Archive for November, 2008

Junior Engineer.

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Calvin has been opening his birthday presents for the last few days.  See, the father has decided that he can only open one present a day — even though he has already ripped off the wrapper!  So cruel, right?  Anyway, the boy seemed OK with the idea after his father had a chat with him.

He has been busy with a box of building set given by my family in Singapore.  It is a junior engineer set.  It comes with an instruction booklet that shows what can be built and how to build them.  One can build cars, houses, dogs, robot, truck, bus, lollipop etc.  I actually like the set after helping Calvin to build a bus and a car.  HOWEVER.  The boy does not want to follow the instructions, he much prefer to build his own thing.  He built this structure as shown in the photo below all by himself this evening — without his little brother interrupting him or destroying his creation.

He was quite excited when he finished and wanted me to look at it.  When I asked him what it was, he could only manage key words like “slide”, “wheels” and “steps”.  I think he is trying to build a playground.  I probably should not push him too much to follow the booklet — I should just let him have the space to build and construct according to his imagination.

Calvin’s Birthday Bash.

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

The weather was good, the boy was in a good mood and he loved his cake! When we asked him what he did today, he said “we go park, there’s slide, lots of children, lots of presents and eat cake!”

All his favourite friends came and they had a great time playing at the huge pirate-themed playground.  They were all so excited, energetic and full of laughter and fun.  It is a great blessing to be with these happy children, and Calvin is indeed blessed to have so many friends.  The singing of the birthday song and cake cutting was the highlight of the whole party, I would say.  All the kids were excited to see the cake that was beautifully decorated with handmade dolphins, and they all wanted to help put the candles on.  Unfortunately, we only have 4 candles for the cake! :)  Kids ….

Athan, being younger than the rest could not really play with the rest of the kids.  So, he was stuck with his grandma who did a good job looking after him and playing with him.  We are very thankful for that.  We had a good time catching up with the parents who were at the party, especially those whom we hardly see.

Here’s a photo of Calvin and his friends.

Gorgeous kids, aren’t they?

The next highlight of the party is of course the party bag!  I prepared the bags myself so as to reduce the sugar content.  Well, I did put a lollipop and a chocolate frog in the bag …. it is afterall a birthday and a little sugar is OK, I supposed. 🙂 I hope the kids like it.  I did put in some effort to prepare the food and other things — after the slow start. It’s been a tiring day, I have to say, but I’m happy that we have made our little boy happy.  That’s all that matters.

Here are some photos taken at the party. Enjoy.