Look Dad! Mushrooms!!

I was driving my 3 y.o. kid home and as we stopped at the traffic light near a condominium, she cried out to me and caught me by surprise:

3 y.o.: "MUSHROOMS!!! Dad!!"

She was looking up from the front seat as she cried out about the mushrooms

Dad: "Huh? Mushrooms? Where? In the Sky!!" (She was pointing up)

A closer look near the windscreen in the direction where she was pointing, then I realised where the mushrooms were "growing".

"I AM GAY" !!!!

Mum: "How are you today?" (My wife talking to our eldest daughter)

8 y.o. daughter: "I am GAY!" (then she giggles, as she learnt of the other meaning of "GAY" from her 11 y.o. schoolmate)

Dad: "That's not funny! Such answer is very misleading and you should stop answering this way. You should just say 'I am HAPPY' instead of 'GAY'!"

6 y.o. son: "Dad! What is 'GAY'?"

Dad: "Aiya! You would learn more of it when you are older."

6 y.o. son: "Oh! oh! I know! I know! my friend said 'I am Bo Gay' when we play kungfu! I am also GAY right?"

Dad: "........."

"BO GAY" which means Tootheless in Hokkien (or simply "no courage", as there're no teeth to bite back) is absolutely NOT "GAY".

Rabbits vs Monkeys

This is not another race between the Rabbit, Monkey or any Turtle.

My parents' maid brought in a pet rabbit from the neighbour's house and showed it to my kids; they were absolutely excited to play with it. While we were getting into the car:
My 8 y.o.: "Dad! Can you please buy rabbits for all of us?"
Dad: "I already have 'THREE MONKEYS' and I could not afford to take care of three more rabbits!"
My 3 y.o.: "MONKEYS! Where are they, I want to see and play with them!" (she was so curious and jumped down from the car)
Dad: "Oh, please get back into the car! You don't have to see them, as you are one of them lah!"

I was actually refering to my three adorable and mischievious "Monkeys" who are more worthy than those pesky wabbits ;-)

"Pancake" in the Car?

The little 3 y.o. girl was relectunt to straighten her chair in the car and her mummy was upset with her as she could not put on the safety belt for her. Then the mummy started to raise her voice at her naughty kid:

Mummy: "You'd better straighten the chair, or else you might become a PANCAKE when the chairs sandwiched you in an accident!"

3 y.o.: "You don't want PANCAKE, then you don't eat PANCAKE loh!"

Diaper Routine

My little One wet the bed two nights ago when we forgot to put on the diaper for her. So, I made sure that she would wear her diaper last night:

Dad: "LET ME PUT ON THE DIAPER FOR YOU!"
Little One: "DON'T WANT, I don't want you!"

My wife was already asleep and I did not wish to interrupt her sleep, so I tried to be soft on the Little One.

Dad: "If you don't wear it, you will wet the bed again! This is the last bed I have for you!"
Little One: "I will not 'wee' on the bed!"
Dad: "If you don't want to wear your diaper, then you must go to the toilet now to pass urine!"
Little One: "You go far far away then I go"
Dad: (sigh ...) "OK Ok (then I move to the door)"
Little One: "NO! You go far far away, I don't want to see you!"

So, I move away from the door and out of her sight, but peek through the door momentarily. I was glad that she picked herself up and went over to the washroom, did her business, clean up on her own and went back to bed.

I didn't wana create further nuisance with the little one and took the risk without the diaper for that night... And I was glad that she did not wet the bed.

p.s. Despite such "encouraging" experience, I will still conitnue with the diaper routine till we are very such that she would stop urinating in her sleep, I really do not wish to waste any more $$$ on beddings.

Uncommon Sight!

How many times would you encounter such situations?

Happy Father's Day 2008

This was one of the happy moments for being a father, though I tend to consider Father's Day as another day to boost sales on man's wear/ware/delicacies.

Anyway, I was presented with this enormous breakfast:

My eldest kid literally made 20+ waffles, emptied a whole tub of yogurt, a bunch of bananas and a cup of coffee! (with my wife's help). I could hardly eat my lunch after such a hearty morning meal!

One thing for sure: It was an unforgettable Father's Day!! Thank you!!

Go get your Cushion!

I was getting the little one who just turned 3yrs+3 wks to wean her from using her milk bottle:

Dad: "OK little girl, you will be drinking your milk from a cup."

Little one: "I am still a baby ..." (Ha! Her old tricks again.)

Dad: "No ... you are a big girl already! So you should use a cup and stop using milk bottle!

Little one: "... you give me a cup, I will spill my milk leh ... " (that spilling accident happened a couple of days back, and she had quite a bit of discipline)

Dad: "Hmmm . . . . that's true. Alright! This will be the last time you drink from the milk bottle!"

