer game at S’s home, the same one for me?

Me: Why do you want it?

Athan: Because I want it.

Me: Do you know how much it is?

Athan: um um um ….. one dollar?

Me: Oh, really? *trying not to laugh* Do you have the money?

Athan: No.

Me: Then how are you going to buy it?

Athan: The man will give me the money.

Me: What man? Why would the man give you the money?

Me: Because I don’t have money!

See how he is talking about “the man” will give him money again? The only thing that I can remotely link to is that Mr A must have seen us paying money at the counter and some guy return us the change. He must have thought that “the man” gives money to us. Interesting how his little brain works and interprets things that he sees.

The other day, Athan and his dad found a dragonfly sitting on the wall at our backyard. Being the curious boy that he is, Mr A asked the father a series of questions about the insect. The father tried his best to answer the boy and they decided to take some pictures to show me and Calvin — how thoughtful!

I must say I am amazed at the intricate design of the dragonfly, in particular the pattern on transparent wings. We really do have an amazing Creator.

I was told later why the father had to take pictures of the dragonfly — because Mr A wanted the father to catch the insect for me and Calvin to see and the only way to talk him out of it was to take pictures of it. Mr A was also told it was not a good idea to catch the dragonfly as it helps to eat the mosquitoes. I did a quick search on the net to be sure and the husband was right! Think I better start brushing up on my knowledge of insects and bugs …..

Of late, Calvin has taken to playing board games. He likes to play board games with his friends at school and with me at home. Have you noticed I have left Athan out of the picture when it comes to playing board games? Well, at this stage, Athan is not very good at playing board games. Basically, he is too young. He wants to join in whenever we are playing, but as he can’t keep up with the pace and he refuses help, he is often a distraction as in, he will take the die and hide it or overturn the board or misplace the pieces — these are all very annoying, especially to Calvin. This is an example:

Check out the looks on the boys’ faces. Not very pretty. We were playing “snake and ladder” half way when Athan decided he had enough and began his “tricks” on us. He took the die and all our playing tokens and refused to return to us. We had to stop the game until Mr A decide to return the pieces to us — by which time, Mr C had lost interest. I feel sorry for Calvin, but at the same time I do understand that Athan is too young to participate. Oh well, time will heal.

Robin: Who did this (a bend at the end of the key) to my key?

Calvin: Not me!

Athan: Kept really quiet

Robin: Is it you, Athan?

Athan: nod head

Robin: Show me how you did it.

Athan then brought the dad to the bathroom door, took the key, put it into the key hole and began to turn it.

Robin: Why did you do that? Now you have broken my key, you know that?

Athan: I will buy another one for you!

Robin: How are you going to buy? Do you have money?

Athan: Ya, mama will give me the money!

Me: *Trying hard not to laugh out* How much money do you need, Athan?

Calvin: Eight-one dollars?

Athan: Eighty-one dollars.

Me: Oh, that’s a lot of money. I don’t have that much money.

Athan: Um um um … then “the man” will give me!

Robin: What man? *Trying really hard not to laugh out*

At this point, Mr A was getting a little worried and the father, who could no longer hold his laughter any more, told the boy not to play with keys anymore. Thankfully, that was a really old car car which we do not need any more.

We were quite amused with the fact that Mr A could think of buying another key to replace the spoilt one. And, he thinks his mama is always going to be there to “rescue” him.

Athan: 我要玩爸爸的 ipad! (I want to play with papa’s ipad!)

Me: 現在很遲了，明天才玩。(It’s late now, play tomorrow)

Athan: 我要爸爸！(I want papa!)

Me:你是喜歡爸爸还是爸爸的ipad? (You like papa’s ipad or papa?)

Athan: 爸爸的 ipad!(papa’s ipad!)

Robin: Huh?

Athan: 不是！不是！我喜歡爸爸还有爸爸的 ipad! (no! no! I like papa and papa’s ipad!)

Athan: 我可以玩 ipad 了嗎？

Robin: LOL!

I kid you not, kids are brutally honest.

