Favourite

She has been too shy to admit it for a good 2 years. Whenever I asked her who her favourite is, she would say it is me but only if we happened to be by ourselves. When my wife is around, she would whisper it to me and then run to my wife and sheepishly tell her that she is really the favourite, instructing my wife not to tell me. But most times, Mei Mei would diplomatically declare that my second son is her favourite, knowing full well she isn't answering the question. 

I tease her when she wishes my wife loudly "Bye bye Mommy, I love you" as we leave for the kindie. She only manages a soft "Bye Daddy" when she is about to go to her kindie classroom. Last week, without me asking, she said to me "Children love their mommy more because they give birth to them." Well, how could you argue with that? She sounded like she was narrating an episode of National Geographic. I kept myself from laughing and asked her who told her that. She just said "Ya, because children are born from their mommy" as if to say that nobody needs to tell her that.

That night, when the 2 younger kids were in my room, I played back Mei Mei's claim to my son and asked him whether he felt what she said was true. He found it funny but precarious, so all he did was laugh. Mei Mei continued to defend her position with "Ya, my friends say so". So now it has become a universal truth amongst all kindie-going kids.

Today Mei Mei wanted to have baked apple for dessert. It is something I have made twice in the recent weeks. I remove the core of the apples and stuff them with sliced banana, blackberries, blueberries, a small slice of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. I really needed a nap after lunch so I told her that I would do it after a short rest. When she saw me falling asleep, she protested. Awakened, I realise that she was nudging my face with her still tiny and soft feet.  A sign of her affection.

University

This morning, I took the two younger kids scootering. The plan was that we would go somewhere close by, have McDonalds breakfast after that and get home in time to prepare for church. Quite a tall order considering that we had less than 2 hours.  I decided to take them to NUS's University Town - it was close enough and there is quite a bit of greenery. The kids are quite particular about where they go scootering - it has to have some slopes, a place to get a cold drink, not too hot, a playground and more. Otherwise, I would receive the "this place is so boring" rating from them. But we only have that much time on our hands so UTown will have to do. Whatever the outcome, I should be able to redeem myself with the McD breakfast later.

When we got out of the carpark, my son was surprised to see that there were eateries on the campus. He liked the idea that there was a Subway and Starbucks, a place for buffet apparently, convenient stores. He said that the foodcourt sells dim-sum. We have visited universities before on some of our holidays including Warwick, which my wife and I attended, so he should not be surprised. Perhaps those visits left him with the impression that there were only cucumber sandwiches and coffee on campus. 

He was curious about the campus accommodation and had quite a few questions for me. He told me that he would like to stay on campus because he would like to learn to live by himself. He asked me if it was expensive and how much money he would need to cover his weekly expenses. He did some financial planning and said that he would not eat out for every meal. I told him that I would miss him if he stayed on campus, so he suggested that he would be home on alternate nights and the weekends. He talked about it a few times more during the rest of the day. It is funny and heart-warming listening to kids at that age talk about their future plans and how they arrive at those decisions. 

We should probably avoid going there too frequently in case the novelty wears off. It would be good if getting a degree remains his aspiration and not something that he does out of his parents insistence. Maybe we could consider scootering in the other universities in Singapore so that they can make comparisons. For today, I am just glad I didn't get the "this place is so boring" vote off.

Permanent Tooth

A couple of days back, Mei Mei discovered that her first permanent tooth is emerging from her gums. Her baby tooth hasn't fallen off yet so this was unexpected. She told me when we were on our way to kindie so I didn't get to have a look at it. It was the first thing she talked about when she saw me 
later that evening and she show me where it is. No mistake, and it was exciting seeing it. I took a photo and showed it to her.  She has been monitoring its progress the last couple of days and giving me regular updates. This morning, she reported that her baby tooth was starting to feel shaky. This is like watching her take her first baby steps.

I like changes, but not too much at one go. There will be a quite a bit of that to get through this year. Last year of driving her to kindie - looking at what she is up to from the rear mirror, answering the curious questions that she has from time to time, responding to her requests to adjust the aircon or the radio. I often tease her for saying "Bye bye I love you mommy" when she leaves for school, but only "bye bye" when I give her a hug before she goes to her class. This would be the last year she gets to go to school without tying up her hair, or carry her school bag with nothing in it. No homework, no exams and lots of party packs.

Yesterday Mei Mei told me she wanted to cut her hair short. I asked her how short she wanted it and she indicated shoulder length. I asked her a couple of times if she was sure and with each time, she scaled backed how much she wanted to cut off. She ended up asking for a trim. Okay, so I did ask her if she was fine looking like her brother, which bothered her. It would be nice for my baby girl to keep her long hair for a little longer even if she is bothered by the hot and humid weather in Singapore at this time of the year.