We spent a good 3 weeks in Singapore last year from 15/12/08 – 4/1/09. I get to spend a lot of time with my family, especially with mum and dad. We went over to my parents’ place for lunches and dinners almost everyday. I think my parents love the boys! My mum just could not get over how Athan ate — he *devoured* a whole bowl of soup all by himself and he ate vegetables! To mum, this is quite *unbelieveable* for she has not seen a kid who ate so well at this age. Well, Mr Athan did not always behave at meal times, but for most times, he ate really well. I guess mum loved it when the boy enjoyed her cooking. By the way, I have to say that my mum made the best soup in the whole world — yup, I am biased! 🙂
Calvin was my dad’s favourite. Dad kept telling us what a good kid Calvin was and how smart he was and ….. well, I believe my dad was very happy to see the boys and somehow, the boys took to him without any problem. Calvin went to give my dad a great big hug when we first arrived and he even asked if “gong gong” (grandfather) was well. Of course that has made my dad very happy. Even Mr Athan — the fiesty little man who refused to let anyone carry, went and shook my dad’s hand when my dad held his hand out to him! Amazing.
We spent Christmas and New Year with my family. We had a great party at my parents’ on Christmas eve. The kids — all 6 grandchildren, had really made the whole house bursting with joy and laughter. We have all enjoyed the food and company very much. The children played really well together. They had so many Christmas presents to open — that had really made them excited and happy.
My sisters and I had time to catch up too. There’s always so much to talk about and so much to laugh about when we are together. I really miss them. They are a great support and encouragement to me. I really wish they are here with me. In fact, they have put in so much effort to make our stay both enjoyable and comfortable. I am so blessed to have such good sisters.
We managed to catch up with many friends who are living and working in Singapore too. It was good to see them again and to know that everyone is doing great. One of them absolutely loved Calvin! (you know who you are … :)) Thanks for all the treats, guys. We are missing all the local food over here! Just the other night, Robin was telling me that he wanted to eat durian and fried carrot cake for supper!
As for the flight to Singapore … well, it was very challenging. Mr Athan was very unsettled for a few reasons. First, he did not have a seat and so he had to be on our lap all the time. He was not happy with that especially when his brother had a seat and had special kids meal and could watch movies on the little screen. He screamed his head off when we told he had to sit on our lap. He kicked, he arched his back and cried and screamed ….. it was very difficult to appease him. What made it worse was that he could not move around in the plane and had to be confined to the little leg room we had. I felt sorry for him as well as those sitting around us. It took a while for him to accept the situation. The flight home was slighly better, but he was still quite hard to handle. Oh well, I sure hope he will behave better on our next trip — at least he will have his own seat then.