My little son’s good friend, Joshua, sometimes like to make fun of his pronunciation or should I say “mis-pronunciation”.  Joshua, being over a year older than my little son, could pronounce his “s” and “f” and what have you.

Once we went out and my little son told his little friend to “old my and” (hold my hand).  “Yes,” Joshua replied cheekily, “I will old your and”.

In my little son’s “mis-pronounced” world, a fish is a “cheesh”.  Football becomes “chootball”.  Night Safari (which is the nocturnal zoo in Singapore) is “Night Afari”.  Rambutan is “lambutan”.

However recently we noted some changes in his pronunciation.  What was “old my and” is now hold my hand.  Fish has evolved to “pish”.  Football is sometimes “pootball” but other times still “chootball”.  Night Safari is unfortunately still “Night Afari”.

We have never attempted to correct our little son’s “mis-pronunciation”.  He sorts of self-corrects as he grows older.  Or maybe the teacher in school taught him.

As much as I am happy that my little son’s linguistic ability seems to be on its way to maturity and that one day he will be able to pronounce difficult words with ease, when that day comes I will surely look back and miss those days when a rambutan was a “lambutan”.

One of the DVDs I have at home is Madagascar (the first one).

We seldom play through the credits portion at the end of the show. But we did one day, and this was what happened…..

And here’s the REAL thing :

(written by footywife)

Whoever says mothers are most naggy hasn’t met a naggy 3-year old.

We’ve been telling our little son that he will get to buy a new toy if he goes to bed by himself (yes, we’ve been going to “bed” with him every night, leaving the room only after he falls asleep).

Last weekend we found ourselves in the vicinity of a toy shop, which is most unfortunate.  Our little son was understandably very excited and pushed us into the shop.

Once inside, he pulled me towards a toy and said “Mama, when I go to sleep by myself, you buy this toy for me okay”.

“Okay” I replied resignedly.  Then he moved on to a second toy and said the same thing.  And then to a third, and to a fourth…

When we finally got out of the shop, you would have thought he stopped.

NO!  He continued with his “Mama when I go to sleep by myself you buy just now that toy for me okay”.

If I got fed-up and refuse to answer him, he would ask again.

So I was literally left with no choice but to say “yes” (just so to shut him up).  But that doesn’t shut him up for long.  A few minutes later, he would ask the same question again.  And again.  And again.  For as long as I could remember!

And when there was a long silence and I thought he had finally forgotten about it and secretly heaved a sigh of relieve, the familiar “Mama when……” came on.  URGGG!

(written by footywife)

My little son loves role-play these days.

Most often he becomes Mrs Chee (his English teacher) and I am made to be Pan lao-shi, his Chinese teacher (Lao-shi is “teacher” in Chinese). Sometimes I am made to be Dominic (his good friend and classmate) or Javen Liew (another good friend and classmate).

It all sounds very trivia. Until I realized day-to-day events are “narrated” by him so easily during role-play.

I often had difficulty getting him to tell me about his school life – Was he happy in school? Were the kids physical? Did anyone smack him? Were the teachers harsh? Did they punish him unnecessarily (or worse, wrongly?)?… Yes – I’m a terribly concerned mother!

So role-play has become my avenue to find out about things that happened in school.

I just found out that children who jump in class are made to stand in a corner for 2 minutes (though I’m not too sure if it’s really 2 minutes). My little son (aka Mrs Chee) kept his eyes on the clock in the room and only allowed me (aka Dominic) out of the naughty corner after he was satisfied that 2 full minutes had passed (though he doesn’t have any idea what 2 minutes really means).

When I take on the role of “Mrs Chee”, my little son pays a lot more attention to me than when I’m just “mama”.

“I’m Mrs Chee now. Go brush your teeth Jadon. Quick, Javen Liew is next after you. Dominic has already brushed his teeth,” I said.

And my little son trots happily into the bathroom to do just that.

Though I’m not sure how long this will last.

It is a fact no one will deny, yet sometimes we fall into the trap of letting our children watch trash, and let them pick up unhealthy habits. I am guilty too.

