Monday 16 June 2008

Son No 2 - The Animal Lover

Son No 2 came five years after his elder brother. He is seven years old this year. A cheerful child, he takes things in his stride and is the main conduit between his elder and younger brother.

Animals are Son No 2's passion in life. His knowledge of the animal kingdom, gleaned from books and his favourite Animal Planet TV channel, is plain astounding. When he was five, his kindergarten teacher introduced the animal "cat" and he wanted to know whether she was talking about the domestic cat or a wild cat! He is never happy with just the generic names for animals; to him, they are the Nile crocodile, the hermit crab, the bald eagle and the green mamba. Test him on any of their typical diet, habitat and special powers and you are bound to learn something new.

Son No 2 seems to have a flair for languages. He picks up words fast and is able to cope with mandarin surprisingly well, coming as he does from an English-speaking home. His choice of words often reflects his psychological development. He used to ask me questions like "Is Santa Claus real?" but just last week, his question was phrased differently, "Do fairies exist?" To say the least, I was taken aback. Not by the question, but how the question was worded. Ya, I tend to notice things like that.

As the middle child, Son No 2 has the privilege of playing well with both his elder brother and younger brother. The game that binds all three? Pokemon.

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