Building A Volcano

Son No 2's exams were over last week. For putting in all the hard work, I gave him this volcano-building kit.

The completion took several days and finally we got the volcano working yesterday. For those who want to try, the eruption is just a simple reaction of baking soda with vinegar.

Voila!

Best Of Pals

Sons No 2 and No 3 have become the best of pals. It has not always been the case. Suffice to say, Son No 3 has finally caught up with Son No 2 in terms of speech and social development. The two boys, now at 5 and 7, have reached a stage whereby they can play, fight and quarrel well together :)

Son No 3 has blossomed considerably this past year. He has become much, much more chatty (help!) and more aware of the world. He has picked up sufficient vocabulary to express his ideas and can engage in delightfully nonsensical debates with Son No 2. It is really quite amusing to hear their quarrels or their constant attempts of one-upmanship.

Frequently, in the midst of a quarrel, one of them may yell one of the following:

• "Maaa-meee, he is telling a web of lies!"
• "Maaa-meee, he called me a lousy boy!"
• "Maaa-meee, he beat me for no reason!"
• "Maaa-meee, he is so evil!"

... but they will continue their verbal sparring without missing a beat. They do not really want me to intervene - they just want to score a point with the other party. Well, this wise mom will not interfere, unless absolutely necessary - I know they are not really seriously quarrelling - they just enjoy socializing in that manner!

When the two boys are good friends, they are very good together. Some Saturday or Sunday mornings, they wake up and remain in their bedroom, playing their Lego set in bed or using their pillows/bolsters to build homes for their toy animals. At other times, they play their respective Game boy quietly together. That must be their idea of a perfect lie-in on a weekend. Ah, couldn't agree more. Peace for all.

And when they are up to their pranks.....! I will never forget this - and neither will Son No 1, I suspect.

One fine day, the two younger boys decided to play a trick on Big Brother. The plan was to switch off the bathroom light when Big Brother was bathing to give him a fright. The idea came from Son No 2. But he was not tall enough to reach the light switch. So he convinced his younger but taller brother to commit the crime. This is what you might call teamwork - one providing the brainwave, the other the brawn.

You can guess what happened next. Big Brother indeed got a fright of his life. He dashed out of the bathroom, dripping wet and hopping mad, furiously demanding to know who switched off his light. But the partners in crime kept quiet - nobody owned up - and we were left wondering who was the culprit? It was much later, after much probing, that we got the whole story out. It never crossed my mind that the two younger boys were in cahoots!

Below are some moments captured when they are playing together:

Playing their own brand of chess. I cannot imagine how they can spend hours just moving the chess pieces around. They do not know how to play chess, but they have devised their own set of rules - beats me how it works - but it works well enough to keep them both engrossed in the game for long periods of time.

Playing a game of Wii. Their favourite game is Star Wars, of course. Both of them can play at the same time but in this dual mode, one takes the lead and the other must be the follower. That's when the trouble starts. These two will quarrel like who should follow whom and if the other guy is not following well, they will come to mommy to mediate.

Playing in the bath tub. The bath tub used to be able to accommodate all three boys at once. But not any more. Here, they are doing "experiments". Which object floats and which sinks? Now, don't think it's my idea - no, not at all. To them, it's just another game. This is the reason why people say kids should learn through play!

My Jem & Scout

Jem & Scout are the two child protagonists from the novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird." The story is told through the eyes of Scout. At the start of the novel, Jem was 11 and Scout, his sister, was 6.

Notice the age difference? It is exactly the same age difference between Sons No 1 and No 2. What prompted this post is that I can see the striking similarity in the personal development of the two characters in the novel and my two boys.

Early in the novel, we see Jem and Scout spending a lot of carefree time together, constantly playing pranks on their neighbours, with Jem taking the lead and Scout not always a willing follower. As the novel progressed, their relationship began to undergo a subtle change. Jem began to wander off into his own world and Scout had no choice but to seek companionship from their maid, Calpurnia. When Scout complained to their father, Atticus, about Jem, she was advised to "mind" Jem. All this was very confusing to young Scout, precocious though she was.

By the end of the novel, having gone through a court room experience as well as various other significant incidences, Jem at 13 had clearly grown in maturity and adopted a more "elder brother" role towards Scout. But thank goodness, the strong bond between the siblings was intact as can be seen from the last scene in the novel (shan't spoil the ending for those who have yet to read the novel).

