Children's Day 2016

Today is Children's Day in Singapore. Celebrated on the first Friday of October, kids up to the primary school level get the day off. I have 2 of those and they have been looking forward to "something special".  I am on medical leave to recover from the first few days of the chemo cycle, for one, the insomnia that has been keeping me awake since 1am. I am hoping that I will be able to keep awake later in the day to make it meaningful for them. Their obvious request was to go to McDonald's for breakfast, to which my wife protested. I am left in the "Daddy knows best" situation, so we will figure something out.

Two days ago, my second son sneaked a small Lego box from the playroom to his bedroom. He then sneaked it back to the playroom only to be found out by his sister. And so the sister insisted on seeing what was inside and asked why she doesn't have one. It was a SG50 commemorative Lego gift set which all primary and secondary school kids received a bit more than a year ago. So I tried to pacify Mei Mei by telling her that we have 2 sets at home and I will get her set for her. My son reminded me that the other set belonged to Koh Koh and that the kindergarten kids did not receive the gift set. I wasn't entirely sure why my son didn't want to open the box and share the toy with his bestie so I asked him to keep it away at least until he finished his homework. Peace resumed.

Later in the evening, I found him in the playroom wrapping the Lego set with exercise book paper. He was quietly cutting pieces of cellophane tape to stick it all together. He explained that it was a surprise Children's Day present for Mei Mei. Which perfectly explains what happened earlier in the day. It is kind of a surprise but it isn't, but certainly a nice gesture. When he was done, he looked for a corner to hide it before his sister woke up from her afternoon nap. His strategy was to keep it at the toy corner which has developed in the living room, in hope that his sister would not spot the obvious from the obvious. This didn't work out quite like he expected. Well to be fair, it worked a little bit because Mei Mei only spotted it the next day. And she read the note that said that it was a gift for her. I told her that it was meant to be a surprise gift so she should put it back where she found it and wait for it to be presented to her on Thursday.

Thursday came along. Both of them were happy with their Children's Day celebrations at their respective schools. They both came home with their bags of goodies. My second son said that it was the best day of his life, which is what he says whenever he has had a good day. He told his sister that unlike his friends, he didn't eat the snack that he got from school because he wanted to share it with her. It reminds me of how my siblings would do the same for me when I was the only pre-school child at home. After he put the snacks in the refrigerator, he went on to present the surprise gift to his sister. I took a photo of her happily opening her gift and then left them to it. 

Later in the day, my wife told me that Mei Mei complained to his brother that the box contained an assortment of toys that belonged to her. It turned out that the content wasn't the Lego set. Mei Mei showed me the content in the evening and her brother was there to explain that it was not all her toys, some were from his own collection. I was holding back from laughing but told both of them that it was a very nice gesture. They then took turns to ask me what gift I was getting them for Children's Day.

Wonderful to witness such children humour this Children's Day.


Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him ~ Psalm 127: 3