(written by Footywife)

My little son has a love-hate relationship with the son of my close friend.

When they’re apart, they want very much to play together.

When they’re playing together, they inevitably fight.

The other day I went to my friend’s place to fetch her kids over to my place to play.  In the car the easy banter between us all developed into a shouting match over who should speak first – both wanted to talk to poor me (who was concentrating on the road) at the same time.

“I talk first” one would say.

“No!  I first” the other would counter.

“NO I FIRST!!”…

“NO I FIRST!!”…

At my place, they played amicably together for a while and then inevitably one (usually my little son because he is in his own territory) will snatch a toy from the other and a snatching fight would ensue.

Whilst watching Bob the Builder, my son (for whatever reason) sat on his friend’s lap and immediately received a kick in the rear that sent him running tearfully into the kitchen.

The next day, after our little guest had left, my little son told me ,“Mama I want Joshua to come to my house and play”.

Do you call this a love-hate relationship or what?

(This is written by Footywife)

We went to a Christmas party the other day and my little son brought along his most prized car collection, from the Walt Disney movie “Cars”.

He was playing with them when our friend’s teenage daughter, Geraldine, came along to chat with him.

“What is the name of this car?” Geraldine asked.

“Art-sen” my little son replied instantly.

“Art-sen?” Geraldine repeated.

“Hudson” I chipped in, helping my little son to pronounce the letter “h”.

“Oh, Hudson” said Geraldine. “How about this one?” she asked again.

“Pilmore” my little son replied, somewhat a bit more hesitant.

“Pilmore?” Geraldine asked, looking a little confused.

“Filmore” I chipped in again, helping my little son to pronounce the letter “f” this time.

“Oh, you mean Filmore. How come I don’t understand what you say” Geraldine commented.

Then she pointed to another car and asked the same question.

“I don’t know” came the reply from my little son.

Filmore (2nd from left) ; Hudson (2nd from right)

But I’m sure he knew because he knows all the cars’ names by heart. My interference probably made him feel lousy about his diction as Geraldine could understand me but couldn’t understand him. So he chose to feign ignorance than risk Geraldine not understanding his diction again.

Maybe next time I should shut my big mouth and let my little son carry on the conversation in his own way and see what comes out of it.

I am now in Beijing and missing my son…and wife (better say I miss her too else she’ll start saying that all I remember now is my son hehehe!)

Anyway, my wife text me just now to say that my son kept asking to talk to me. So I sneaked away from the midst of dinner and make a call home.

“Papa can you come home please?” , “Papa can you come home NOW please?” were what he kept saying when the line got through. I believe you will be able to empathise with how it tugs at my heart ;(

And what a contrast to the article by my wife when my son hardly mentioned me when I was away!

Strange…children are sometimes so unpredictable…and doesn’t that make them even more cute & lovable & sometimes…irritable as well?

I have a feeling he will say the same thing when I call tomorrow.

And yet another episode of CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY SEE… or perhaps what they hear.

My little son came to me this morning and said “Doo-WUW! Do What You Want!”.

And he’s not even 3 years old!

For those who do not know, this “Doo-WUW” thing is currently shown on Singapore TV. Two good-looking youngsters are featured apparently telling audiences to “do what you what” or “doo-WUW” (which is the short form of “do what you want”). I nearly fainted when I saw the other tagline on their banner…you judge for yourself.

The trailer is rather short, perhaps a minute or so, but it is certainly catchy to the young. I can’t tell you more about this trailer or the main show because everytime this “Doo-WUW” thing comes on TV I barely pay any attention to it.

But obviously not my little son. He pays enough attention to regurgitate the words (I don’t think he even knows what he’s talking about when he says “Doo-WUW!”) in the same tone as spoken on TV.

My son’s little repertoire reminds me that really it is NEVER TOO EARLY to keep tabs on what TV programs our little ones are watching these days.

They really DO Learn What They See…and Hear .

(Here’s another parent airing her grievances about this DWUW thing …and more !!)

