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!