From my kitchen window, what did I see? I saw the boys feeding our “backyard visitor”, the sacred ibis (wildlife bird) with bread crumbs.

Boys feeding the sacred ibis.

Calvin asked me this:

Calvin: Mum, why is the bird’s bum so black?

(the feathers near the bird’s backside happens to be black, and before I could say anything, Calvin quickly answered his own question)

Calvin: Oh, I know! Is it because he (the bird) forgot to clean his backside after he poo poo?

Me: (speechless) Laughed out loud!

Got to enjoy the things that come out of a 5-yr-old’s mouth! 🙂

What else did I see? I saw….

 Boys *helping* their dad water lemon tree. Athan was looking for worms.

The boys helping their father water the lemon tree and the plants.  They really enjoy watering the plants. At one stage, Calvin and Athan were pouring (not watering) water onto a agapanthus bud! After which, they squatted near the plant and watched it intently. When asked what they were doing, the reply was that they were waiting for the bud to open up so that they could see what’s inside. Well, that explained the pouring of water on the poor flower bud! Interesting how their little minds work. 🙂

I decided to do some Christmas related crafts with the boys this year. For a couple of reasons. First, Athan is older now and thus he has some basic craft skills (and not so destructive). Second, I always complain that my boys refuse to sit down to write or colour-in or do crafts and I thought perhaps I am the reason.  Well, I thought maybe I have not been persistent enough or not encouraging enough or have been too slack to come up with something simple and nice for them to do.  And so, I put in some effort to search for some simple Christmas craft ideas for the boys to work on. And I found this in one of my “craft for kids” books.

Christmas Stars.  All I needed was a pack of colourful ice-cream sticks, stickers, glue and glitters (or confetti).  I assembled the stars first before giving them to the boys to work on.

Calvin gingerly putting on the glitters and confetti pieces on his star.

The boys’ eyes literally glittered when I showed them what we were about to do!  They wanted to start work immediately.  Calvin refused to use the stickers as he much preferred the pretty glitters! I have to say his fine motor skills have improved a lot — he could put on the glue on the star by himself and stick each tiny piece of glitter side by side without making a mess. Well, seems like he has learnt much from his kindy class. I was also impressed with his patience and sense of “design and colour”.  He knew which piece he wanted to put where and what colour.  He won’t compromised — I kid you not, I tried to help him to speed things up and he made me removed all the pieces I glued on just because the pieces that I have chosen “were wrong”! Geez…. oh well, I just let him work on his own.

Athan using stickers on his star as it is easier for him.

As for our Mr A, he wanted a star too. I gave him stickers as it was easier for him. He was happy with it, but at some stage he wanted to use the glue and glitters too. I have to helped him.  He too, was able to sit down with a fuss and work on his star till it was done. I was impressed with his patience.

Here are our finished Christmas stars. Aren’t they pretty?

I made a Christmas star too. Can you tell who made which star? Well, I made the yellow one, Athan made the orange one and Calvin made the blue one.  The boys even agreed to make some more stars to give as presents to grandma and teachers and friends. 🙂 We shall see.

I have to say I am very happy with the outcome of our little craft time. We should do this more often, I think. I need to keep looking out for interesting and simple crafts that the boys can enjoy. What more?  I get a little glimpse of their creativity too. That’s precious.

It was bedtime …..

Calvin: Goodnight mama!

Me: Goodnight Calvin.

Athan: Goodnight mama!

Me: Goodnight 弟弟！

Athan: 不是！ ä½  要 說 “goodnight Athan”! (no! you have to say “goodnight Athan!”)

Me: Ok, goodnight Athan. (Methinks he wanted me to say goodnight to him in the same way as I said  to his brother)

Athan: Goodnight mama.

Me: Goodnight.

Athan:不 是！你 要 說 “goodnight 弟 弟”! (no! you have to say “goodnight little brother!”)

Me: (Getting really impatient now ….  trying really hard to control myself …. ) ok, goodnight 弟 弟.

Athan: 不 是！

Can you see where this is going? Mr A is not going to stop! And then the father came ….

Robin: 弟 弟, 你 要 不 要 睡? (Athan, are you going to sleep?)

Athan: 要. (yes)

And then there was silence except for …

Calvin: Mama, you are my best mum!

Wow, I did not expect that from Calvin there and then. I felt so loved that night. 🙂