That’s the word Calvin has been pointing to every time he sees it, be it in books, papers, posters or television. Well, his teachers have been helping them make little booklets in class this term and the recent one is about “look” and “book”. Calvin loves rhymes, in particular if two words that he is saying has a rhyme to it. At times he even make up his own silly words so that they *rhyme*. Well, at least he is learning!

Look what we’ve found! Well, actually it was the husband who found this picture:

This picture was taken when Calvin was only 4 months old. Yes, that’s baby Calvin in the picture. No mistake. Check out those chubby chub cheeks and legs! I almost can’t remember my boy was this chubby before. Those baby fats have long disappeared and the Mr Calvin now is just the opposite — tall and lanky. When the husband told me he found the picture *sitting* somewhere in his computer, I almost felt that he has been *secretly* keeping this picture of him and his first born for himself ….

Disgusting. This was the word of the day for Athan. We were on our way home from day care when Mr A blurted out “disgusting” at the back of the car. At first, I could not make out what he was saying, but after a few repetitions, I was sure I heard the word “disgusting”. Loud and clear.

And so, Mr A has picked up yet another new word. I believe he has heard it while at day care. He kept repeating the word “disgusting” throughout the journey home. I asked him what was disgusting and he replied “the car is disgusting, the man is disgusting”. When I asked him how, and he said “they are yucky”.

“Mum, you are not fat!” said my 3-year-old. Before I could even reply, he said “but you have a fat tummy, but I still like you!” I could only manage a “thanks” and burst into laughter. People always say young children are brutally honest. I can’t agree more. Kids just say what they observe/see and they mean no harm at all. Most of the time they just want to know why. Curiosity.

The other day I brought Athan to the shops with me. We saw a couple of security guards at the ATM machine and Athan immediately pointed to them and said “媽媽，為什麼他們的肚子肥肥?” (mum why is their tummy fat?) The men actually turned around and looked at us! I was embarrassed, but I was sure they did not understand Mandarin. Phew! And then, while in the supermarket and sitting in the trolley, Mr A pointed to a African American staff member and said “媽媽，為什麼他沒有沖涼? 他 yucky!” (mum, why he did not take his bath? He’s yucky!) I was so taken aback by his comment yet at the same time I could see where he was coming from — he associated black with dirty. My mind was thinking of couple of things at the same time…. I was hoping the guy did not mind my innocent son pointing at him, and I was thinking of how to answer Mr A’s question as he was pressing me for an answer. The last thing I wanted was for him to point at that guy again. Well, as far as the African American guy was concerned, he did not mind at all! He even smiled at us. I didn’t think he understand Mandarin either. As for the answer, I simply told Mr A that the guy was not yucky. Of course the boy asked why and then I told him that the African American guy was born with black skin colour and that God made him that way. He’s special. Just like Athan. Mr A went into *deep* thought for a moment and said “oh, 我知道了！(oh, I know now!) I really hope so.

The other day while on our way to church, Athan had this very interesting conversation with us (in English):

Athan: Mum, you look beautiful today!

Me: Thanks!

Robin: What about me? Do I look beautiful too?

Athan: No! Beautiful is for girls only. Boys are cool. Pa Pa, you are cool!

Robin: LOL!

Got to love that childhood innocence.

Calvin: Mum, am I and 弟弟(little brother) twins?

Me: No. If you were, I’ll be very very busy!

Calvin: Why?

Me:Do you know what’s twins? The boy, O and E in your class are twins.

Calvin: Oh yes! I know! They grow up together that’s why they are twins!

Me: Yes. And also because they look alike and are born on the same day.

Calvin:Huh?

Me: Well, I mean they were in their mummy’s tummy together …..

Before I could finish …

Calvin: Oh, then their mummy must be very fat!

Before I could finish … (again)

Calvin: Sorry mum! I forgot it’s mean to say someone is fat!

Calvin is learning about mothers and babies in class for the past 2 weeks. He has been sharing lots of things that he has learnt from his teacher. They even had a mother and baby came into class today for a visit. And, the mummy gave the baby a bath too! Calvin was so excited when he told me all about it. He said ” the baby’s head is very soft and “wobbly”, that’s why we have to be very careful not to drop him else he will get very hurt.”

I like how the teacher has made learning so interesting for the children at this level. It really helps them to learn.