We were at my parents’ place last Sunday for our weekly family dinner. My sister’s family was there too, and we were all either eating desserts, talking or watching a Taiwanese drama serial.

Then there was an interesting part of the serial where the wife of a character was brought to a flat where she caught her husband red-handed with a mistress. An argument ensued with the usual climax ending with the wife giving the mistress a tight slap.

No prize for guessing it right. My son immediately came over to me and gave me a slap and said,”I slap you like in the show!”

The Power of TV illustrated. Children Learn What They See & Hear.

(written by Footywife)

Kids say the strangest things.

The other day my little son told me, “I want to buy a girl, mama”.

“What?!” my eyes nearly popped out.  “Do you mean a doll or a real girl?”

“A real girl” he replied.

My thoughts raced in all directions wondering (1) why my little son thinks he can buy a person; and (2) why a girl?

“Why do you want to buy a girl?” I asked.

“Because I want a girl,” he replied.  And then he continued, “I want to buy a girl.  Can mama?  Please mama?”

“You can’t buy a girl,” I finally said.  “If Kiera’s mama (they are our neighbour) comes over and says she wants to buy you, can mama sell you to her?” I asked

“No,” he said.

“So, we also can’t go over and tell Kiera’s mama that we want to buy Kiera.  Her mama won’t sell her to us.”  I reasoned with him.

The explanation was however not enough for him.

“I want to buy a girl.  Can mama?  Please mama?”  he prodded.. and prodded.. and prodded..

So in the end I conceded and said, “I’ll think about it”.

That pretty much shut him up and he hasn’t popped the question in the last few days.  I just hope it stays that way.

(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?

theChildisKing would like to thank all friends and readers for the generous support given in 2008.

Let us take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Blessed and “Bloggerful” (whatever that means!) NEW YEAR!!

from Footyman & Footywife…..and Footyson (aka FootyKing!)

I actually wrote this song about 2 years back. It’s a shame I haven’t really share it much since.

Apart from procrastination, there was also a feeling of inadequacy like, “are you sure people will like this song?” etc. But I am going to throw all those feelings away and rejoice in who God has made me to be, and share the song that He has put in my heart. So what better time than to share this than Christmas Day!

So here you go! Hope you enjoy it anyway
PS: yes that’s my voice, my “need-to-improve” guitar playing, and my own editing too!

SHOW ME YOUR WAYS (Psalm 25)

Close our eyes
Close our eyes
Close our eyes to the temporary glory of men

Build our lives
And fix our eyes
Fix them on the Glory of Our LORD

(repeat)

chorus
O LORD Show Me Your Ways
Teach Me Your Paths
And Guide Me In Your Truths
For You Are My GOD
My Saviour
And My Hope Is In You Eternally

bridge
I wouldn’t be what I am
If not for you who’ve shown me the truth
I wouldn’t be where I am
If not for you, if not for you

(written by Footywife)

Lately my little son has the desire to “get inside the TV”.  It first started last week while he was watching Barney.

“Can you bring me inside there please mama?” he asked.

I was taken by surprise by that question.  “Why do you want to go in there?” I asked.  “Because I want three children,” he replied.  He meant he wanted to be the third kid in the show, as there were only two kids with Barney.

This week while he was watching Winne the Pooh & Tigger, he again asked, “Can you bring me inside there please mama?”

I asked him why and he said, “because I want to talk to them”.

“Oh, we can talk to them when they come to the shopping centres,” I said.  “We can’t go inside the TV because there’s nothing inside there.”

I then showed him the back of the TV.  “See, there’s nothing in there.”  I said,  “and Pooh, Tigger and Darby are not real people, they are fake.”

“How about me?” he asked.

“You?  You are real,” I said.

“No!  I don’t want to be real.  I want to be fake!” he declared, upset that he wasn’t the same as Darby or Pooh or Tigger.

Today, just before his nap, he told me “Mama I want you to buy me Darby but not the flat one.  But like us.”

I think he meant he wants a 3-dimentional Darby, not a 2-dimentional one like in the TV.

Or did he mean he wants a real Darby, not a fake one?!!