Dad: "Now go and get your cushion!" (she always had her huggable stuff when she drinks from the bottle)

Little one: "I cannot see the cushion, can you get for me?" (Wow! Another old trick of hers)

I kept real quiet for a moment. When she saw me glaring at her, she went off to get her cushion and returned.

Dad: "You said you cannot see the cushion, so what are you holding now?"

Little one tried to ignore me, then placed her cushion on the floor to wait for me to serve her the milk bottle! Gosh!

Giving the Glare to "innocent" kids

There were times when parents just would not wish to raise their voices or rods at their kids, especially in public places, so they would likely use the "FORCE of the GLARE" with their eyes .... like this:

And this was the response from a 3 y.o. kid when her daddy glared at her for misbehaving at the food court:

As there were silence at the dining table, the little one started to look back at her dad's glaring eyes for a few more seconds, then she said:

"Dad! What happened to your eyes"

The dad looked surprised with the little one's "innocent" response:

Then the little girl had a good giggle over the change of her daddy's expression.

Well, that really helped to dissipate the fumes from the dad ;-)

Boslters Snatching & Pushing on Father's Day's Eve 2008

The little one was making a fuss as she wanted to snatch her elder sister's bolster for the night.

Little one: "IT'S MINE!!!"
Elder sis: "Alright, you can have it ....."
Dad: "Little one, you should thank your sister!"
Little one: "Don't want!" (then she sped off with her loot)

I was upset with the little one's behaviour, but I waste no time to praise my eldest one; the eldest lot of siblings tends to sacrifise a lot more than the younger ones, so it would be proper to give due respect and encouragement for their care and concern for others.

Dad: "I am glad that you are very giving to your little sister, so I will let you have my bolster for the night."
Elder sis: "But you will not have your bolster to sleep later."
Dad: "It's alright."

The elder sis and I were "too giving", so we started a tussle of pushing my bolster to one another; by the way, my bolster ain't smelly or yucky-looking.

Elder sis: "Dad, I really want you to have it."
Dad: "Why?"
Elder sis: "Because it is going to be Father's Day, right?"

At that moment, I was both dumbfounded and touched by her thoughtfulness.

Dad: "It's alright. When you are asleep, I will get my bolster back from you."

I usually felt that Father's Day is more of a commercial gimmick than anything else, but for this time round, I was glad that my kid made this Father's Day's Eve a special one with her simple but heart-warming "gift". Thank you, my Eldest one!

Broccoli is NOT my FRIEND!!

A mum was trying to get his 6 y.o. son to eat his Broccoli and the boy was disgusted, and here went the chat:

Boy: "I hate Broccoli!"

Mum: "Broccoli is good for you; it will make you Strong and Healthy! Broccoli is your FRIEND!"

Boy: "Broccoli is NOT my FRIEND! Broccoli does not have hands and legs, how can it be my FRIEND!"

Well, parents just need to choose the right words for such "intelligent" kids.

长江七号。。。怎么变成 。。。

My kid was really attracted to this little character from Stephen Chow's movie "长江七号". So my wife got this little one for him, and he was overjoyed.
Cute right?

Then he went around to tell others that he has this "长焦鸡号" ... oops ... wrong pronunciation.

My kid's comment on Parental discipline

I was putting the kids to bed and chat with them how they feel about discipline from daddy and mummy, like spanking, no TV and other forms of restrain from gratification, and I took the time to explain why we were disciplining them for their good.

The kids obviously did not like the taste of discipline as it was pretty painful when they were terribly naughty.

Nevertheless, I was surprised by my eldest one who concluded her thoughts with this comment: "Dad, please do not stop disciplining us".

I believe all loving parents would want to discipline their kids for their own good, and I believe some how the kids would understand the goodness from discipline as they progress in life.

I am still a BABY!

A little one had just turned three y.o. and she had messed up the kitchen floor with all the fridge magnets. So this was the correspondence between the mum and the little one:

Mum:"Look what you have done! Now put all the magnets back on the fridge door!"

Little one:"I am still a BABY, I don't know how to do it. Please help me to do it!"

Mum:"You are not a BABY any more, your little cousins are babies but you are not like them any more!"

Little one, crying out loud:"I AM STILL A BABY!!"

So, the mum literally ignored her disobedience, went away and left her alone in the kitchen. When the mum returned, she was surprised to see that all the magnets were back on the fridge door.

I guess sometimes, we may just have to put our our point across to the child and leave the kid to think over our instruction instead of picking the rod to discipline immediately.

By the way, I swear the daddy was not the one who helped the little one out ;-)

四川大地震：母亲临死前最后的哺乳

The great love of a young mum: Leaving the best for her baby before her death in the terrible quake in China, SiChuan.