Before I start off, I want to bring this quote from a book which I am now reading to you. It goes like this :

"..But the goal of parenthood is not to produce clones who replicate the lives of their parents, rather to produce mature adult who make their own choices." - Philip Yancey in Reaching for the Invisible God

Speaking of choices, I am sure my son would have chosen not to return to school today after a one-month break. He had already started crying "I don’t want to go to school!" from the moment we reminded him about the re-starting of the school term a few days ago.

Granted he is only 3 years old come this October (some parents are already slamming me for sending him to school so early. I shall explain in another post if I remember), but I must say he is growing smarter. You see, even as he was putting on his school shoes, he was using delaying tactics like saying that his shoes were too big.

Why I think that was smart is because he actually made use of a concern my wife and I had when we bought him the shoes a few days ago. He had answered "OK" when we asked if he felt they were too big. So remembering that was our concern, he actually raised the issue of the shoes being too big at a time when it mattered, thus buying him a few precious moments before heading to school.

I am not sure if I have conveyed this feeling of amazement well. But I am truly pleasantly surprised at how well he is growing mentally.

The twist to the earlier account goes like this :

The very same evening, the three of us went strolling to nearby mall after dinner. When we reached there, we saw quite a few of the coin-slot toy machines or what-ever-you-call-it. You know, those where you slot in a coin (in this case $1) ,turn the knob, and WALA …a ball (with a little toy inside) is released to the new owner.

These machines sell the toys by themes..i.e. one machine may be selling all characters from Transformers, another Ninja turtles…and so on.

We spotted one from the CARS Movie theme …. and the rest you can imagine.

WRONG! My son did not cry to get one. In fact it was my wife & I who were excited! You see we have gotten him one before, and we thought he love it so much we wanted to get more for him when we see another of these machines..hehe.

So we ended up buying 4 for him..WILLINGLY! and for that $4, we (or rather the toys) brought him so much joy.

I am as much a sucker for toys as most children. Especially for Playmobil and Lego, my knees basically go weak at the sight of them.

Not so much my son though. For him, anything with four wheels is his "weakness". He absolutely ADORES cars. And needless to say, he LURRRRRRVES the DISNEY PIXAR MOVIE : CARS.

For his recent REWARD trip, I have actually set aside about $60~$80 for a toy of his choice..thinking that he would pick up a Playmobil Campervan which I have egging him on for days to like it.

When we got to the shop, before I could even interest him on the whole array of Playmobil on the shelf, he was already transfixed by a simple 6 inches long Fire Engine (for which its doors can’t even be opened!) placed along the path towards my beloved Playmobils.

No cajoling was possible to "lure" him away that Fire Truck. He doesn’t want to move on to the other shelfs and just simply wanted that !@#$% FIRE TRUCK!

I was caught off guard by his preference. My wife reminded me quietly that we wanted to get him a toy of his choice. So we eventually bought him that !@#$% FIRE TRUCK. Damn $10 Fire Truck.

He was overjoyed. I was devastated.

LESSON LEARNT
Isn’t this such a poignant lesson on the simple innocence of childhood…and for the matter, LIFE as well? The cost of a toy does not matter a single bit. What matters is does it bring JOY to the child. A cheap toy is no less worthy than an expensive one…. The SECRET lies in whether the child likes it.

PS: There is a little twist to this story. Will continue in another post

It used to be a threatening affair with temperature raised and a cane in the hand.

But not now.

Frankly, I think we as parents are responsible for how the whole exercise of keeping toys turns out. It can be fun or it can be extremely frustrating.

And we have a choice in determining the outcome. I found a great article on "How To Let Your Children Keep Their Toys Willingly " where the author suggested creative ways to make keeping toys a win-win situation.

I could totally identify with one of the methods she recommended because my son and I sang the same Barney song (I have not read her article at that time) and had a good time keeping his toys.

Let’s be creative and think of ways to make tidying up a game rather than a chore. And keep us posted if you have come up with any brilliant ideas.