The relationship between my Sons No 1 and No 2 seems to be undergoing such a transformation now. Not too long ago, they were the best of playmates. Nowadays, Son No 1 has other interests that tend to exclude his younger brother - nothing wrong with that - I know it is an inevitable progression in life.

For Son No 2, he is learning how to adapt. I notice that No 2 sometimes tries to initiate play by "disturbing" No 1 but his effort would meet with a sharp rebuke from No 1. I am not sure if it is hurt that I see flashing across No 2's face. Much like Scout, he is adjusting. The beneficiary to this development is No 3 to whom No 2 has turned for companionship. No 3 is now chief playmate. The two younger boys, now at 5 and 7, are closer in age and play as equals. But that is another story.

There are still moments now when Son No 1 would play with both his younger brothers and yes, they still have a rolling raucous good time together. Ya, these moments will be stored in the mind for a long, long time.

Pyjamas Party Every Night

First, it was the broadband to go. Now, it's the air-conditioner.

The air-conditioner in the two younger boys' bedroom has been groaning for a while, but we chose to ignore it. However, now it has started making these loud rattling noises that demand attention. There was no way that the two boys could sleep with that type of racket.

There were only two temporary solutions for the boys:

A) To sleep in their bedroom without the air-cond or

B) To camp in mummy's and daddy's bedroom for a while.

It was a no-brainer. A pyjamas party every night?!! Another dream came true!

Well, they will be camping in our room for the next few nights until the repairman fixes the air-cond. The two boys love the idea of sleeping in our room so much that they asked if we could make it a permanent fixture. Hmm...

What's Up?

Our broadband has been down for the past 2 days. The cause is being investigated, pending which our whole family is left high and dry. How dependent we have grown to be on the internet! That feeling of disconnectedness and loss .... I am sure you know what I mean.

Who will feed the pets? How to return emails? What's happening in the world? How to complete my mission?

So here I am, together with Son No 1, crouched in a little corner in his room, hijacking bandwidth from my unsuspecting neighbour...

So what's up? Son No 2's final exam has taken up most of my free time. When I am not coaching him, I am preparing papers for him to try. Son No 2 is a cooperative student. He has worked really hard. Tomorrow is the last day of his long-drawn exam and we will do something together to celebrate. We deserve it.

As for Son No 1, he has met with one of the biggest trials of his life. How he handles it will help shape his character, I hope.

Yesterday, I brought Son No 1 for his haircut and the hairstylist has cut it somewhat significantly shorter than normal. OK, it's almost a crew cut. Well, it's not really a disaster, but in his eyes, it's close enough. He is even thinking of changing schools. When mom says no, he is now resorting to eating more proteins (of which hair is made) so that his hair will grow faster. I told him the best way out really is to find the gene that determines hair growth and seeks to manipulate it so that hair doesn't grow - static - then we all need not be at the mercy of hairstylists. Wonderful idea, isn't it? The rest of mankind, who all have hair problems, will thank him for it. Maybe except David Beckham.

The happiest child is still Son No 3. He attended a schoolmate's birthday party last Sunday and laughed loudly at the clown's jokes. The jokes were really lame, believe me, but the 5- and 6-year-olds thought the clown was the funniest man on earth. Son No 2 who tagged along won a prize for one of the games and declared "My dream came true!" because his prize was a box filled with all types of candies and chocolates (see picture).

Ah, to be young again...

A Day At Genting

Before the flu bug hit last week, we were at Genting Highlands for a day-trip. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The weather was good - unexpectedly cool (about 18 degrees C) which made it more fun.

What was significant about it? For one, Son No 1 is now tall enough (1.55m) to take all the rides. I remember not too long ago when he was about 1.2m and he was quite upset that he could not take some rides. It became a motivation for him to grow. Now it is the two younger boys' turn to wait patiently to grow...

That day at Genting also marked the first time Son No 1 took a roller-coaster ride all by himself.

We did a couple of family rides (see pictures below) and ended the day at the indoor arcade where the boys lived their dreams of being F1 race car drivers (more pictures below). Beats me every time why the male species love to drive!

Yen's Studio Wedding

It was a family bonding time last week as Popo, Ping Yee, Uncle Ronny, Cousins Yen and Jack came to KL from Singapore and Faidu flew in from Bali. The occasion was Cousin Yen's "studio wedding" - to coin a new term!

Unfortunately, there was a flu virus hanging around and most of us were down with flu towards the end of the one-week break. That explains the silence on this blog.