This was what the rescuers saw when searching through the rubble near DuJianYan riverside:

When the young mother and her baby were discovered, the mum had curled up in a protective position cushioning her three/four month old baby from the fallen rubble. The baby was still suckling the mother's nipple; the mum had left the best that she had for the child to survive before she passed on. The young mum had also left a final message in her mobile phone for her child:

"Dear precious, if you ever live, remember that I love you".

Such sight had brought much tears to many witnesses.

What are these in the fruits?

A dad was trying to teach his 2 y.o. about seeds in fruits

Dad:"What are all these little things in the papaya?"

2 y.o.kid:"PEANUTS!"

Dad:"Now, what about all these little things in this honeydew melon?"

2 y.o.kid:"SWEET CORN!"

Throwing hair off HDB flat

Many a times, it could be so convenient to litter stuff like tissue paper, dust or hair out of the window of the HDB flat instead of walking a few more steps to to the dustbin.

And this was the encounter between dad & kid:

Dad:"Do you think it is fine to throw the strands of hair you picked up from the floor out of the window?"

Kid:"Errr... I think this will add more hair to those who walked by, especially when they don't have much hair like you dad."

Dad:"Geezzzz ..... "

Well, no matter how insignificant or light the stuff is, don't just litter them off the window!

Where is my Little Rascal?

She made a mess and went into hiding .... where is she?

Mission I'mPossible

Looking back how active my youngest one was . . . she started walking two weeks before her One y.o. birthday:

Learning Chinese through Rhyme

Here's the rhyme my ~3 y.o. learnt from her kindergarten:

奔 奔 跳 跳， 奔 奔 跳，爱吃 萝卜，爱吃“赛”
Ben Ben Tiao Tiao, Ben Ben Tiao, Ai Chi Luo Bo, Ai Chi "Sai"
.... Oops! The last word sounds like the Hokkien word for "you know what in the toilet bowl"!

Well, she learnt from her mistake, should be “菜 (Cai)” instead of “赛 (Sai)” and guess what animal was she trying to describe from the above rhyme?

Place your answer in your comment to this post ;0)

"I Love Gor Gor N.."

Kids love to be assured that they are loved by their family members.

So my 6 y.o. son was asking her little ~3 y.o. sister,
"You like Gor Gor (brother in dialect), right?"

Then the little sister answered teasingly,
"I don't like GOR GOR, I LIKE GOR GOR NUT (she meant Coconut)!",
then she started laughing.

Or she meant she love her brother when they all go NUTS!!!
And when they do, their parents will go CRAZY!

马来糕

马来糕 is a general term used for cakes created by the Malays, and they taste awesome!

My kid was about to discover the English term for 马来糕, and this was his initial candid translation:

马来糕 = Horse Come Cake

Well, that translation was surely a surprise to the family ;-)

Sharing

Heard about this from my colleague about the experience of a man who shared a sweet with a poor boy:

The kind man was told not to share his sweets with the poor children as this would attract more of them to go after his sweets. As a matter of fact, he had only one sweet left on his palm and he spotted a poor boy starring at him (rather his sweet).

Instead of openly giving the sweet to the boy, the man simply slipped it on to the floor and gave the boy a wink. The boy smiled and ran over to grab the sweet from the floor. You might think that the boy would have immediately popped the sweet into his mouth, which he actually did for sure. However, the following action from the boy was quite a surprise.

The boy crunched swiftly and spit the broken tiny pieces of the sweet on to his palm. Then he ran to a group of kids and all of them were jumping up and down with great joy.

Would you ever experience it if you were in Singapore? Unlikely.

Though the act of the poor boy might seem to be unhygienic to many Singaporeans, it was definitely an unselfish deed and brought not only much joy to the poor children, it had also helped the man to fathom the wonder of sharing.

There's cat in the cupboard!

My wife had placed her belt in the closet and did not notice that the end of the belt was left dangling out of the closet.
I teased my little one that there's a cat in the cupboard, so I opened and closed the closet door quickly and mimicing the nasty hisses. My youngest daughter was really surprised that there "was" a cat in the closet and went around telling her brother & sister.
She was brave enough to actually open the closet door on her own, and found that it was just a belt.
Well, surprises ain't over yet. For the next few nights, two of my younger kids were going around at home with the end of a belt out of their pyjama pants, "meowing" and grabbing one another's "tail" .... Geeeezzzzz ... what have I started!!??

Please pass this thing to mummy . . .

Dad: "Could you pass this to mummy . . . "
2.75 y.o. : "Mummy! Nah . . ." (mummy was not in the room at all, then she turned around and giggled profusely)
Gosh . . . have you encountered such playfulness with your toddlers? Post your experience ;)